Originally posted on http://www.younggogetter.com/keep-team-together/

A business relies on strong teams to work. But it’s more difficult than you think to build a team that works well together and brings value to your business.

Building an effective team brings numerous benefits to your business. Not only can it help you achieve your business’ objectives, but you’ll be more likely to experience lower turnover rates and build a strong reputation for your business as a good employer.

Want to hold onto your best talent? Learn how you can keep your team together with some of the following tips.

Encourage Open Communication

Communication is important for any business, and between teams, it’s vital. The key to your team working together successfully is regular communication. Whether you choose to have daily or weekly catch-ups, an online communication tool or you choose to work in a collaborative working space, it’s good to talk.

As the boss, an open-door policy can help people feel as though they can communicate open and honestly, which can help iron out any problems that arise within the team quickly.

Make the Most of Bonding Opportunities

When great teams work together, they can produce outstanding results, but it shouldn’t be hard work all the time. Amazing teams also have time to bond and get to know each other, which can help form closer working relationships.

Make sure you find ways for your team to bond together. This can include going for lunches together, team drinks or even just working off-site together. There are lots of different types of team bonding activities you can try to bring you all closer together.

Be a Great Leader

Teams need strong leadership to help them thrive. If your team doesn’t have confidence in you or your abilities then they might not meet your expectations. There are some leadership skills you can develop with time that will help you to earn the trust and respect of your team.

Just as you’d expect with any of employees, it’s important that you’re also a team player. Helping out and being involved, even with the things that are below your pay grade can help show that you are one team and that nobody’s worth is less than others.

Keep Things Organized

Even when things are busy, having a team that is organized in terms of time and projects can help make sure that everything gets done and everyone knows where they stand. Some crew scheduling software can be a great asset and provides different features to help you manage roles, onboarding and more. You can also consider using some online project management tools to enable you all to work seamlessly across documents and keep everything secure in the cloud.

Reward and Recognize

Keeping your team motivated is important for helping them feel happy in their jobs and making sure they’re recognized for the hard work that they do. Sometimes, the simplest way to reward your colleagues is by giving them credit where credit is due. A thank you in person or by email is always welcome, as well as a wider thank you across the organization.

Having a rewards system in place is also important for retaining your staff. When individuals check out vacant positions, they tend to look at the company as a whole these days instead of just the job title and the salary package. Having employee and rewards schemes in place is important for attracting and retaining the best talent, so make sure the entire package is an attractive one.

Set Team Objectives

Setting objectives can help set direction for your team and for the individuals within it. To help you set objectives effectively, there are different things you can do to make sure everyone is happy and that everyone gets to develop their own skills too.

Team objectives can be agreed together. While there will be some organization-wide objectives to follow, it’s beneficial for you all to think about objectives together to help you all feel that you’re on the right page. Regular catch-ups about progress can help you to stay on track. While each individual has a part to play, everyone becomes more committed to achieving the aims of the team, which can deliver some incredible results for your business.

Make Your Workplace Great

A positive workplace is important for developing a confident and happy team. Having policies in place such as a flexible working scheme can help bring added value to the workplace and give employees the work/life balance that many people can feel is missing in their careers. You can also think about improving the office itself through creating designated breakout areas, having open plan working spaces and bringing in some leisure spaces to help people take a real break from their desks now and then.

It’s also important to care about your employees’ health and wellbeing. Providing your team with advice on practicing self-care can help them to take better care of their health and wellbeing. Building a good relationship with your team will help them to confide in you when they have problems, so if there are some issues that affect someone’s health or their happiness in work, they’ll feel comfortable discussing this with you.

Get Regular Feedback

Getting regular feedback from your team can help to suggest improvements that could help take your team forward. Brainstorming sessions are fantastic for generating new ideas and for improving processes to make your team work better together.

You should also make sure that you catch up with your individual team members regularly. One to one meetings and regular performance reviews can help you understand what’s going on within your team and ensure that employees are getting the opportunities they want.

By developing an effective team, you can create a positive work environment that your employees feel happy in, while benefiting from having a team of motivated individuals. Keep your team together by investing time and energy in them, and making sure that you demonstrate excellent leadership skills. Focus on keeping your team together for the sake of your business’ success.