When everyone works together towards common goals, you know your leadership strategy is working. Focusing on building a team culture means everyone wins in the end. Here are 4 ways to do that.
4 ways to build team culture from within your leadership strategy.
- Provide all the resources your team needs.
Your team roster may be chock full of all-star players, but just because you put them on a team doesn’t mean they’re going to perform well that way. Give them the tools to excel and again: everyone wins.
What are the most important resources a winning team needs to shine? To begin with think about the physical spaces they have available to them to meet. Designate a room for their team, or make a regular booking for them in the company conference room. This can be a daily, weekly or semi-weekly booking, whatever is needed.
Secondly, make time allotments in their individual schedules for working on team activities. If they have different supervisors, key in those people so they don’t get grief from them about working for the team.
- Assign goals with a careful, thoughtful process.
Teams who have serious goals will work harder. Assigning vague, useless, or low-priority tasks is a sure-fire way to teamwork failure. If your leadership strategy doesn’t allow for thoughtful planning, then you’re doing something wrong.
When goals are clear and they’re communicated in a clear way, teams have a higher chance for success. All this hinges on careful planning at the leadership level. Take the time to get it right and your team will shine even brighter.
- Let employees form their own teams.
Assigning teams isn’t the only way good, productive teamwork takes place. When employees are given the freedom to pull together their own informal teams, more work gets done. This is one way organizations thrive, and it’s been shown over and over again that informal teams are highly productive.
Set the tone for teamwork by allowing for impromptu team formation among colleagues. By encouraging a team culture you’re paving the way for that to happen. Tackling problems and reaching small goals without having to involve the higher-ups is a way for employees to feel empowered and engaged.
Forming their own teams in a positive teamwork environment is how that gets done.
- Build a team culture in your organization.
This final way to encourage good teamwork at your company is a long-term strategy but it really pays off. If you have any say in developing your company core values, make sure the word “team” is worked in there somehow. Emphasizing without question the value of working together in collaborative ways ensures that everyone gets the message…from leadership on down to all your team players.
We’d love to hear from you! How are you building teamwork into your leadership strategy?