Top Tips To Bring Your Team Together

Bringing your team together is vital if you want your business to thrive. If your team is not good at working together, you will+ find that miscommunication happens more often and that the productivity of the department as a whole is lower. Here are some of the best tips that you can follow to help your team to grow closer and to cultivate teamwork and good working relationships between each other.

·        Try Team-Building Activities

If your team is struggling to connect and you believe that it is time to intervene, you should consider using team-building exercises to help your employees to develop relationships through shared experiences. Team-building activities can get your team to work together and can ensure that they get to know each other outside of work in a fun and engaging way, and there are many team-building activities that your team can enjoy both within a normal workday and on corporate trips. For instance, you might opt for corporate adventures such as glamping experiences that can help your team to become one with the wilderness (and each other) over the course of a weekend. Your team will then leave the trip feeling inspired, and this will affect their work ethic and their relationships when they return to the office.

·        Open Communication

It is highly unlikely that your team will work well together, or even know each other, without being able to talk to each other. So, you should make sure that your team can always talk to one another even if they are not in the office. For instance, you should consider creating a group chat on platforms such as WhatsApp for your colleagues, as this will enable them to share information and chat together. Some companies even use social media platforms that have been developed for employees and teams, which can encourage the social culture of your company and can allow them to share everything from their hobbies to their pets with the other people working at your company. If you run a retail business, you might also consider giving out personal two-way radios that can allow your employees to ask for help and share knowledge when they need to, instead of people working completely independently within the workplace.

·        Look After Your Employees

It is unlikely that your employees will be open to friendship or engaging with other team members if they are unhappy at work. Therefore, you should make sure that everyone has a smile on their face as often as possible by doing your best to look after the employees that work for you. For instance, you should ensure that you give them ample benefits, such as medical care, and that you allow them to take time off when they need it. You should make sure that you have policies in place to stamp out bullying and harassment, and you should make sure that everyone is paid what they deserve to be, and that pay is equal, as this can prevent resentment from building up within your team. By doing this, your employees are much more likely to want to connect with others at work.

·        Develop a Company Culture

Creating a company culture is important if you want your team to be productive and work together well. There are a series of steps that you can take to develop this company culture. For instance, you should make sure that you discuss your values, mission, and expectations with your employees and ensure that you are investing in their progression and futures. You should also make sure that you exemplify great leadership and teamwork and that you work with your employees to create the company of your dreams.

·        Give Them Breaks

If you want to bring your team together and ensure that they work well, you need to ensure that they have ample time to talk to one another and connect with the other people in their team. Instead of trying to force them to do this during their working time, when it is likely that they will be focused on the work that is in front of them, you should instead give your employees frequent breaks and allow multiple people to go on a break at the same time. By doing this, you will be giving them a chance to chat around the water cooler and to develop personal relationships that are not simply embedded in the work that they do or certain projects that they need to collaborate on.

·        Hire the Right Employees

However, bringing your team together starts long before you get your team in your office, and instead starts when you are looking to hire new staff. Hiring the right employees is important if you want to have a close team dynamic, as some people are better at working with others and are more social than others. Therefore, you should make sure that you are careful about who you select at the interview stage and throughout the recruitment process and that you find team members who are confident, as well as those who have experience working in a team environment.

·        Hold Team Meetings

You should also consider hosting team meetings where all your team can come together and interact for the benefit of your business. Whether you discuss important news and ask for your employee’s collaborative ideas on certain projects, or whether you simply gather them together to discuss the day ahead, a quick 20-25 minute meeting can be the solution to all of your problems with engagement and teamwork within the workplace. This is because it can encourage your employees to think of themselves as a team who are working together to run and improve your business.

Instead of constantly worrying that your team is not working together efficiently, you should take proactive steps to help them to grow closer and to want to collaborate and work as a team. Whether you host team meetings or use team-building activities, there are plenty of ways that you can make your business a friendly and productive workplace for all.