Improving and building team spirit is an essential part of business growth, more so for small enterprises. The main challenge to a business leader is to encourage the team members to bond, readily share relevant information and work together towards pushing the business brand forward. Small enterprises mostly do not have resources at their disposal to cover employee redundancy, therefore employees should be aptly encouraged to work together and market the company. The employees should readily engage in promoting and sharing of the company’s vision and mission.
Proper Communication
There should be proper sharing of relevant information between the people in authority and the employees. Whether it is a large corporation or a small enterprise, a clear forwarding of the company’s vision by the heads of the company is essential. However, the information should not be forwarded in an authoritative or superficial manner. Take time to engage the employees in a pep talk, instead of talking down to your team or imposing your authority. Take your time to make them see how their honest input is essential to the growth of the company. Through this, the employees are bound to feel fully integrated into the company’s beliefs, mission and vision.
Share the Business Benefits
Since the employees share the work input into the company, they should also share in the outputs and benefits as well. Take note that this is far removed from the normal salaries and remuneration. There are various ways you can reward them and while you’re at it, continue to encourage team building.
Anticipated rewards: A formal arrangement where the employees are rewarded based on achievements and results. The company integrates a reward system where part of the employee’s salary is based on the result of their input into the company. This usually takes the form of a bonus after annual turnovers and quarterly reviews. This encourages teams and departments to work together to meet their projected goals.
Surprise Rewards: Surprise your employees with gift cards for lunches, dinners, coffee shops, and other treats for their hard work. These surprises keep employees on their toes and helps break down any social barriers that may be there, as it presents an informal avenue for constructive conversation, fun and entertainment.
Team Building Activities
For budding start-ups, one of the greatest assets and resources for a company is a motivated employee. There are a myriad of activities that have been developed for team building purposes and are specifically geared to improve inter-dependence between employees and increased performance. The activities include a range of activities from simple bonding exercises to more complex exercises like rock climbing, hiking, and motivational discussions. The main element of these team building activities is that they are specially geared to foster problem identification and approach an eventual solution, with contributions from different members of the team. It encourages the employees to work together to approach and solve any issues and challenges that may come up.
Benefits of these activities include:
► Building trust
► Resolving conflicts
► Increased collaboration
► Improved communication
Cohesive teams do not just happen. They are as a result of intensive effort by the leaders of the start-ups that have the responsibility of creating a working environment where employees feel that they are of high value to the company.
Tony Buchanan is a passionate blogger, freelance writer and a regular contributor to several blogs. He loves reading news and sharing unique articles through his contents. When Tony is not working, he enjoys music, camping and spending time with his family. He would like to thank Corporate Challenge for the information it provided.