As an entrepreneur, you invest in a lot of things. Be it the establishment and growth of your brand, improving your skills or your workspace, you’re always giving your time, energy and money.
But, have you ever considered investing in social relationships to build and foster them across your organization?
Collaboration between employees is the cornerstone of success and harmony in a business.
Employees in a firm have a diverse set of skill sets, working styles and interests. All this diversity can sometimes lead to conflict, ego battles and disagreements, which is totally normal, as long as they can put aside those differences and accommodate each other’s needs and skills to work in tandem towards the organizational goal.
The power of people collaborating as a team and working harmoniously surely improves productivity and the work atmosphere. It also builds professional bonds through trust and increased engagement. If people enjoy working with each other, they’re more likely to engage in meaningful discussions to open the doors to innovation.
Here are 5 ways to build collaborative teams:
1) Share The Company Mission: A Common Cause To Work Together
Employees should be well-versed with the mission and vision of the company to give them a sense of direction and unity while working on their tasks. Sharing your company’s mission regularly helps them connect closely with the goals they’re working towards. It also piques their interest and motivates them to work more efficiently, especially if the mission means something to them and compels them to take action towards fulfilling it.
2) Communicate Your Collaboration Expectations
The best way to mould the mindset of employees towards collaboration and team-work is to make it a part of company values and expectations. Clearly communicate the need and standards for collaboration from day one of an employee’s tenure at the company through their onboarding process and training workshops.
When employees are fully aware of their duties as an individual and as a team, they’ll be inclined to collaborate as they’re all responsible for the results.
3) Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
There’s a reason why a lot of firms have daily agenda meetings in the morning, in addition to weekly and monthly meetings. Daily discussions set the tone for the weekly, monthly and quarterly targets by breaking those targets into small and attainable pieces to be fulfilled every day.
Daily huddles help the employees to know their tasks for the day and for them to see how their dedicated and conscious actions every day come together at the end of a certain period of time in the form of progress and achievement.
4) Encourage Individual and Team Appreciation
All employees want to feel valued as individuals and as a team. When employees are recognised and rewarded for their unique abilities and results, they’re incentivized to work harder. Now imagine an entire team of individuals carrying this spirit and performing better daily.
When you highlight individual qualities of individuals such as leadership, public speaking, technical skills etc, the entire team reaps the rewards and works better together. All these diverse skills of individuals help the team to be a complete unit without any weak links.
5) Foster A Sense of Community
When the company’s culture harbours positivity and a sense of community among employees, they’re more likely to feel connected to their job responsibilities. This sense of belonging also reduces absenteeism and high attrition rates which helps the company save precious resources that are spent towards new hires on their recruitment, onboarding, training and integration when employees leave prematurely.
Retaining existing employees that are top performers and hiring new talents becomes easier when the company’s culture forms a solid foundation for people to work and feel a part of something bigger than themselves.
Written by Gagan Dhawan
