The human race today, in spite of all its fall backs, has evolved into a species that possess the conscious ability to choose where it wants to head. Across millennia’s it has been our superior cognitive response to our surroundings that has enabled us to be responsible of our actions. Our ability to act beyond our instinctual impulses has helped build a partnership society where every individual feels connected to the whole and to each other. We’ve found the ability to understand our differences and work together as one unit for a common purpose. All through generations, people have achieved great feats of change being unified by a single purpose. The motivation to connect and be driven towards growth has helped us collectively grow beyond the threshold. People with varying skills and ideas have often been able to look beyond just their own personal goals but rather connected it a common vision of change to come together to build effective teams.

In our present day structure of cubical functioning, there is a need to bring people together with a vision.  It isn’t necessarily limited to a goal mentioned in some meeting. It’s more than that. It is what permeates into the very functioning of the team. A way that is not only reflected in the results it gets but also in the zeal and the passion to reach there. In today’s modern way of working, it is easier to miss out on the tiny details when compared to the larger picture. One such example is that of how, often, the trivialities of team building often get side-stepped. Focusing at the bigger picture of improving performance or driving growth, managers usually forget to take into consideration the nuances of team building. In order to assist managers with this, there needs be an organizational framework that guarantees managers are ensuring effective team building. This is where the company culture plays a huge role in driving team building and collaboration to achieve high levels of productivity. 

Most business leaders today agree that their company culture has a significant impact on the bottom line performance of the company. It is important that the company culture addresses the following components of effective teams.

Autonomy with Association 

The thing about uniting people is that it’s not so much about removing the things that make our employees different. The role of the HR is to strengthen a culture that does not to boil down the differences. The aim is not to make multiple copies of the same. Rather, it is to build a healthy functioning work space which celebrates difference yet unites them with the purpose. Only then can every given employee in the organisation can perform true to their capabilities. It also requires understanding how and where, who can be effective. The team would be more driven if their individual autonomy remains untouched while they build a powerful association with organisation. 

Shared responsibility for Common goal 

The way to build a collective sense of responsibility of employees in the work that they do it is usually a simple procedure of assigning roles. But building strategic openings in the feedback loop for the employees leads to a higher “buy-in” in the work that they are involved in. Including employees’ suggestions on important decisions has two folded effect. The work gets reviewed by a fresh set group that knows the nuts and bolts much better while at the same time the employees have a higher stake in the work that they are attached with.  

Strong leadership 

Besides building a cohesive environment and encouraging employee feedback, a strong human resource management style is marked by identification and promotion of strong leadership qualities. A transformative leadership acts as an auto motivator and is helpful in pulling the team together in tough times.  A leader who collaborates with employees to identify the needed change, creates a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executes the change in along with committed members of the group helps enhance the motivation, morale, and job performance of the employees. This is done by connecting the employees’ sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; by being a role model in order to inspire them and raise their interest in the project. By challenging the employees to take greater ownership on their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses, allows the leader to align the employees with tasks that enhance their performance.

Transparency and Accountability 

The last step of this journey lies with adding the final ingredient to create the perfect dish. Transparency is the key when it comes to bringing people together asking them to perform to the best of their abilities. An effective HR strategy is to promote a transparent system of rewards and penalties and establish a clear understanding of accountability within the team members. This helps build the employees confidence in the functioning of the organisation. 

Culture is an ecosystem

An ecosystem that supports team building on these lines helps managements to achieve the most out of the talent within the organization. To strive for excellence is to deliver quality output. And this is only possible with the team of people who are motivated to put forward their best. But there is no silver bullet with HR professionals to build the perfect organisational culture. With that advent of people analytics, HR now has the scope of introducing data backed research into what has traditionally been an intuitive process. HR professionals can now make better decisions regarding the elements of company culture; to make decisions regarding what to chuck and what to keep. This becomes imperative as these elements together define the culture. The elements of culture interact with and reinforce each other. Many such components then boil down to individuals to set the right expectations and boundaries of team buildings. 

Hence it becomes a prerogative of HR to keep pulling out elements of its corporate culture which, due to changing business environment, have become obsolete. This evolution helps organizations to keep pace with the changing workforce composition and keep them engaged and motivated. To help employees know that in spite of their differences, there exists a larger picture where each one them has portion to paint. Success isn’t always the most symmetrical looking picture. Sometimes it’s a collage of individual expression that has been successfully put together to create something beautiful.