Today, teams in the workforce are more diverse, digitally savvy, and scattered than ever before. Group collaboration and unity in today’s workforce relies on a core set of fundamentals.
In order to find unity, you must have a compelling direction, a strong structure, and support for both personnel and business growth.
Compelling Direction
Your team has to be motivated by something outside itself. It needs a compelling direction, a passionate need, a vision that is tangible. Clearly articulate your vision, strategy, or program so that people know where they stand in the company. What rewards (tangible, emotional, etc.) are offered for a job well done? How do you celebrate success?
Strong Structure
Establish standards and best practices that everyone can enjoy and understand. By implementing systems and processes, it makes it easier for your team to be on the same page. When designing standards and systems, it is best to keep them simple so there is little room for confusion or misinterpretation.
Support
Unity isn’t about celebrating successes and punishing failures. It’s about giving room for growth. Allow people to fail so that they can test their ideas. Let others take the lead on projects. Delegation, after all, is one of the most fundamental aspects of successful business. Failure is what happens when you stop trying. Every mistake can be learned from. If you build that trust with your employees, loyalty and alignment will follow.
Communication
Effective communication is the cornerstone of team unity. It’s not about the hive mind, or the belief that all should believe the same thing. Having open discussions can find hidden talent among employees and help others take charge when needed without feeling intimidated by the lack of support situation so often found in other organizations.
Productivity
Team leadership and team building are interwoven. The more comfortable people are with expressing their ideas and opinions, the more motivated they’ll be in the workplace. This also opens the door to productivity.
Encourage productive conversations. If someone on the team has an issue, encourage them to not only present their problem, but ideas for solving it. This is a great way to make each team member feel accountable for the success of the company, and for them to know that their opinions and ideas are important.
Here’s a great example of implementing productive discussion: A team member brought up long wait times in the pharmacy of their hospital. It was a common complaint by patients, and she was tired of reporting on it. A new team leader listened to the situation and then suggested that the individual find solutions and report on them by the next meeting. After the meeting, she contacted other departments and hospitals for their input, and spoke with the pharmacy department about their needs. Her research continued until she found five viable and cost-effective solutions. At the next meeting, the complaint had turned into a well-researched problem-solution exploration that resulted in a new best practice for the hospital’s pharmacy department.
Ultimately, building unity in the workforce can build a rich community of creativity, motivation, and productivity. This leads to a reliable team of people who can think on their feet and are excited about their contributions to your company.
This is the best way to build a healthy culture for your company and one where your employees are excited to come to work every day. When your employees understand that you respect and ask for their input the work load is much lighter. You hire employees to do specific jobs and be responsible for that job. They must be allowed input and thoughts on how to do it best.
Part of building that unity and support is to show your employees that you care. You care about how they feel about their roles in building the company, but also, about their personal lives outside the company. That is where additional incentives for Employee Benefits come in. Do you offer incentives for your employees to take better care of themselves? Perhaps build challenges for running, or having a healthy diet or office softball teams. Bring in fitness experts or massage therapists or even mental health counselors to share their knowledge during a lunch hour.
There are many additional incentives you can do to help develop unity with your teams. Ask your Employee Benefits broker for ideas. At SW Insurance Corp we help you create the vision for your employees so that they can lead a fun, exciting and healthy life. Which in turn leads them to be inspired and contented employees who won’t be looking for the next “job” or calling in sick because they don’t like where they work.
You want great employees and spend a tremendous amount of time and money recruiting and hiring. In today’s world potential employees are looking at what YOU have to offer them in addition to salary. Also, what makes you stand out from other company’s in your field.
Contact our office for a “no cost” 5 point review of your current Benefits Package or a consultation on what is involved in putting a Benefits Package together.
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