A workplace lives and dies on the synergy and cooperation of its employees. A cooperative, functioning team leads to increased productivity, more efficient problem solving and a fairer distribution of responsibilities. There is no one right way to boost teamwork in the workplace. As every team is different and every team member is an individual, you might have to try a few different methods before you find what works for your workplace.
Check out our recommendations to boost teamwork with your team.
Set goals
To get a handle on how everyone on your team should be spending their time, you have to step back and think about what exactly you want your team to be working on. Outline key goals and analyze your team’s capacity to execute on them. This will help you decide what people should be working on and what they shouldn’t and accomplish more by committing to less. It’s your job to set boundaries.
Clarify expectations
The next step is meeting with your team members one-on-one to communicate the priorities and expectations for their respective roles. Tell them the top two or three areas where you want them to focus. Help them to understand the quality of the work you’re expecting.
Give team members autonomy
The key to improving individual productivity is to eliminate or delegate unimportant tasks and replace them with value-added ones. So give your employees permission to make decisions on which meetings they attend or skip, which email lists they are party to, and which responsibilities they hand off. We recommend you encouraging them to block out large chunks of time on their calendars to get their day-to-day work done, as well as smaller chunks for fixed expenses like daily planning, email, and other maintenance chores.
Build up trust and respect
Nothing is going to get done within a team, or company as a whole, if there isn’t mutual trust and respect among employees and with management. Team members must trust each other to each do their part as well as trust their leaders to be guiding them in the right direction.
Cultivate open communication
Encourage team members to speak open, share ideas, make suggestions and voice their opinions across all aspects of the business. Communication is a two-way street and employees should feel like they can add to the conversation both with superiors and peers.
