Most business owners know that, for a business to be as successful as possible, it needs to function as one integrated unit, instead of a bunch of different people. In simpler terms, your employees need to work together as a team.
While some employees may naturally work well together and feel inclined to form a team, that’s not always the case. Your employees aren’t always going to be people of the same age who have the same interests, so it’s unlikely that they will form a team on their own.
That’s why you need to help them work as a team. This will make it easier for you to manage them, while also helping your business be successful. Your employees may also work better in a team environment. If you want to find out how to achieve this, then keep reading.
Table of Contents
Team-building
Of course, we can’t write a post about teamwork without mentioning team-building. Teambuilding activities are often designed by professionals, with a corporate team environment in mind.
So, if you have no idea where to begin with creating a team, team-building is the way to go. There are many different forms of team-building, so you can find one that suits your business needs. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t do team-building once and expect to see huge changes. Try to do it regularly to help your employees progress in their teamwork skills. If you are worried about the potential risk of team-building during a pandemic, don’t stress – you can do virtual team-building.
Work on conflict resolution
When people see each other on a near-daily basis, there are bound to be some conflicts. Unfortunately, it’s your job to help your employees resolve these conflicts. While it may not be a fun job, if you don’t do it, it could escalate.
You need to work on your own skills when it comes to conflict resolution. You should always remain impartial; in other words, never choose a side. But you should also equip your employees with the knowledge they may need to resolve conflict. You can click here to learn more about resolving workplace conflicts.
Understand your employees’ strengths
We know we’ve been talking about how you should work on having your employees work as a team, and that is absolutely true. But you also need to understand that each employee is different, and you should keep this in mind when it comes to team-related things.
For example, some employees may be much more productive when left to their own devices. Others may get distracted by being part of a team all the time. You need to see how each employee reacts to different scenarios and build your teams with that information in mind.
Offer incentives
In an ideal world, employees would go the extra mile simply because it’s the right thing to do. However, most people don’t function that way. Many employees need some motivation to do things that they aren’t strictly required to do.
This often comes in the form of incentives, or rewards that you offer your employees for going above and beyond. In the case of teamwork, this could mean dividing employees into teams each month and rewarding the team that does best. If you’re not sure what incentives or rewards to offer, you can try some of these creative rewards.
Host regular meetings
If you and your employees never have any time to talk, there may be certain issues or conflicts that you are unaware of. Try to schedule a weekly meeting where you and your employees spend an hour just talking. Your employees can use this time to inform you of any problems or struggles they may be having, and you can all work together as a team to solve these problems. Stay focused during these meetings – don’t start talking about things that have nothing to do with work. Your goal should be to have an efficient and effective meeting.
Have rules
As with most aspects of a business, you need to have rules in place. These rules are to protect both you and your employees. You need to make sure that your employees still stay focused on their work, and don’t socialize the entire time while using the excuse of teamwork.
If your employees do work as a team, they are bound to form friendships. There is nothing wrong with this, but they need to be reminded that they should remain professional when at work, no matter what their personal relationships with each other may be.
About Carson Derrow
