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Do you have a great team? What makes it so great? Would you like some things to be better? Will it work the same if you add more people as your business grows?
Even when you only have a couple of employees working for you, you will at some point start wondering whether you need to manage their interaction, and the larger the crew the more important it is.
And even when it’s small: people can be very different and have a variety of work styles and some habits from previous workplaces – not all of which might prove useful or suitable for your company.
Here are some things that are sure to keep teamwork alive and productive.
The SMART Model
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
It actually works really well and it’s worth checking the goals you want to set for your team against it.
That will save you so much time compared to making corrections to the goal or answering additional questions.
Revise Priorities Frequently
It’s never safe to assume that everyone has the same idea of what’s most important and/or time-sensitive.
Be as clear as possible on your priorities and make sure everyone receives that message.
Refresh and do a new run through all the priorities every time they change, a new task is added or one gets completed.
Find Strategies that Work!
It’s a good idea to find working strategies for managing your team and solving problems.
Create a routine, tradition or ritual that will make your communication regular; it has to be productive.
Don’t schedule long daily meetings that become something people dread.
Short huddles, intensive and to the point is what you need.
As much as you can try to be consistent in your reactions, too: employees tend to feel safer and more confident talking about problems when they know what to expect from their boss.
Start with yourself and learn better communication strategies that will help you be clear, affirmative and productive.
Look into coaching – it is an extremely useful skill that will serve you well both in your professional and in your personal life.
Make sure your team also has a chance of learning how they can talk to one another in a way that will have them understood, how to listen, how to give feedback and how to defend their arguments.
Appreciate Everyone’s Efforts
While appreciating every team member and their roles, it is the leader’s function to show the bigger picture and emphasise that employees are not rivals or unrelated people who share an office space.
Team members depend on each other and together they do something that none of them is able to do by themselves.
Bring their attention to that and underline how each person’s achievements bring everyone in the team closer to the ultimate goal.
These are just 5 tips to improve teamwork in the workplace.
Not only does good teamwork improve the morale of employees, but it also improves their efficiency and productivity.
Human Resources for Consulting Small and Medium Businesses in Adelaide and South Australia. Simple, and tailored advice, what you need and not what you don’t.