Wouldn’t it be perfect if everyone would just get along? Sadly, with clashing ideals and communication styles, friction is inevitable. Maybe individually they’re all efficient employees with sterling track records. But if they’re in a project or a team where they all can’t get along, then maybe you need to do something to break the ice and enhance their dynamics.
Here are some ideas to build trust between your employees.
Improv workshops
While often used for comedy, improv can teach teams how to understand and work together well. From aspiring comedians to actors to fledgling teams from Fortune 500 companies, doing improv training helps enhance communication skills, trust, and adaptability. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you have to perform. Through its guiding principle, “Yes, and…”, improv encourages people to accept a situation and then build on it. You can’t just toss someone’s idea; you have to make it work. Improv lessons help differentiate hearing from listening–perfect for board meetings and brainstorming sessions.
Escape rooms
Solve the clues, free yourselves–that’s the basic gist of escape rooms. It improves the synergy between your team by having them communicate with each other to solve the mystery in a race against time to get out of the room. They can’t just leave the work to one or two people; all of them must work together. Otherwise, either the bomb will explode or the ghosts will get to them.
Volunteer work
If your team’s up for volunteer work, you can also use it as a way for them to bond. From helping the local homeless shelter to planting trees to constructing homes, supporting a good cause can benefit everyone. You’ve helped people in need, and in return, you’ll feel good about yourself. You can start this on your own or have someone else do the configuring. MTI Events or other event planners may help you organize such events or charity drives.
Potluck
For your foodie employees, this can either help them bond or spark a competitive spirit in them. In the spirit of good competition, your team can either show off how good their cooking is or introduce you to the next best food place you’ve never heard of. Food itself and the act of eating together has a way of making people closer to each other. And, according to Alice Julier, author of Eating Together, dining together improves people’s views of each other.
Clubs
Interests connect people. So, why not start a club? Not only does this improves your employees’ morale, it also keeps them engaged and destressed. Let your workforce pursue their shared interests as long as it’s in good taste. If there are avid readers, start a book club. Are there people wanting to get fit? Why not have them join a fitness club? If people are interested in public speaking, why not build a Toastmasters club inside the company? Get people to bond over their shared hobbies and interests.
Whether you’re a manager of a huge company or a small business owner, seeing your employees work together to deliver good results can be a defining moment. That’s how team building works. It reduces friction among the team and allows them to work together like a well-oiled machine.
