What are principles ?
Personal perspective vs Team perspective
Principles are basic ideas or rules that explain or control how something works or happens and influences the actions of a person or group of people working in a team. It can also be personal, as one that you stick to in your life, the thing is it should not confront the principles of your team or organization you are in, otherwise you will feel exhausted and wrong. Establishing a set of principles creates a compass to which a team can refer in every choice. Principles can ultimately drive your team’s values and goals.Principles give the team the efficiency, democracy, clarity, and a shared purpose, and become a stronger motivator for people than deadlines and to-do lists. For example, principles can be a list of values and rules set by a group of people, or an established set of an international company.
What principles are based on?
Principles of team work are based on the individual values of each team. The main of them can be common for a lot of teams. For instance, collaboration, self-development, balance, positive thinking, responsibility, trust, friendship. But every team is a unique and individual system with its own peculiarity. So, for example, if a key team values are traditions and stability, the principles of teamwork will be оbservance and adherence to traditions. On the other hand if team members promote creativity and open-mindness, tolerance then their special principle of team work can be openness to new.
Why do we need principles in team work?
Sometimes working in a team is a big challenge.
We all know about the benefits of teamwork and integration.The way of thinking in a group influences creativity, productivity, motivation, quality of work, speed of learning and many other things. By involving multiple people (up to 10, according to research), the number of different perspectives can give birth to a greater number of these combinations of ideas, proficiency areas, expertise and experience as well as conflicts and mental issues of each team member.
It’s important to identify the roles inside the team and manage them accordingly, assigning them the right tasks to the right people.
To manage a team efficiently and make each team member feel comfortable, listened to and purposeful, we need principles to guide the team and give a conscious perspective of interaction.
To get better acquainted with the topic and look deeper inside yourself to understand what principles really mean for you we suggest you try our self-reflection exercise after this video.