If any of you have children around the ages of probably 5-to-teenager range and let them play gaming systems, you’ve probably heard of Mario Party. My kids are hooked on it lately.
If you don’t know what Mario Party is, it is a party video game series featuring characters from the Mario franchise in which up to four local players — or computer-controlled characters — compete in a board game with little minigames mixed in. It’s a fun game that I usually lose at.
Teamwork is required to help you win most of those minigames. Either all four of you working to beat a challenge or two of you teaming up against the other two. It’s kind of like real life where if you want to succeed at something, you will likely need help from a friend, spouse or co-workers along the way.
Having a crew that works well together creates a system to ensure that jobs are getting done on time and the quality of work is high. When one team member falls behind, there’s another to pick up the pieces. When work is dished out between members of a team, it gets done faster, meaning you can get onto the next job faster, earning more revenue for the company.
BUILDING TEAMWORK
It can take time to develop teamwork though. Whether you are an owner, a supervisor, or a crew member improving those teamwork skills should be a constant goal. Here are three ways you and your team can work better together.
Know Your Goal
You and your team should have a clear goal in mind no matter the task. Goals can be as simple as completing a job by a certain time, ensuring customer service calls get assigned quickly, or making sure each van is stocked for the next day.
It might be easiest to set a goal per job or for each day and accomplish those. You could even set up a long-term goal and work towards it. Have a way to track it and be sure the whole team knows the progress.
Know Your Roles
Every team needs someone in charge and people to do the work. More often than not that person in charge is also doing work, but that in-charge person is still important. Without someone to take the lead, everyone else will be doing their own thing and it will be harder to get the job done and accomplish those goals you set earlier.
That person in charge should be the one that is responsible for making sure the goals are staying on track and all the work is accomplished in an efficient manner and correctly. That person in charge should also be the one communicating with the customers.
Communicate
Without communication everything will fail. Whether you are the person in charge at a job, or the person who is helping, you need to talk to one another. It’s the only way you will know what and how something needs to be done.
The supervisor needs to convey the priorities on the job. The person back at the office needs to alert the crews if there is a new job or an emergency job that comes up and communicate with those in the field.
Communication is what will build teamwork more than anything. Without that, it’s going to fail.
YOUR TEAM
How do you build teamwork at your company? I’d like to hear your solutions and examples. Or if you have any tips on how to win at Mario Party! Email me at editor@plumbermag.com or call me at 715-350-8436.
Enjoy this issue!
