Many leaders and managers are looking for new methods to invigorate their teams, precisely detect and eradicate reoccurring obstacles, and help employees handle their problems with empathy, which has been a difficulty for many in recent months.
According to a ten-year survey of more than 200,000 employees, a lack of respect and poor team communication are major reasons for 79 percent of employees quitting their positions.
Organizing a team and making them work together more harmoniously should be a top priority of most employees. Thankfully, there are several different strategies that can be implemented with the purpose of achieving that goal.
Make everyone aware of the importance of their colleague’s work
Employees in a company are frequently unable to see how their activities contribute to the organization’s overall goals. As a result, effective team leaders communicate to employees that they appreciate their contributions and initiatives because the organization benefits from their participation. They also signal that employee satisfaction, not simply productivity, is vital to them.
With this in mind, you can also make everyone else aware of the responsibility their colleagues share and what kind of work they do. Once you spread awareness of how each individual is equally important for the company to function well and how one setback at the beginning of the process can affect the rest, most employees will develop a sense of collective responsibility and respect towards their peers. If successful, your employees will practically govern themselves and do so with the purpose of making the whole company work like a well-oiled machine.
You may provide a tour of the company or host a small meeting with the goal of introducing all of the different departments to everyone who works there. The strategy is based on basic psychology, as humans are generally empathic individuals who, once aware of how their work impacts others, want to make it more harmonious with them.
Introduce team building activities
An interesting concept that has emerged in the last few years has been the introduction of team-building activities. These activities are nothing like the well-known Christmas parties you host every year, and their purpose is to make your employees close to each other and let them work in teams to win the game. Big companies have already made it an annual event, and during mid-July or the beginning of August, all employees are usually welcomed to an outdoor activity gathering with food, drinks, and a wide range of different games.
These games are most competitive in nature, making them even more interesting for the participants, and often a reward for the best team is included in the program, thereby stimulating their motivation. Some very common outdoor activities to build teamwork are basketball, volleyball, egg walking, scavenger hunts, and maybe rope pulling. You can also include some individual games which can be played one-on-one or two-on-two, such as archery or Jenga. The whole purpose of these games is to create a more intimate bond between the employees and to make the whole experience a lot more interesting. These games often promote logical thinking, and to score a win, you must work together with your partners. If your employees bring back half of the communication they had while playing the games back into the office, you’ll see a drastic increase in productivity.
Let them be more creative
It is important to share ideas and common thoughts, and therefore, let your employees have gatherings in the conference room where they can discuss new ideas and maybe share some creative plans on how the company should keep on operating. This process makes them closer and more intimate and lets them have an insight into the way their co-workers are thinking. It can, as a result, create a more harmonious and better working environment.
Sharing is caring
We highly recommend implementing practices such as “Secret Sante”, as your employees will develop a sense of affiliation, and sharing gifts with their co-workers might even create a more pleasant working environment. You can try this, or you could also go on “humanitarian walks” where everyone is participating in some sort of activity that has the purpose of giving back to the community. This can be done by volunteering in the public kitchen during the Christmas season or maybe picking up the trash around the city. Hopefully, they will also develop a sense of responsibility towards the community and their co-workers as well.
Giving employees some autonomy in the way they do business will have a strong impact on their motivation. In today’s business world, a great leader’s responsibility is to define individual and team goals collectively, but also to let the team or individuals decide how they will achieve those goals. It just takes a little faith.
