There is nothing quite like starting your own business to learn how much you don’t know in terms of being a leader. We all suffer those crises of confidence, or we hit walls financially, emotionally, or sometimes, it’s to do with the employee that we have hired. We can’t get it right all of the time, and as such, if you feel that everything is in place, but there’s just something missing, teamwork has a lot to answer for this. Teamwork is one of those oft-touted components, but it works wonders to ensure a company has that moral foundation. Even if you have a group of people that have individual jobs to complete, teamwork or that core team sensation should be nourished. How can we do this?

It’s Not Just In The Office

You must remember the effectiveness of the team in the office relates to the relationship when outside. It’s not always possible to get people together. Sometimes we can do our best to nurture that team spirit by encouraging meetups and side of work, but sometimes it doesn’t take off. As such, you have to work really hard to ensure that what you’re doing isn’t just suitable for the size of the team, but also the attitudes as well. You can look at the 14 best work happy hour ideas for companies of all sizes to get some inspiration, but if you don’t start to implement this soon, any semblance of that team spirit can disappear quickly.

It Starts At The Top

If you struggle to nurture between work at the grassroots level, ensuring that you have the skills to implement appropriate change is crucial. It’s all about leading by example. Establishing teamwork as a core attitude take some time to ingratiate itself into the workplace culture so ensure that you start to behave in a certain way that encourages collaboration, after a while, it becomes the norm. This is where you have to use your leadership to bring about change. It’s surprising how many people look up to the leader and try to do whatever they can to please the person in charge. Behaviour is infectious, and if you are having a bad day, you’ll be surprised as to how the rest of the office reacts to this. Use this to your advantage.

The Right Rules

Let’s be clear; rules don’t mean strict orders that should be followed to the letter. Whatever you think about teamwork, whether it’s a group of Navy SEALs, a football team, or in the office, having laid down the foundations with a set of rules encourages people to move together in the right direction. But if you can provide clarity as to why they exist, you can ensure that people start to follow these rules, and after a while, becomes a habit. They don’t have to be strict; they can be something as simple as no mobile phones or laptops when the team meets up. It takes a while for all of these little rules to become automatic. After a while, if you can show that they are for the greater good, people won’t quibble with it later on.

Encourage Breaks

Not just in an individual sense, but we have to remember that team building isn’t about what people do in office hours. While it’s about being out of the office on occasion, having the opportunity to have a break together encourages small talk, and takes everybody’s minds off doing the job. People are productive when they don’t feel bound by deadlines. While this is physically possible, if we can encourage a more relaxed yet productive mindset in our employees, by having everybody feel “in it together,” you’ll see a difference in the quality of the work. We can focus so much on getting things done, that breaks become non-existent. While if you want to increase morale, you should concentrate on that sensation that everybody is working together for a common goal.

Accept The Differences

Sometimes it feels like teamwork is non-existent, and it’s through nobody’s fault. Sometimes we just have an abundance of differences that we can’t always come to terms with. But the act of compromise is crucial in any team because it allows you to remember the balance in a group when everybody is entitled to their opinion regardless of our opinion on it. But we have to minimise conflict, and by accepting that there will be moments, but also understanding that healthy debate should be encouraged, we can make the most of these differences. It’s not always about being on the same page that your role as the leader is to understand how people can fit together. Disagreements can create a whole new pattern of thinking, but it also makes for a better working environment. The place becomes dynamic, and by having different people working in different ways, not only can we learn from these other people, but it stops the environment being so dull.

Celebrate Your Achievements

Teamwork is about nurturing the right relationships in yourselves. And while you don’t need to take your team out every Friday, practising gratitude is a little thing that helps your company along its way. Happier employees are productive employees, and if you want to improve the morale of your workers across the board, celebrating them in a manner that they appreciate helps the business in every way. Celebration is all about those major milestones, and this is what brings people closer together. You have to remember that goals are achievable, and when you set the bar way too high, this is where people become demoralised. If you want to improve the culture of the business, focus on the right things, and making sure that the bad things are fixed in a manner that revolves around constructive criticism instead of negativity.

Even if your workers don’t need to interact, teamwork still has pride of place in any business. Nurturing your workers isn’t just about celebration, or how you lead; it’s about using the differences between people to create a worthwhile outcome.