Most business owners are heavily reliant on a team to achieve key objectives. As an employer, it’s hugely beneficial to prioritize building a strong, cohesive team. In this guide, we’ll explore some effective steps you can take to find and keep hold of the best employees and encourage collaboration and cooperation.
Hiring
Hiring plays an integral role in establishing teams and it should always be handled with care. Try to avoid rushing into making appointments and take your time to find the best candidates for the roles you have available. Work with companies like Wegman Partners to identify prospective employees and ensure you have an effective recruitment process in place. Analyze resumes and application forms to assess skills, qualifications and experience and use interviews to get to know people on a deeper level. Ideally, you want to find candidates who not only cross the skills and training boxes, but also the values and personality traits. Ask questions, find out what candidates want to achieve and what matters most to them, and look for individuals who are a good fit for the team based on their character and values.
Training and development
Training and development are essential for learning and developing skills, but they can also play an important role in encouraging collaboration and teamwork and creating diverse, inclusive workplaces. Talk to your team about the types of courses or workshops they would like to attend or complete and use training to address pain points or issues within the business.
Communication
Open communication is vital when managing a team of any size. If you are the leader, or you appoint heads of department, create a culture that supports, encourages and facilitates communication. Get together with your employees frequently, organize group meetings and one-to-one sessions and ensure you listen. Communicating is not just about speaking. It’s also about listening to what your employees have to say and encouraging your team to listen to one another. Give people the time and space to share ideas, raise issues or put suggestions forward, and make it easy for your employees to talk to you, their line manager or their colleagues.
Team bonding
The average person spends around 36 hours per week at work. When you spend a lot of time with people, either physically or virtually while working from home, it’s hugely beneficial to build relationships. Some people might not be keen to socialize outside of work all the time, but it is a good idea to inject a bit of fun into the working week and encourage your employees to get to know each other outside of the office environment. There are many ways you can strengthen ties from team building activities and weekends away to after work drinks on a Friday afternoon or dinner at a restaurant every few weeks. If you have a remote team, make time for informal virtual hangouts in addition to meetings and conferences.
Building a strong, cohesive team has benefits for your business and your employees. If you are recruiting, or you’re looking to boost morale and productivity, take these steps.
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