According to team building experts teamworksdevelopment.com.au team building is an essential part of running a successful business. Although there are numerous other factors that will impact your overall success, creating a cohesive, functioning team is extremely important.
Because of this, we’ve decided to put together a short list of our top tips for improving teamwork in your business, particularly if you are preparing to move your business, have just merged or have recently taken on some new staff. Although brief, these tips should help you develop new team building strategies to help your employees work together.
- Reward Teamwork
Rewarding teamwork is arguably the best way to encourage team building and a fully functioning employee group within your business. There are numerous ways to do this, but we’d recommend rewarding stand out employees with bonuses and/or other incentives.
Doing this will help those who work hard feel appreciated and valuable within your team. And really, you don’t even need to give monetary or physical rewards – simply mentioning someone for their exceptional teamwork and commitment will often be enough.
- Encourage Social Events
Although you might decide to use formal social events to encourage cooperation between different members of your team, it can also be a good idea to push informal meetings. Rather than forcing your employees to socialise with each other, take actions to encourage organic meetings.
For example, you could plan meetup events at bars or restaurants which aren’t compulsory. Add incentives for those who attend by offering free or discounted food or drinks.
- Create Clear Roles Within Your Business
At the same time, it’s essential to make sure that everyone is aware of their exact roles and what part they’re expected to play within your team. Rather than leaving your employees to figure things out for themselves, create documentation that outlines what each person’s job entails.
Doing this will help avoid confusion and encourage different team members to work together rather than delegating work. On top of this, new employees will know exactly where they stand in your overall business structure.
- Build Effective Communication Channels
Similarly, building strong inter-business communication channels is essential. For one, we’d highly recommend publishing an official communications policy to make sure all employees understand exactly what’s expected of them.
- Use Project Management Software
Finally, project management tools can help you streamline business processes and encourage collaboration between departments. There are literally hundreds of these tools out there, and we’d recommend exploring your options and choosing one which suits your business.
For example, many tools allow your team to communicate without face-to-face interactions. This will both increase efficiency and, in a perfect world, help people work together.
Summary
Ultimately, team building is essential if you want to build a strong business with employees who work together. A cohesive team usually results in great performance and long-term results.
Make sure that you’re encouraging informal socialising and other team building events. Consider developing a workplace communications policy, and make sure that everyone understands their role within the team.
On top of this, you should reward exceptional teamwork and use some sort of project management software to streamline business processes. Good luck!
