How would you rate your office’s teamwork? Would you say everyone works together successfully? Are there a few people who have a habit of letting the team down? Or does everyone need to brush up on their teamwork skills?

Having a team who works successfully together can offer lots of benefits to the business and employee morale. Employees who struggle to work as a team will more likely struggle and labour over difficult tasks rather than ask for help. Offices who are able to collaborate will be able to meet deadlines faster, provide higher quality work and employees will feel happier in the workplace.

While most employers believe collaboration is incredibly important, 39% of employees think their company doesn’t collaborate enough. 

If you feel your office needs to work better as a team then here are some tips on how to improve teamwork skills.

Start The Day With A Team Catch Up

Having a morning briefing with the team can automatically encourage teamwork. As soon as everyone is in and before anyone gets started on work, get the team together. Ask everyone to explain what they are doing that day and highlight any problems they have. Do they have any problems that could prevent them from completing their work? If their answer is yes, it gives people a chance to volunteer and help.

This way, employees can discuss any problems they have with their tasks and it encourages people to work together. Discussing issues that are delaying work completion can help relieve stress too.

It’s important you keep morning catch ups short and to the point. Meetings can be a hindrance and counterproductive if not managed properly. Stay on task, don’t get distracted by off-topic conversations.

Change Up Your Teams Every Now And Then

When possible, try changing up your teams. Working with different people gives employees a change of pace and lets them practice their teamwork skills with other members of the office.

Changing the teams around does not have to be long term. If you have a project that will take about two weeks, just change the teams for two weeks. It’s good to keep employees working with different people; it encourages them to keep communicating and working as a team. It will also benefit motivation too. 

Reflect On Projects

After a project has been completed, assign time for reflection. Get any available results from the project and organise a team meeting. Talk about how successful (or unsuccessful) the project was. Ask people to share their thoughts on how the project was managed and delivered. Do they have any suggestions on what can be improved? Did the team work successfully? 

Give everyone an opportunity to talk. If anyone has any criticisms, they should be invited to share but their feedback should be helpful as well. Feedback and reflection will help teams improve the way they work in future.

Host Fun Team Games

When possible host fun and interactive activities. Scavenger hunts, puzzles and games gets offices to work together in a fun and lively atmosphere. If recently you’ve had several new members to your team, creative games can be excellent ice breakers and help people get to know each other. 

Encourage An Open Office Culture

When you’re looking for ways on how to improve teamwork skills in the office, it’s important you encourage your team to be open. Encourage people to share ideas, offer solutions and discuss problems. Having an open office culture will inspire people to naturally work together as a team.

Just by having glass office partitions can make your office feel more open and invite collaboration.

Having A Happier Workforce Will Help Improve Teamwork In Your Office

Our guide to a happier workforce provides over twenty tips you can use to improve morale in your office. There are huge benefits to having happy employees. You can’t afford to miss out.

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