Today, quality initiatives, superior service, cost of doing business and succeeding at doing business are commonly shared ownership issues. However, reliance on individual experience and competencies and even greater reliance on fragmented cross-organisational work units can actually prove prohibitive to achieving these.

Proven, positive strategies should be applied to influence people to work together towards end results, common purpose and mutual gain. These strategies are gaining solid ground and are supporting the overall organisational framework goals. It is a fact that businesses of all sizes experience greater tangible payoffs and reach levels of optimal productivity when people work together.

Teamwork is all about spirit, attitude and enthusiasm. In the corporate sense, people are more inclined to buy into quality outcomes; it gives everyone a sense of pride and companies realize the positive effects on the bottom line.

From the earliest days of civilization the hunters and gatherers demonstrated effectively how working in groups brought greater abundance into their lives. The underlying strength behind every team is the diversity each member brings to it. This blending of talent, attributes and experience supports a common and shared sense of purpose, that being for the betterment of the business. Teams become efficient and effective in accomplishing work and achieving results. They become effective at doing the right things and efficient at doing things right.

Team members become empowered through this commitment to participate; more co-operative through their intra-dependency and involvement, more communicative and informed - which raises their level of contribution overall. This type of involvement and participation ensures and strengthens a commitment to corporate values and vision. They see the bigger picture and realise their role is an integral part of reaching corporate objectives. Teams ultimately become accountable and responsible to implement, measure and monitor results. A current job description for a team member could read as follows: “Use your head” and “Make yourself valuable”.

Successful results and attainment of ownership goals are testimony to the impact that teams and teamwork have to produce significant gains in productivity and business successes. Action plans are needed to build team concepts. Action plans take into consideration the values that drive the business and the strategies necessary to support them. Team concepts are thriving, strong and continually striving to develop people in the pursuit of growth and prosperity.

A ctual	T ogether
C ommitment	E everyone
T o	A chieves
I mprove	M ore
O perations
N ow

Action principles at work to give you more:

L earning
I ntegral
F undamental
E mpowerment

If you would like more information on Action International and the meeting and training facilities available at GUINNESS Storehouse, call us on +353 1 408 4800 or email Deirdre at deirdre.m.o’brien@diageo.com.