Contributed post –
We hear so much about the notion of company culture. When we’re growing a business, we need our employees to be actively engaged so they can work their best but also feel happy in the office environment. That idea of employee togetherness is something that many entrepreneurs can ignore. But when you start to look at something like employee morale, you’ve got to focus on the best methods that harness a feeling of togetherness, which will help everybody to feel like they are on the same side. But what are the best ways to do this in a subtle manner without ramming harmony down people’s throats?
Giving Your Employees The Bigger Picture
Nobody likes to feel one part of a bigger picture. Everybody needs to understand why they are working towards this goal. When we are creating a feeling of togetherness in the office, there are little ways to help spread the identity of the company. You have to look at the brand and figure out ways to remind your employees of the importance of this logo and what it represents. This means that you can start to emblazon the imagery on items like stationery or canvas totes, and when we begin to think about the image or the brand, our thoughts should go to what it represents. This becomes a reminder that we are all one unit.
Ask Your Employees What They Think
As nice as it is to give your employees incentives so they can work better, when we’re struggling to make sense of our environment, we have to give our employees the mouthpiece so they can tell us what works and what doesn’t. Something like a company outing is a self-evident approach to improving teamwork, but not everybody likes the idea of going away for a weekend learning how to “function as one.” Employee outings don’t have to be the traditional methods of team-building exercises. Instead, they can be something completely different that suits the company’s ethos.
Protect Your Employees
It is certainly a little thing, but if your employees feel you are looking out for them, they will work to reciprocate the favor. Looking after your employees is crucial, but protecting them is another thing entirely. It could be about ensuring you have their back in a sticky situation, having an open-door policy, or, in these stressful times, providing bulk cloth face masks and hand sanitizer so your employees don’t have to is a little message to everyone that you are looking out for every single one of your staff members.
Encourage Downtime
We are bound by targets and deadlines, and when we continue to push this notion of hitting every target quickly so we can move on to the next thing, this conveyor belt culture doesn’t benefit our employees. It’s hardly a surprise that they don’t feel any sense of togetherness. When you encourage downtime in the office environment employees can start to congregate, which means they will talk and they will foster more beneficial relationships. When we begin to think about the bigger picture and our employees, they need boundaries and they require focus but they also need to feel like they’re all working towards something for their benefit. Allowing your employees to discuss things gives them the freedom to express themselves but also means that they can start to collaborate on ideas that could be a springboard for a new direction in your company.
We hear so much about teamwork, but we seldom implement it. Boosting employee togetherness is partly about the values which you communicate but also giving them the opportunity to breathe.
