Want to build effective, system-wide and cross-boundary teamwork in your organization? The place to start is by building trust and openness with your employees by interacting with them often.

Schedule as many one-on-one meetings as possible. Learn more about your staff members. Show genuine interest in them.

Actively listening to your associates will enable you to receive feedback and ideas from your team. They will feel as a more vital part of the team as well as feeling appreciated for their contributions.

Treating your employees with respect and showing appreciation for their work will go a long way toward better understanding within your team. It also provides the example of how they should act with customers, clients. Nothing works better than personal examples.

When the team is all on the same page, focused on customer service, the result will be higher levels of productivity and increased profitability. Good teamwork inspires your employees to want to come to work and not dread it. It motivates them to work harder, produce more and become more engaged. They will treat customers like they are treated. Following are some ideas of things managers can do to support employees.

1. Develop relationships with employees.

2. Be genuine and consistent.

3. Promote an entrepreneurial spirit.

4. Lead by example, model good teamwork skills.

5. Become a mentor.

6. Provide rewards, recognition and incentives.

7. Communicate often and promote creativity.

8. Agree on goals to be accomplished.

9. Provide feedback, both positive and negative.

10. Promote and exemplify the culture of the organization.

11. Teach dependence on each other as team members.

12. Hold people accountable.

13. Recognize the talents and abilities of all team members.

Building and maintaining high performance teams should always be a high priority. Shaping your company’s culture should also be a high priority. It speaks to how you get things done and how the organization operates from within. It translates into a higher level of customer/client relationships and service.

The only way to build a company with great success and scale is to build a great team. A real leader is one who can spur his or her team members to work well together toward a common vision and goals. Andrew Carnegie said, “The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives , is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” Another successful person, Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” The famous coach, Vince Lombardi said,

“Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, civilization work.”

Teamwork gets results. It is a “win win.”

Becky Vaughn-Furlow retired from Trustmark Bank as executive vice president and human resources director. She can be contacted by emailing bvaughnfurlow@gmail.com.