6 Ways to Increase Team Spirit at Work
Great work environments don’t happen overnight, but even the best managers won’t get much done without a positive team spirit. Promoting a collaborative atmosphere helps to accomplish that goal, as well as ensuring that everyone understands where the company is going and that managers aren’t creating hidden agendas. If you’ve done the job properly, you’ll create a place where employees enjoy going to work, but also feel continually challenged to achieve excellence.
- Employ the right people
If creating an environment where team spirit is central, we should start with the employment process. When recruiting new team members, be mindful and ask questions that will focus on whether or not a candidate is a team player and will give the right energy to the team.
- Be Inclusive (Inclusiveness at work)
An incredibly important way to encourage team spirit is to make sure that everyone in the workplace feels included. Being actively inclusive in the workplace can be as simple as making sure the language you use is inclusive in making sure that group activities are something that can be enjoyed by everyone. By making everyone feel included, this will encourage team spirit.
- Clarify Roles
If there is any ambiguity regarding roles and responsibilities, it’s impossible for people to work together effectively. Even worse, you may end up with situations where workers are unfairly delegating their work to others – which creates resentment.
To combat this, it’s important for the roles and responsibilities to be clearly documented.
- Encourage informal social events
In low-pressure, informal surroundings, team members can get to know each other and form bonds which will carry over into the office.
Instead of budgeting for elaborate team building events, you can budget for low key social meetups. This will save you a lot of money and will produce better results in terms of teamwork and morale.
- Eat lunch together
Taking everyday opportunities to spend time together as a team can encourage team spirit. One example of this is to create an environment where team members can eat their lunch together either in a nice lunchroom or at an organized team lunch. This can be a great way to raise team spirits. This is because colleagues will have the chance to have a break from work during the day and socialise with their teammates. This can help with the development of positive relationships between colleagues as they get to know each other better on a social level.
- Share praise and feedback
Make praise and feedback sharing an integral part of daily routines. Use internal email or messaging tools to share praise for their achievements and to recognize your colleagues in a public way. Some also encourage team members to share feedback and praise with others. This will help to promote open communication in your team and strengthen bonds and understanding between each other
“Teamwork isn’t something that we can forcefully impose upon our workers. Instead, good teamwork will naturally occur when there is a healthy workplace culture, where employees are treated as individuals and open communication is celebrated.”
-John Rehgan