I’ve seen it happen many times.

Both of my daughters played hockey growing up, and I’ve seen their teams lose important games because the teams stopped acting like teams.

It usually goes like this: the team is behind on the scoreboard, and can’t seem to generate any offence. So instead of passing the puck, the players try to do everything all by themselves. The forwards try to hang onto the puck and get to the net, ignoring the teammate who is wide open to receive it and take a shot. The defence rush with the puck, trying to skate through the entire other team on their way to the net, but getting beaten by their opponents. And what inevitably happens is that these efforts fail, no goals are scored, and the game is lost.

This happens because hockey is a team sport. It’s not an individual sport. There are six people on the ice at a time, and they’re all supposed to contribute. This means passing to each other, playing your position, communicating with each other, and supporting each other. Teams are better when they play together as a team.

This also applies to small businesses. If an individual could do all of the jobs at a company by themselves, they wouldn’t need a staff. When an organization does have a number of staff members, they should all have the ability to contribute.

This makes sense on several levels, as teamwork offers many advantages to a workplace.

Like the old adage, “two heads are better than one,” gathering input from those on the front lines, and discussing and analyzing it will generate ideas, solve problems, and provide learning opportunities. This helps keeps employees engaged and makes them feel valuable, which in turn makes them more productive.

All of this builds morale and increases the job satisfaction of employees, leading to staff members who are more efficient, more effective, and who produce higher quality work.

Whether your team is on the ice or in an office, working together makes everyone better, and produces the results that you desire.

Velsoft offers several courses that can help businesses improve their teamwork: Team Building, Building Better Teams, Being a Team Player, and Collaboration are a few of them. Get these courses today and begin training that benefits everyone in the workplace.