Team spirit

TEAM SPIRIT Team spirit is hard to define - You recognise it when it's there. And you see the problems associated with its lack. Some elements of team spirit are:

		Team members know why they were chosen for the team and what skills they bring
		The team has a common purpose
		Team members all understand and pursue the same specific team targets
		Team members communicate well with each other - They get on and they get on with the job
		Team members communicate well with the parent organisation
		The organisation accepts and acts upon the team's recommendations
		There is mutual trust between the team's members

MAINTAINING AND IMPROVING TEAM SPIRIT There are many ways to improve team spirit - and morale generally - and they don't all involve weekends with a military idiom, spent in harsh landscapes .
While team building is a skill set all of its own, there are some fundamentals you should always consider:

	Equality	Treat all team members equally and with respect
	Mentor	Provide a mentor for all new team members - Use a buddy system where applicable
	Feedback	The team leader should encourage feedback both from team members and between team members
	Support	Personal difficulties should be handled positively
	Blameless	Adopt a no-blame culture
	No secrets	Make all dealings between team members, the leader and members and the team with its parent organisation transparent to everyone in the team
	Truth	Make truthfulness the backbone of every communication
	Method	Adopt a methodology and use it
	Standardise	Create standards - dress, documentation, vocabulary, time-keeping - and enforce them