Building an Effective Team
During my time in the workforce, I’ve had a front row seat to many different changes; the integration of technology, the importance of well-being/mental health, flexible working arrangements, and the overall diversity in the workplace in terms of race, religion, culture and generation, to name a few. While it may be less common, one of the pivotal changes I’ve witnessed in the workplace is the evolution of teamwork. For me, I believe the definition of teamwork holds true, but in today’s world teamwork looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago.
Take my team for example, I lead Baird’s Fixed Income Capital Markets Resource Team which is comprised of professionals that are experts in their respective areas and possess specific knowledge to support the unique needs of the business. My team is dedicated to serving the day-to-day operational activities, working on strategic projects, and collaborating within our fixed income business, specializing in the following areas: compliance and regulations, finance, marketing, operations, real estate, and technology. You may be wondering what a compliance professional, a marketing specialist, and an operations analyst have to talk about and why they sit on the same team. And I promise this is not the set up to a joke! However, you would be surprised by the positive outcomes driven simply by idea and information sharing via this type of cross-functional teamwork.
Today, teams are built differently. Not only is it critical to have a strong team, but now the stakes are higher, and your team members also need to be able to work outside of your direct team with several other areas and individuals, both inside and outside of your organization. Additionally, while individuals are traditionally trained solely to be experts in their area of focus, they are now expected to know a little bit about the expertise of the other professionals on their team to be able to field questions appropriately, and loop in the necessary personnel.
If you are looking to build a highly effective team, I found this article to be particularly thought provoking, especially around clarity of goals. I’ve seen my next generation colleagues become increasingly focused on why we are doing what we are doing and asking incredibly insightful questions. This curiosity is a welcomed change, and I much prefer it rather than just doing the job the way that it has always been done.
When I think about my team, I’m thankful to partner with fellow associates who are experts in their craft, who care about serving our clients and each other and are fun to spend time with.