3 Ways to Strengthen Your Team
What can you do to strengthen your team’s effectiveness?
The beginning of a new year is a great time to refresh your team. Most likely you’ve all made some kind of professional goals, so now is the time to harness the energy and enthusiasm that comes with starting anew.
While there are any number of ways to encourage your team, sometimes it’s best to start simple.Taking these three steps will help realign your team with your business goals and objectives and clarify the big picture for everyone involved.
• Make sure your team understands its specific purpose and role within the larger organization. It’s easy to get lost in the details and lose sight of how your work complements and contributes to the whole, especially when you don’t see results on a regular basis. Teams as well as individuals can feel disconnected from the company and each other, which leads to frustration. So take time to gather your team together and review its objectives, demonstrating its value and place within the overall structure of the company.
• Make sure your team’s activities match its priorities. Nothing kills productivity and esprit de corps like busy work. We’ve all been told to do something that doesn’t make sense, and then fix it later. It’s a drag, to say the least. So keep goals posted and visible, and make sure projects and tasks are directly linked to fulfilling the targeted goal.
• Clarify who is on the team. Teams can vary in size and sometimes location. Make sure each member knows who the other team members are, what they’re working on, and why they’re on the team. This will keep the team functioning as a unit and provide clarity and support amongst the members.
* Photo Credit: Judy van der Velden (Creative Commons)
