Teamwork is a common theme underlying the several converter features this month. From Venture Tape's product development teams to the team effort certainly required to launch a new company such as Technipac, the five converters profiled exemplify how teamwork, properly applied, can mean success for any business.

Unfortunately, the way many managers today attempt to build teams isn't very effective. A single-day retreat or an in-house training session are not cure-alls. Real teambuilding starts at your company's core and pervades every department and employee.

How can you look beyond surface issues and build a team from the inside out? According to Deborah Estes, a lecturer on learning modes and communication styles with the Estes Group, Inc., Sherman, TX, the solution should be to develop norms by which your company will operate.

"Norms are the standards or expectations individuals or groups agree to operate by while working together," Estes says. When norms are in place, productivity is maximized in a positive setting and ensures that every person feels respected and valued. Unlike rules, norms are guiding principles people voluntarily agree to follow. Estes suggests these norm-building tasks:

1. Let employees identify their own norms. Because employees are the lifeline of your organization, they should personally identify which principles are most important to them. Delve into the definition of a norm, such as "respect" or "patience," so there will be less confusion over how they should implement the norm.
2. Limit the list of norms to five or six. Implementing too many norms quickly overwhelms peoples and defeats the whole teambuilding process; using too few norms makes the process meaningless, Estes says. Prioritize your list and define the norms in positive terms. For example, "Make the customer's day" gives employees the leeway to interact with them to meet their expectations, rather than a detailed list of negatives that can hinder morale.
3. Enact the norms from top down. For any norm to take hold in your company, the CEO and executive staff must buy-in completely, Estes says. Company leaders must exemplify the essence of every norm in all they say and do. Employee behavior typically follows suit, so for norms to be successful, leaders much live them.
4. Reinforce the norms regularly. After a while, effective norms will embed themselves into your company culture through regular reinforcement. Encourage workers to discuss the norms during meetings and in how they can solve business or customer challenges, Estes says. The more consistent you are in reinforcing the norms, the faster they'll become second nature.
5. Celebrate your company's norms and the resulting success. As employees align at the core to what the company stands for, they'll work creatively together to solve challenges, Estes says. At such moments, recognize your team for a job well done or post accomplished goals on a bulletin board or via an Intranet or corporate e-mail. Such positive reinforcement of norms will keep the spirit of teambuilding alive.

In today's business world, norms are essential elements for any team. By establishing norms, the results will be a cooperative team where all members perform their best.