Building Your Workforce for Success – Effective Team-Building Strategies

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on July 5, 2013

Building a great work team is like building a great sports team.  Each member needs to know which position he or she “plays,” what the responsibilities of that position are, and how to interact with other “players” to achieve a common goal.  When a team fits together well, it produces higher-quality work, offers greater productivity, and engenders more motivation and perseverance among its members.

How can you build great teams within your organization?  Consider using these four activities to increase teamwork and maximize office productivity:

1. Lunch and Learn With Team-Building Groups – Employees can learn a great deal from one another, and sharing what they know builds a team spirit — especially when the learning session incorporates cooperative team-building exercises.  Encourage team members to give “lunch and learn” sessions and to incorporate ways for the audience to participate and work together to explore and grasp the material.
2. Company-Sponsored Charity Events – Walk-a-thons and similar events for charity encourage your workforce to come together as a team to meet a common goal in an informal, fun environment.  The camaraderie your employees build as they’re racing to cure cancer or working to build a house for a needy family spills over into the workplace, energizing and bolstering connections among co-workers.
3. Breaking the Ice at Meetings – Classic “ice-breaker” activities can be used effectively to kick off meetings when their goal is to help employees learn more about one another.  For instance, a game of “getting to know you bingo,” in which employees fill in one another’s names to match qualities printed on their “bingo” boards – like “went to college in another state” or “enjoys knitting” — not only teaches employees about their co-workers, but helps them identify co-workers with whom they share common interests or whose background and interests they would like to learn more about.
4. Quarterly Family Activities – Four times a year, bring workers and their families together in a “family fun” event that encourages cooperation and relationships among entire family groups, not merely among co-workers.  Many of these activities can be combined with charity events like walk-a-thons, or they can be held independently, like company picnics or bowling nights.
   

TERRA Staffing understands that an effective (and productive) workplace needs a cohesive team. This includes not only team-building activities, but hiring the right people from the start. We can put this expertise to work for your company, helping you find and keep great people. Contact us today to learn more!

Categories: Employee Engagement Ideas, HR and Management Advice

Tags: Building a Cohesive Team, Building a Productive Workplace, Effective Team-Building Strategies, Elements of an Effective Workplace, Recruiting Top Talent Seattle WA, Seattle Recruiting Agencies, seattle WA employment firms, seattle wa recruiting experts, seattle WA staffing firms, Top Seattle Recruiting Companies

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