A cross-functional team is essentially a group of people who have different skills but are working toward shared objectives. Most workers have been part of a cross-functional team at some point, even if only for a short time. For others, it may even be a regular occurrence.

For decades, people have tried to figure out how to encourage collaboration, how to make people work together more effectively.

Keeping your team motivated can be tough. In fact, only 13% of employees feel actively engaged across the globe. That's a tough number to contend with.

Building a great team of employees is hard work. Finding the right skills, knowledge, and personalities to successfully work together (and then keep them together) is a huge accomplishment. And the process of building a better team doesn’t end there. The next step is help your employees develop their leadership skills. This can be more difficult than it seems.

Online collaboration tools have made it easier than ever to coordinate work between teams, regardless of where they’re located. That, however, hasn’t eliminated the need to create better teamwork. Just like people who work side by side in the same office, remote teams need to be nurtured so that misunderstandings are minimized and communication is improved. Find out the keys to making your teams more successful.

Management books are filled with mentions of teamwork, and the importance of having employees work well together as a team is well understood. The problem is how to make it happen. Generally, the focus is on how managers can bring their teams together. What people forget is that managers themselves are a critical part of the team. Here are ways to make sure you aren’t the missing link in your team.

Many managers strive to be better leaders with ambitions that go beyond even those lofty aspirations of reducing employee turnover and improving staff productivity. Many of us, though, don’t know how to go about making those change. Here are ways that you can connect with your team and improve their teamwork.