Teambuilding Not Working? Try This Instead
Photo by Mario Heller on Unsplash
Picture this: You’re looking for a way to increase collaboration, trust & engagement in your team. Maybe there’s a little bit of conflict or tension between certain people. So what do you do? You call Ted the Dude at Teambuilding Inc and he helps you arrange your annual teambuilding workshop.
“Great!” You think. “That’ll fix it!” And it does, temporarily at least. But you can’t help but wonder why it isn’t more effective. I’m here to tell you how you can team build more effectively.
You see, a strong team bond is not formed overnight. Not to mention like any relationship, team relationships require maintenance and work. So even though you will provide your team with some great memories and probably some shared laughter, the benefit of occasional team building does not hold up against the everyday stresses and tensions from work.
Connections and bonds have to be made within the work environment - team engagement and connection have to be ingrained into organizational culture as an everyday occurrence. This means whatever your budget was for your annual team building would be more effectively used consistently throughout the year. However, if your team building budget is lacking, we’ve got a few ways to increase the connection within your team for little to nothing.
How do you create an effective team?
Connection builds trust & engagement. In a remote setting, it can be especially hard to build this connection, since everyday interactions need to be more intentionally planned. Simon Sinek’s team demonstrates a wonderful example of meaningfully connecting remotely through their weekly huddle. At Warmspace, we allow you to automatically run this type of gathering without needing you to develop any facilitation skills - learn more here. Otherwise, here are a few cost-effective & easy ways you can team build using everyday interactions:
Have Meaningful Conversations
Having a conversation costs nothing - having an effective, guided conversation that was designed to facilitate connection and trust costs as little as $1 a day with Ignite. You can start with a 5-minute check-in every morning or at the beginning of a meeting.
Check-in with your team:
How are they doing?
What are they working on?
What are their goals for the day?
Do they need any support?
This openness in communication creates trust through transparency. You can focus specifically on “How are you now, really?” As a question to check in - and allow for vulnerability when an answer is given. Vulnerability is the key to connection.
Just a small view into a person’s day allows others to know a little more about them. It might give them more information to start a conversation, or it lets them know that person is very busy and to maybe not try sit at their desk and chat: that’ll help them avoid conflict.
Look into How Your Team Communicates
Everyone has a preference for communication - whether it’s video, audio, written, or face-to-face. How you communicate in the workplace and whether it’s in the way you’d prefer can affect how often and how effective your communication is.
Go through the different channels of communication that you have with your team:
Which channel is most preferred?
Which channel is least preferred?
Is there a channel that often results in miscommunication? How can you improve it?
What are the expectations for communication in each channel? (Note-taking, response time, urgency, etc)
Are there any chains of communication that could be simplified?
If in a small team, you can go through everyone’s personal preferences when it comes to communicating with them and take notes.
This may not sound like team building, but creating effective communication leaves room for more conversation and creates humans who are more willing to communicate if it’s through their preferred channel. You might also find your team will partake in some problem-solving when answering these questions and that’s always good for teamwork!
Set an Example
If connection starts with communication, you as a leader are capable of setting an example for your team. Do not underestimate the power of a bright “Good Morning!” when you come into the office (or log onto Slack), and a “Have a great evening/weekend!” when you leave every day.
Take Time to Appreciate Each Other
Who doesn’t love to feel appreciated? By creating a culture of appreciation, you can not only bring your team closer together but motivate them effectively as well. We recommend putting aside 30minutes to an hour once a week or once every other week dedicated to appreciating each other - we do this at Warmspace and we can guarantee your team will walk away feeling warm & fuzzy inside with a smile on their face.
Be specific. Make the other person feel recognized, avoid general statements like “You did great on that managing that event”. Instead try something like “I really appreciated how you took initiative with making catering arrangements for that event last week.”
Why does this create an effective team?
These simple gestures create openness and friendliness and let your team know you’re there for them and easily approachable. Reach out to people and make sure they’re okay if you see they’re stressed. Chat with your team when you’re making your coffee or having a break. There are many small gestures you can make as a leader that set a good example of positive, non-violent communication. Your team’s culture starts with you.
Congratulations, you’ve now halved your teambuilding budget and increased productivity and collaboration in your team! Success! And with the other half of the budget, you and your team are voting on how to spruce up the office.
