It has been a difficult 18 months, but businesses are now looking toward the future. To ensure that the coming year is one of growth and progression, businesses need to look at how to boost collaboration and productivity within the workplace. That is what we have designed this post to assist with. In this article, we’ll share the top 8 initiatives to improve your team connection and productivity.
Continue reading to discover more about different methods you can use to enhance team connection and efficiency.
1. Give them incentives
There is only one place to begin when it comes to boosting productivity and collaboration amongst your team, and this is by giving them incentives. After all, we all work better when we have got a reason to do so, right?
Whether it is a monetary benefit or you give your employees perks like free memberships, we all like “free” things. Paid vacation, lunches out, extra time off, free vouchers… they will all go down a treat!
You can use the likes of the Perkbox benefits scheme to manage all of this effectively and ensure your employees are being rewarded for the hard work that they put in. Also, by following an appropriate guide to employee benefits benchmarking you will know exactly what the ideal benefits for your employees are, and implementing those will ensure that employees are continually motivated to work hard, keeping those productivity levels high.
2. Set communication expectations initiatives to improve team connection
Communication is one of the most important factors when it comes to productivity. Businesses fail when they do not have effective communication. Without this, team members are on different pages, and this can cause projects to break down.
Now, it is the duty of a project manager to make sure that successful communication prevails. This will help to make sure that all team members understand their job roles and responsibilities, which creates an efficient environment.
Some of the different ways that you can improve communication in your business are as follows:
- Create an environment whereby employees are encouraged to be open in a respectful way
- Invest in the right collaboration and communication tools so that status updates and files can be shared with ease
- Make sure that your leaders are collaborators, rather than being dictators
3. Give your workers ownership initiatives to improve team connection
Aside from the initiatives that we have mentioned so far, another change that we recommend implementing is that of ownership amongst team members.
The best leaders in the world of business understand just how powerful ownership can be. But what does this actually mean? In fact, it is simple! It is all about allowing your team members to make their own decisions, being accountable for the work they produce.
When a person is accountable for their work, this creates a sense of responsibility. The person will start to work in a different way because they understand the impact that their work has on the rest of the team.
There are a number of different ways that you can enable your employees to take ownership. The most obvious example would be giving someone the ability to handle the full responsibility of a task. It shows that you have trusted the person in question with a certain job. Once you start to do this, it will have a snowball effect; you will see that there is nothing more powerful than building up someone else’s self-esteem in your business.
4. Make the most of team-building exercises
The camaraderie between team members plays a massive role when it comes to team productivity. If all of the members in a team get along with one another, and they understand each other’s weaknesses and strengths, the workplace immediately becomes one that is a lot happier and content. And, when people are happy and content from within, this is when they do their best work! You will soon see efficiency levels increase.
Of course, it is not as simple as hoping everyone will play happy families. Naturally, not everyone is going to like one and other. Sometimes, there can even be a bit of animosity, especially in a competitive work environment. This is why it is important to make everyone recognize the importance of working as a team.
One of the ways you can do this while helping everyone to learn how to work effectively together is with team-building exercises. This can bring a lot of fun and excitement to the workplace, as well as washing away any miscommunications or grudges between the team members.
There are different exercises that you can do within the work environment to encourage great teamwork. However, going on a team bonding day out or weekend away could be just the thing your business needs, especially if things have been quite strained lately. An escape room activity day, for example, can be a huge amount of fun while helping your team to indirectly learn how to work together in an effective manner. Additionally, if you’re looking for more inspiration, consider exploring various work social event ideas which can also serve as excellent team-building opportunities.
5. Introduce an effective process for giving out feedback
In addition to the suggestions we have mentioned so far, you should also consider introducing a feedback process within your team. After all, how are your employees going to become more efficient if they do not understand their own performance at present? They need to know what they are getting right and in what areas they could be doing better.
This is why it is critical to make sure that constructive feedback and performance reviews are part of your business, helping to increase team productivity. Understanding the different areas of opportunity will motivate your team members to make some tweaks and improvements in terms of the manner in which they work.
Once you have finished giving your team members feedback, you should also ask them what you could do to help them improve. Perhaps they want to have a little more room for creativity? Or, maybe they could do with a little bit more guidance on certain tasks?
Asking for feedback from your employees offers a number of benefits. Of course, it enables you to understand what you could be doing better. But this is not all. It also encourages a culture of open dialogue, making collaborations in the future easier than ever before.
6. Make the most of project management software
Another step that you can take to make your team more productive is employment project management software. Having the right project management tool on your side can help to boost collaboration while also effectively managing the flow of work.
Software makes it a lot easier for you to get status updates, share files and pieces of information, and assess data so that you can establish important trends that can drive your business forward.
7. Training opportunities for your employees
Training opportunities are also incredibly powerful when it comes to boosting productivity and connection at your business. There have been many different surveys that have been carried out over the years regarding job satisfaction. One trend that is always consistent is that a lot of people feel unhappy in their current roles. Because they feel like they are in a dead-end job and they are not going anywhere.
As consequence, providing training opportunities for your employees can make a massive difference. It shows your employees that you care about their progression. So, that they are going to have opportunities to develop at your business. Of course, training will also benefit you because your employees are going to pick up more skills that will enable them to perform better in the workplace.
Employee training opportunities will enable you to boost retention rates at your business. Your workers will feel more loyal and dedicated, and this will translate into them working harder too. After all, if you are willing to go out of your way to offer great training opportunities. Your workers will go out of their way to work hard for you.
8. Focus on creating a healthy workforce initiatives to improve team connection
Last but not least, another way that you can create a more productive and connect workforce. So, by putting the health of your workers first. Whenever someone is absent from work, productivity takes a dip. We are sure this is something you know all too well over the past 18 months. Moreover, when people are feeling tired and not in their best form. They won’t be able to work to a high standard.
This is why it makes sense to prioritize creating a workforce that is healthy. After all, healthy people are more productive, right? There are a number of different ways you can do this. For example, you may want to consider employee benefits relating to health, such as health insurance or gym memberships.
It is also a good idea to think about offering healthy food options. Such as fresh fruit snacks, within your work environment. This will encourage people to consume healthy snacks throughout the day rather than going straight for the vending machine.
Final words on initiatives to improve your team connection and productivity
So there you have it: some of the different initiatives you can use to improve your team connection and productivity. If you implement one or several of the strategies that we have mentioned above. You should start to notice some real results that can drive your business forward.
