Inside: Use these essential team building ideas to strengthen your team, encourage strong communication, and build trust among team members.
As you grow your business, you want a team that trusts each other and works well together. It’s every business owner’s dream!
How do you build a strong team where everyone works hard together to achieve the goals? That’s where team building comes in.
The Importance of Team Building
You just can’t grow your business without a strong team around you. There is just too much for one person to do by themselves. Every person on your team has their own skills that will help your company grow by leaps and bounds.
When you practice team-building skills, you encourage everyone in your business to grow their skills and utilize the skills of everyone around them. It is vital for everyone to understand the roles and importance of their fellow team members. It’s also important to create an atmosphere of trust among everyone.
When you have a strong team where everyone understands their roles and helps each other with their strengths and weaknesses, they will work together better to meet the company’s goals. A strong team will be more efficient and powerful than a weak one where there is lots of distracting drama.
Think of it as a football team. If the wide receiver doesn’t trust the quarterback, they won’t make as many successful plays. In the same way, a linebacker isn’t expected to also be a kicker and a quarterback. Every role is important and every team member needs to trust each other to make the plays and win the game.
It’s the same way in the workplace!
When you have a team where everyone respects each other’s roles, they will work together better and smash goals so you have to make new ones!
Team Building Ideas
Fostering and creating a strong team takes time and focused effort. You have to make intentional plans to build a thriving team environment. These team building ideas will help everyone communicate clearly and use their strengths to accomplish your company’s goals.
Specialize Their Roles
First, establish clear roles that use each person’s strengths. Make those roles very specific so that everyone knows what each person is responsible for.
If you don’t have any team members with strength in an area that you need, hire someone else to fill that spot. It’s much better to hire someone with a specialized skill than to ask an already busy person to learn the new skill.
Set Your Expectations High
People generally live up to the expectations set for them. If you think they meet a really high goal, chances are they will do it – or at least get really close!
When you set your expectations, make SMART goals.
Goals should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time-Based
When the goals are achievable, they are realistic enough so that no one feels like they are working for a lost cause. Make the goals measurable so that team members can keep themselves accountable for whether they are on track to meet the goal or not.
One of the best team building activities is setting these goals together, as a group. When you set long-term and short-term goals together, these goals become the foundation for everything they set out to do that day.
Communicate Clearly
Communication is essential for creating trust between team members and yourself. In fact, when things are kept from people, (whether on purpose or by accident) it creates confusion and frustration.
Establish a level of transparency that everyone is expected to have. Even if you don’t think the information pertains to them, if they have the knowledge, they will feel more empowered.
The most efficient way to communicate with teams is through apps like Slack that tag and organize conversations and make them searchable.
Another way to communicate clearly is through weekly check-ins beyond group meetings. Ask people individually about how their workflow is going, whether they have any struggles, and how you can help.
Establish Strong Leadership
Delegate your leadership duties to others, equally strong, leaders. This will free up your time so that you can focus on the vision of the company and the success of the current systems.
How do you establish strong leadership within your company? You have to learn how to be an effective leader yourself first. Truly effective leaders are able to influence people even when they aren’t around, and that’s exactly what you want.
After you set the example of what you expect a leader to do, you can hold other people to that same standard. The characteristics of a strong leader that will encourage a strong team are:
- Integrity
- Communication
- Trust
- Loyalty
- Actively involved in the workplace
- Emotional Intelligence
- Wisdom
Embrace Diversity
When you are building a strong team, you need to reach out to a variety of people from different backgrounds and experiences. These different experiences will be strengths, bringing new ideas that will solve problems that come up.
Don’t be afraid of people that have different opinions or personalities than yourself. In fact, these differences will create a really strong and well-rounded team!
When you welcome members that have diverse views, your team will all of a sudden have brand new ideas and approaches to meeting team goals.
Celebrate Successes and Failures
Another team-building activity that is really important is celebrating both the successes and failures of the group.
When your team meets a goal that you set, create some way to celebrate it! When you do this, it brings everyone together. It gives them that positive reinforcement that tells them when they work together, amazing things can happen.
In the same way, if one person goes above and beyond, call it out in front of the team so they know how much you appreciate them. This will also motivate other team members to work hard.
What about failures? Those are opportunities to try different approaches.
Don’t reprimand the group or make them feel bad. Instead, come together and see it as a challenge that they can overcome. Create a new goal and a new method for accomplishing it.
Practice and Encourage Emotional Intelligence
Every strong team needs to practice emotional intelligence. What is emotional intelligence? It’s the ability to be aware of, control, and express emotions. This helps leaders and team members understand themselves and express their reactions in a way that minimizes resentment.
As their leader, it’s important for you to practice this and show them how you expect them to behave. Don’t explode in anger and always express your emotions in a controlled and clear way.
Build Connections Between Team Members
In the same way, a strong team needs strong connections between the team members. Everyone needs to exhibit respect and care towards one another. Instead of just seeing their co-workers as someone that sits next to them, encourage them to practice kindness. If they see their co-workers struggling, maybe they can help them out.
Strong connections will help shy or anxious people to ask for help when they need it. A team is stronger when they work together.
Be Accountable To The Team
Finally, everyone needs to understand that they are accountable to the team – even you as their leader. When everyone maintains accountability, they will put forth their best work.
As their leader, set this example. During meetings, let them know how you are doing with your own goals. Ask team members if there are any ways in which you could improve as their leader and put that feedback into practice.
When the group feels like they are accountable to each other, they will feel like they belong and have a sense of purpose.
Team Building Ideas: Final Thoughts
As you can see, a strong team is essential to the growth of your business. It goes beyond just hiring the most talented people. You also need to encourage and maintain team-building skills that help everyone work together. If you do this, your business will grow in huge ways!
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