“Teamwork is the foundation that not only shapes my day-to-day activities, but is also a key element of the company’s carefully built culture. I believe that the strength of a team translates directly into the company’s ability to achieve its goals and contribute to our collective growth. This belief is reflected not only in our client relationships, but also in the way we work together on a daily basis.
⚖️ Gilbert’s Law
One of the most important aspects of teamwork is clear communication and expectations. There is a simple principle in this regard called “Gilbert’s Law”, which states that “the biggest problem in work is that no one tells you what to do”.
The manifesto of Gilbert Lafayette Laws, an American politician and businessman at the turn of the 20th century, means that not only is self-reliance crucial in the workplace, but so is removing barriers to communication and collaboration. A lack of clearly defined roles or responsibilities can lead to confusion, decreased motivation and efficiency, which can have a negative impact on business results.
🙊 No one’s talking, so I won’t ask.
In the context of Gilbert’s Law, business leaders and managers are challenged not only to clearly communicate job expectations, but also to engage employees in dialogue.
In fact, 86% of employees and managers cite a lack of effective collaboration and communication as a major reason for failure at work.
Transparent and open communication allows all team members to have access to the same knowledge, context and information about tasks and the current state of the business. However, when a company’s communication is primarily one-way and team members do not express their concerns, needs, or ask questions about their work, it becomes a serious challenge to the company’s organizational culture and operations.
If an organization encourages two-way communication, but teams do not engage in it for various reasons, there can be a number of negative consequences. Both for the organization and for the employees themselves. When teams do not provide feedback or ask questions, the organization loses the opportunity to verify that the information it is providing is understood and interpreted correctly. The lack of two-way verification means that even inaccuracies or misunderstandings can quickly turn into rumors or misinformation. In addition, team members who do not actively communicate deprive themselves of the opportunity to influence their work environment.
🙋🏻 It is impossible to extract information by force, but we can always try to ask.
To help teams get as much information as possible and to give me feedback, as CEO I try to have as much contact as possible with everyone in the company.
I end each of my meetings by ensuring that we’ve exhausted all the topics for discussion and that no one has anything else to share with me. I also make sure that team members are not afraid to ask for help. When they do, I try to ensure that my promises are not just empty declarations, and I try to bring the topics I am involved in to a conclusion.
💬 “Conversations about…” in the organization are the foundation.
At Inwedo, one of our priorities is to promote dialog and gather information from teams, with an emphasis on communication as a key part of our culture.
To break down barriers caused by the fear of expressing needs and opinions, we have introduced a series of conversations within the company that are part of this strategy of being a collaborative place. They allow us to:
- look at collaboration from a broader perspective,
- focus on personal development
- share opinions about the organization.
All conversations take place periodically throughout the year.
Conversations about collaboration.
Conversations about collaboration are a process of gathering input with the goal of:
- share insights from collaboration,
- find out how the rest of the team works with us,
- think about how we can improve the comfort level of team activities.
It is also a place to express your opinion about the company and how we are doing at Inwedo.
Conversations about development
Creating development paths for our team members is one of the best decisions we have made as an organization. They provide a framework that sets the direction of development, allowing us to develop competencies, acquire new roles and advance. They define achievable levels, roles, and badges, and indicate what competencies are required to advance to a higher level or earn a badge.
Conversations about development focus on these pathways. This is the time to analyze elements of our daily work, identifying our strengths and those aspects that need improvement. In this way, we can precisely define development directions and tasks, supporting both personal growth and the development of the entire organization.
Conversations about the organization
In this conversations, we focus on gathering information and discussing our experiences in the organization. This is a time of deep reflection, when we consider what we can improve. It is also a time for teams to express concerns or ask questions.
In addition, without waiting for these meetings, every month we provide an anonymous form for the entire company. This allows us to report problems, challenges, or positive aspects of our work that need to be developed so that we can continuously improve and grow the organization.
Conclusions
Team cooperation and optimization of the work environment are key to the efficiency of the correct functioning of teams. In addition to individual development, it is important to create and maintain processes that support communication and effective collaboration.
Thanks to our focus on these aspects, we have received certifications such as ISO, Great Place to Work, the Family Friendly Company award, and our operations have been recognized in the FT1000 2024 ranking as one of the fastest growing companies in Europe.
