How to promote Teamwork in the workplace
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller There’s no doubting that, when your employees work together, as a collective unit, they are more efficient and productive than if they were to work as individuals.
1. Lead the way
As a leader, you need to embody the style that you want your team to adopt. If you want them to start working as a team, guess what? You need to promote a team working attitude within yourself.
By presenting yourself as a vision of the team you wish to build, you set an example for everyone else to follow and you’ll start to see them working together without you even having to ask.
2. Give your teams targets
Everyone in your organisation should be working towards a certain set of goals and objectives. When working as a team, this should be no different.
By setting clear guidelines of what you expect them to achieve, you’ll soon see them working as one towards a common goal.
3. Provide regular team rewards
What’s the use of having these objectives if your team are not rewarded when they hit them. One of the best ways to motivate your teams to work together is to provide a reward scheme.
It’s a good idea to include an individual award for the best team worker. This would go to the person who has shown a willingness to help out their colleagues and adopt a team working attitude.
4. Make every meeting a team meeting
One reason your staff might be hesitant to get involved with their colleagues’ work is the lack of knowledge they have around the others’ roles and projects.
If you roll this out for every meeting and include each member of your team in each others’ strategy, you’ll ensure that every team member is capable of taking on the workload of others and perform towards the business’ goals together. When your employees are aware of how each team member’s role works, they will be able, and more willing, to help.
5. Set up team-building activities
When was the last time you set up a team-building activity in the workplace? This might be where your team-working issues lie.
By seeing which members of your team work well together during these activities, you’ll be better able to place your staff in effective groups for working as teams.
6. Open up lines of communication
A team that gets along is more likely to work well together.
It’s a simple idea. You’re more inclined to work with people that you like and get along with. One of the main reasons your staff don’t want to work together is due to some underlying conflict that, for whatever reason, doesn’t get spoken about.
On the other hand, the reason your employees aren’t working as a team might not be due to an unwillingness to do so. It might come down to a lack of knowledge that the other members need help. By encouraging team members to speak up when they need assistance, and creating a culture where communication is encouraged, your employees will be more willing to help one another.
7. Consider your office layout
This one is very self-explanatory. Look at the position in which your team works, geographically from one another. Does their formation promote the team-working culture you’re looking for?
With the rise of communal workplaces, like IWG Group, we can see business leaders are looking to turn their offices into team-working environments. Will you be doing the same?
Credit to: https://www.thesuccessfactory.co.uk/blog/how-to-promote-teamwork-in-the-workplace, written by Graham Wilson.