A Helpful Guide to Group Cohesion
Anyone who supervises or manages a group of employees understands the challenges associated with getting projects completed. Even the most experienced and professional staff members find it difficult to work together. Sometimes this is a matter of differing personalities, and other times proper communication channels are missing. This is why finding effective ways to establish teams and to enhance them is critical to business objectives and group cohesion efforts.
There are great team building activities that can be used to establish productive relationships at work. Offsite events, such as training sessions or even mini-retreats are effective partly because they occur away from the office.
According to Huff Post, team members are not the only ones to benefit from these activities or trips away. Team leaders and managers get the opportunity to build their own skills when it comes to overseeing a group’s productivity. This is a good strategy to use no matter whether this is your first team or a way to motivate an existing team. Today, there are many leaders in this category that will be remotely supervising employees. The same approaches necessary to encourage staff are the same.
Along with inspiring your team to work together in a cohesive manner, these activities and exercises hold multiple benefits. They highlight problems that may exist between team members or holes in the group’s efficiency. Games, real-life examples, presentations, and even sports activities are commonly used to train teams. There are even software products that can be utilized for these purposes. Here are some ways that you can reinforce your team and their productivity goals:
Select Members Critically
Small, medium and large companies require that their employees work together on a daily basis. In some cases, these are teams that are performing tasks to complete projects. There are other members of the staff that serve in support roles for these objectives. No matter what the specific role, it is a healthy goal to have everyone on the same page as it relates to company goals.
Many office environments operate quickly and don’t offer enough time for employees to connect. This is one of the reasons why team building has become so important. Selecting the members of any team means looking at not only their experience. Commitment to the company and effective communication skills should be paramount to the recruitment process.
Plan Training Events
Entrepreneur, a corporate online resource, recommends that team building activities be both healthy and fun, as well. These can be planned well in advance so that leaders can gather supplies and apparel. Custom printed tees for individual teams are terrific takeaway gifts for employees. At the same time, if they are designed in different colors, you can arrange games, karaoke, and fun activities based on these.
This resource states that corporate wellness programs have become an 8 billion dollar industry. These are programs that are employed for improving professional relationships in addition to overall wellness. They can also be tools that promote physical and mental wellness in the workplace, which is a part of the objective.
Make the Mission Clear
Forbes says that structure and clarity are very important for any workplace, despite the field or the industry. This process involves ensuring that you as a team leader make the mission clear to staff and teams. In some instances, planning activities away from the office is instrumental in this process. It is important that your expectations are understood and that they are realistic.
Team leaders must also be certain that their staff members have the resources that they need to complete these projects. This might mean purchasing the right equipment or software for this work. Additional or supplemental training could be required for employees to meet your expectations. All of this is critical to get the results that you want from team building activities and building group cohesion for a team.
Establish Leaders
Even inside of a team there are other leaders that will emerge with the right encouragement. This is why practicing teamwork through planned exercises is helpful. Observing who ends up taking the lead in games, practice projects, and other tasks are important. These are individuals that assist team leaders and managers when it comes to getting things done.
The responsibilities and activities that you practice offsite will eventually be conducted in the actual work environment. Some businesses and companies schedule week-long retreats for these objectives and team building. Meal training sessions for your team are also possible and cost a lot less to schedule. It is important to remember that the more leaders you establish the more things you can delegate.
Incorporate Physical Activity
As mentioned before, group cohesive workplaces are successful when employees are healthy all-around. Incorporating physical activities in the training process is something that promotes health and teamwork at the same time. Races, building projects, team sports, and obstacle courses are just a few examples in this category. Some events even include paintball games with several teams playing against each other.
One report encouraged team leaders to continue with connections after these activities have taken place. A simple email per month goes a long way to establishing these relationships and steering productivity at work. It is possible to maximize physical activity components of this training to create groups that meet regularly. This is an ongoing and effective approach to reinforcing teamwork.
Provide Real Motivation
Everyone loves to win a prize. This type of real motivation can be used in team-building exercises. Timed activities, such as puzzles or sports are great tools for improving employee efficiency. Awarding the top 3 fastest employees or teams can really motivate and engage your staff.
This is one reason why businesses and companies plan these sorts of activities annually. These sometimes take place at popular resort locations. It is possible to bring a trainer into your onsite board room for team building, as well. The ultimate goal is to enhance your staff and to create a better and more productive environment for them to work in.
Explain the Vision
Experts say that employees are more engaged to work on projects when they know what the vision happens to be. This might be a personal vision that affects their unique career goals and objectives. It may be to understand the company’s plans for the future. Working together towards a common goal is a strategy that has worked for major companies for decades.
Team leaders are expected to not only complete projects themselves but to also ensure that teams are successful. This takes proper management, communications, and a group cohesive workflow structure, which is why team building is critical. Fortunately for these leaders, there are unique ways to achieve these objectives both at your office and at a retreat location.
