I bet you are a team leader who has your team’s best interest at heart. But recently you have started to notice that there are some communication barriers between the team members which won’t subside. It’s possible that you have started to observe that people have stopped coming up to you with their ideas and you can see a real morale problem building up. If this is the case, you need to make some small changes to the team culture at your office.
Now team culture, in simpler words, can be defined as the ideas, values, and social behaviors that are shared by a group of people. And though this culture may differ from team to team, it is usually derived from the company’s culture as a whole. To build a sense of oneness in a team, we must promote the need for team culture.
The Key Features of a Strong Team Culture
The structure of a team should be such that people can depend on one another and encourage one another to do better. After all, a person can accomplish anything once they realize they are a part of something bigger. So for me, the definition of a team culture that is strong satisfies 3 criteria:
- It must enhance team performance and productivity.
- It should help in making communication effective and effortless.
- A good sense of team community would bring about a feeling of shared goals and visions.
Why is it Important for a Company to have a Rich Team Culture?
In order to have a productive and efficient working atmosphere at the office, it is important that you have a strong team culture.
A workplace that does not have a good and stable team culture would have the following characteristics:
- The team members would have very little motivation to work.
- Little-to-no encouragement to present original ideas.
- Team conflicts that would not budge.
- Ineffective communication.
- Deteriorating work quality.
As you can see, there are a lot of downsides to having a bad team culture. Hence, the management at the office should always try to arrange team-building activities that promote trust formation because a team that trusts, is a team that triumphs. Using the best software solutions (learn more at YummySoftware) is a good idea as well as it will help keep your team’s workflow smooth.
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” –Henry Ford
You Can Transform your Team Culture in the Following Ways
- Communication
Effective communication is imperative to build a strong team culture, and it begins right from the time you welcome new hires to your team. With effective communication, you can clearly share the expectations with the employees, and the chances of error in their work become minimal. When they know what is expected from them, team members e can work with total harmony.
You can improve office communication by arranging activities and group discussions regularly. Team activities can be rejuvenating for the employees and have a very positive effect on the team by raising the productivity of the team.
- Ineffective communication can be eliminated by using project management software which helps you keep track of everyone’s progress.
- Incorporating technology for communication can make tasks easier because the conversations and discussions can be documented.
- With the help of these tools, you will be able to keep tabs on everyone’s tasks without coming off as a nosy boss.
- Maintaining a transparent work environment will give rise to a place where communication is welcome. And, a place where transparency is practiced is a place that has a strong team culture.
- Team Retreats
Team get-togethers can help people from different teams get along and engage in various team-building activities. This helps build trust and acts as an outlet for people to have a better understanding of each other. These also help create a work-life balance.
- You can try taking your team out for picnics and try to engage your team in fun activities so that everyone experiences change and feels rejuvenated.
- Playing games on these retreats with the help of a delegation poker game, moving motivator cards, and improv cards, you can give your team a chance to engage in trust-building activities.
- Team-building exercises that take place on these retreats or hikes lead to the building of trust. In addition to that, these also help in improving the public image of the company.
- Also, give your team scavenger hunts around the office or brain teasers about reasoning problems that they get to solve collectively. This will help them understand one another a little better.
- Employee Engagement and Reward Systems
Good team culture can also be defined as forming a space where every individual feels valued. Every team member should be catered to because we all bring our own energies to the table. As a leader, you always need to monitor employee engagement.
- For the team, the team culture is well established when communication comes effortlessly in team community events.
- Engaging your employees can also be done when you give your employees timely appreciation and recognition.
- Appreciating and rewarding can be done by publicly calling them out and congratulating them for their achievements.
- You can also engage with your team by giving them due recognition by simply announcing it using a project management software that your team uses, where it will be available for everyone to see, providing motivation to the whole team.
These are just a few methods by which you can get your team members to get to know each other closely and gain a newfound respect for each other’s ingenuity.
- Get To Know Your Team
Do not miss a chance to get to know your team. Companies run on the backs of the people who work in it. And, a team is an organization built on trust and respect. Therefore, to maintain a strong team culture, it is imperative that a manager always finds opportunities to talk to their employees to find certain things they can bond over.
- One-on-one meetings with your team can be very helpful to managers as it improves the communication between them and their employees.
- Being there to listen to your employees and empathizing with them will also help you get to know your team better.
- Two-way feedback sessions can prove to be very helpful and make your employees trust you more.
- Conducting regular surveys and polls can also help you get to know your team and a chance to address their problems.
Conclusion
A team is a group of people with a shared vision and team culture is what persuades them to achieve that vision. Every team in every company has its own way of presenting culture. It is important to have a defined sense of it so that we know who to trust and who to rely on. Maintaining a strong team community is how a leader imparts soft skills to his employees.
I hope my article was helpful for you to know that effective communication through meetings and get-togethers leads to trust and that trust leads to the formation of this unspoken bond which team culture is all about.