The fourth stage of team development is to build team cooperation and team collaboration. This is part five of a six-part series on how to develop highly effective teams. Just like previous stages of developing teamwork, this stage of leadership development is progressive. So, you will get the best results if you have already spent some time on steps one and two.

As a review, the first phase was to focus on your organization’s goals to create a shared vision for your team. When your team focuses on a common goal and sees the big picture, a collaborative environment will begin to form. The second step is to establish trust and effective communication within your team. Next, we showed you how to reduce conflicts among team members.

You will have a difficult time motivating your team if they don’t trust you or each other. In addition, you will also have a difficult time getting others to cooperate if there is a conflict. So first, make sure to spend some time building more of a team culture using the tips from the other two posts.

To Gain Team Cooperation, You First Have to Know Motivates Each Member of the Team.

If you have never read about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is a fascinating study in psychology. Dr. Maslow theorized that we have five levels of needs. The needs range from physical needs like food and water to more altruistic needs. In this theory, we all are most concerned about the lowest level of needs until those needs are satisfied. For example, if a person is thirsty and dehydrated, he or she won’t have much concern for anything else.

Over the years, psychologists have argued about the levels in the hierarchy. The actual levels and order of each level aren’t as important to this discussion as the agreement that we have a hierarchy, though. As leaders, we have to know the hierarchy of our team members and what level they are currently at. For instance, one team member may have been entirely motivated by recognition and appreciation. However, if this person’s child gets sick, the priorities change in an instant.

The point is that the tips below are time-tested ways to build a cooperative team. If the trust is high and conflicts are low, these tips should work very effectively. So, if you find some members of your team to not be as cooperative, it might be that something has happened to move them to a lower level in Maslow’s Hierarchy.

Your goal as the leader of your group of employees is to build a cooperative workplace where staff members are consistently at the highest level of this hierarchy.

Show Notes: Highly Effective Teams Are Collaborative  (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/7-valuable-ways-to-build-a-cooperative-and-effective-team/)