The Best Results Come From Working as a Team

This past weekend I was busy helping my daughter move out of her dorm room for the summer. My wife and I had driven up the night before to be able to get an early start. I was hoping that we would be able to accomplish the task in less than 2 1/2 hours so that we could get back on the road and be home at a reasonable time that afternoon. When we arrived and quickly determined how to go about the tasks that needed to be completed, I was surprised at what transpired next.We each knew what we needed to do. I would be the one grabbing all of the big items and loading the cars up with the different pieces from her room. My wife and daughter would begin cleaning the room while gathering the remaining items that had not yet been packed up.Initially, we only had a small hand-truck to use to help move the larger items. I started with the small fridge and microwave and began the rather lengthy journey between her room and our cars. As my daughter completed her piece, she then began to make the trips back and forth with me to the cars as they quickly filled up. It was hard to believe it all fit when we brought it up at the start of the semester.In what seemed like a short time, we had her room packed up and it was cleaned and ready to turn back over to the school. To my amazement this process that I had hoped could be completed in 2 1/2 hours had only taken an hour to complete. It was a pleasant surprise but demonstrated the power and effectiveness of working together as a team.As we enjoyed our reward, a trip to the campus Starbucks, I thought about how this same principle can apply to most aspects of our professional lives as well. I have identified three critical steps that can lead to success as a team:

Have a Plan

I know I have spoken about the importance of having a plan before and how critical it is to begin with the end in mind. Before we lifted the first box we assessed the situation, what would need to be moved first, and how we could go about it best. Even something as simple as moving stuff from the room to the hallway so we could each work in our own areas made a difference in getting to work in the most efficient way. We knew which car would be loaded first and how we would move each item.

Everyone Plays Their Role

Next, we got to work. We had the plan, so it was a matter of getting started. When we discovered that another moving cart was available from the school, we utilized that and updated the plan. But, it never changed the fact that each of knew what we needed to do and we did it.

Support One Another Along the Way

I saw this aspect play out in two different ways as we worked. First, as we were all working we would pause for brief moments to laugh about something or recognize what the other was doing so far. It could be as simple as asking each other, “how’s it going so far?” It was a way to break up the work a bit, but as important, it was a good way to get a progress report and encourage each other to keep moving.Second, as my daughter finished up what we had started on, she jumped in to help me make trips down to the cars. She didn’t stand around and celebrate her completion, she saw what was next on the plan and continued to work at getting the overall project completed, not just her part.As we made our final assessment of the room and what was left, my wife had wrapped up her cleaning. In a moment of both excitement and amazement, I asked, “Are we done?” We all smiled at the answer to that question and realized how quickly we had completed our task. We took the final load of items out together, including the trash and cleaning supplies and waved goodbye to my daughters room for the summer.The beauty of this played out again, equally well and even more quickly when we arrived home and my son joined the team to help unload. We had a plan of where everything would be stored, we had our roles to play, and we had some fun working together to get the two cars unloaded in less than 30 minutes. This is a simple example of how teamwork comes into play, but it no doubt can be repeated in any setting, for any business to ensure quality, efficient successes for your projects.Share your team stories of success in the comments section.Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash