I never found a professional environment that made the production of plays efficient. Teamwork is demanded, but there are very few teams.

David Rabe
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/teamwork

As you can see above with the quote, the teams that are professionally made are rare, but let’s ask the question of why? Why do we want teams that work together but yet don’t put in the time and work to have teamwork be successful? According to an article from Forbes, “The results showed that simply feeling like you’re part of a team of people working on a task makes people more motivated as they take on challenges,” the researchers say (Gaskell, 2017).

Teams do work well with each other as they hold each other more accountable, which in the Surveillance environment is needed due to the very stressful amount of work put on each agent. The stress can be dismantling to the person and can make them very vulnerable to possible depression. One example: The surveillance room can have many ego’s and attitudes that can either work well with each other or not. This also can be relevant to the millennial attitude. They want collaboration which the other generations may not like that or need it.

Now, this does not mean that all rooms are not applying the teamwork perspective, but I think most of us who take the time to evaluate the room can agree there is always room for improvement. No room can be perfect, yet with the politics of being a manager or even a director, there are certain perspectives of the staff that may have been unnoticed. I do not have the overall answer in helping the teamwork scenario, but I can say that the one thing that has worked for me in many rooms is patience, understanding, and even talking to the team routinely. Learn who your staff is and how they like to interact and don’t leave to someone else as you are responsible for your staff.

Top three items for a better surveillance room:

  1. Conduct weekly, if not monthly, audits of the room to see if they are not only doing what is required of
    them, but also to make sure they are happy.
  2. Talk to your people!!! The best way to know something is wrong is by asking.
  3. Don’t get complacent at the mood of the room. Things change, so always be weary of that.

Reference:
Gaskell, A. (2017, June 22). New Study Finds That Collaboration Drives Workplace Performance. Retrieved July 27, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2017/06/22/new-study-finds-that-collaboration-drives-workplace-performance/#df378d03d025