How to improve the ethos of teamwork in your company
If you’re a company owner or manager, one of the greatest assets you have is your staff. In fact, many experts would argue that employees are a firm’s most important asset, far beyond anything else it possesses.
Having your staff work in harmony with each other is essential for the smooth operation of your firm to turn the maximum profit while also improving employee happiness and job satisfaction. Teamwork is an integral part of most companies so you should do everything you can to improve the chances of your staff working well together.
Here are just a few ideas that could help you improve the ethos of teamwork in your firm while also helping your employees work better together.
Make sure your workplace well-suited to teamworking
In recent years, the trend for isolating staff in private cubicles that was so prevalent in the 80s has been replaced with much more open-plan layouts, allowing employees to collaborate better on projects. Your office environment should be an open and welcoming space – somewhere the facilitates group communication.
In addition to making sure your office encourages group interaction, also think of taking a more flexible approach to work hours and locations. The recent lockdowns caused by Coronavirus have proven that staff can work equally well from home, and most industry experts believe the world of work has now changed forever.
As we slowly start to emerge from the worst of the virus, your staff will likely expect to be allowed to remote-work more, so think of ways you can enhance the experience and make it easier for them to work collaboratively, but also remotely.
Installing specific apps and software for task management can allow employees to stay on top of projects and responsibilities from any location in the world. As an added benefit, the effective use of software in your company will also bring significant opportunities for you to employ freelancers, which, in turn, could help diversify the skill base of your team.
Ensure you encourage communication among your staff
Effective teamwork is all about the communication of ideas to find new solutions, so be sure to encourage your staff to talk openly with one another and to not be afraid to flag up issues if or when they occur. You should look to holding weekly or daily meetings so you can hear all the opinions of your staff. However, be sure to take their valuable feedback on board and act upon it.
Foster out-of-work friendships, meetings, and nights out
Very often, the strongest relationships we form through life are made through work associations but just talking about job issues endlessly is unlikely to form that common, familial bond most companies hope to instill in their staff.
To help foster stronger relationships among your team, think about holding informal staff lunches, nights out, or other ex-curricular activities to help solidify the already-strong relationships and let your employees explore each other’s personalities in a more out-of-work setting. Team-building days and events are also a great way for workers to get to know one another better.