Loving your work and being part of a great team is a beautiful feeling. If you know that feeling, hold onto it. You’re happy to get out of bed in the morning and energized throughout the day. You give your all, and you enjoy your time in the workplace.
Not everyone is so lucky.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of workplaces suffer from poor communication, lack of trust, change exhaustion and low engagement — all of which can create unhealthy workplace culture. The domino effect is palpable to the entire organization or business.
The key is to give teams the right conditions to develop and grow. So, if nurturing a healthy team culture is important to your overall workplace, here are 10 tips and tricks for the entire team to consider:
- Leadership
Culture starts at the top. As such, leaders need to be establishing healthy teamwork as the norm. Their behaviours (positive or negative) will trickle down through the business or organization to everyone, including your customers and clientele. - Trust
When trust is present, people step forward and do their best work, together, efficiently. They align around a common purpose, take risks, think outside of the box, have each other’s backs, and communicate openly and honestly. When trusting relationships are absent, people jockey for position, hoard information, play it safe, and talk about — rather than to — one another. - Communication
Good communication is at the heart of great teamwork. Great teams communicate well and often, their members are happy to listen to, and share ideas, brainstorm together, ask for feedback, and even be contradicted. This doesn’t mean team members always agree, but they’re able to communicate through their differences to settle on a sound solution and continue moving forwards as a team. - Design Your Team Alliance
Discovering needs and expectations of one another doesn’t have to be challenging – but it needs to be discussed to keep everyone aligned. How can we more forward together if we don’t even know where we stand or what we need from each other? Ground rules will safeguard the success and productivity of a team. - Purpose
If a team doesn’t understand the purpose of their work, their attention and enthusiasm can dwindle. Be clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing – it’s the key to motivation. Discussing and discovering the “why” will not only keep everyone motivated and aligned, but it’s also a great way to review your progress and ensure you’re taking the best steps to get to where you need to be. - Acknowledgement
Recognized employees are far more satisfied employees. And satisfied employees do better at work. If you want a happier, stronger team, “catch someone doing something right”! Showing gratitude is proven to lead to an increased sense of self-worth and trust within the workplace. So, next steps? Be genuinely thankful for the big and the small things that your colleagues bring to the table each day. - Strength Based
Focusing on the weaknesses of your team members can seriously affect engagement, lowering the team’s productivity. Everyone is different – we have different strengths, passions, and opportunities for improvement. One of the cornerstones of a good team leader is focusing on individuals’ strengths and bringing together a team of people that has a combined skillset to get the job done. - Embrace Differences
Have you ever considered what it would be like to work with clones of yourself on the same team? If you find yourself frustrated by your colleagues because their opinions, mannerisms, or approach to work seem completely foreign to you, the important question is how do you deal with that? If you: tune out, dismiss their ideas or talk over them, you’re missing a crucial opportunity to learn and grow. There are differences of opinion in every organization – that’s only natural. The key is all in how you respond to those differences. - Team Building
If you’re thinking you don’t have time for team building, I’d counter that with: you don’t have time not to!! Teams who designate time to building trust, rapport and improving collaboration are far more productive than those who don’t. It is an intentional focus on “being with” vs all the “doing” and task lists we must do as a team. Team building is like exercise – the more you normalize it as a way of life, the stronger your foundation is. So, embedding team building into weekly or monthly team and staff meetings can make all the difference in the world to your organization. Regardless of your role, the important thing to remember here is to build activities with, and not for, your teams. - Celebrate
Celebrating your successes as a team will bring people closer together, encourage conversation, and boost happiness. Make time to ask what’s gone well this month at each and every team meeting! Shifting perspectives and mindsets to focus on strengths first, before all of the day to day challenges, can be instrumental in shaping a healthier team outlook and overall performance.
If you want to find out how I can support your team and workplace to thrive, please reach out!