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While you can hope that it would happen naturally, you can’t always expect to bring a group of strangers together for work purposes and then have them get along instantly. You need to make sure that you are actively helping them work together and overcome some of their differences. Here are some of the best ways to do so.
Team Building Days
One of the best ways to get your employees to work together is often to put them through some team building activities. They might have simply not had the opportunity to work together beyond the basic tasks that they have to handle in the office. Giving them something new to do could help them break down a couple of barriers that might have been in place.
Try to pick activities that will force them to use skills that they might not get to use in the office. Team building activities are a fantastic way to see how the team dynamic comes out too. Who steps into a leadership role if you are not actively taking part? Who acts as problem solver, who decides to motivate the group? By observing your team in actions like this, it allows you to better delegate tasks and manage the team as a whole.
Organise Activities Outside of Work
More often than not, a team does not gel simply because they have not had the chance to get to know each other in any situation outside of the office. By facilitating the opportunity for them to come together to socialise somewhere other than the office, it means that they can get to know each other more than just as colleagues.
It could be something as simple as a quick drink in your local after work on a Friday, or it could be something more adventurous. Why not head along to an escape room, and combine a little team building with the chance to unwind and get to know each other?
If you know the team is particularly sporty, this could also be a great way for everyone to come together. You could even see if you could form a little inter-department league if you are just one unit within a much larger organisation.
Properly Mediate Disputes
One of the most important aspects of overseeing a team is to properly mediate any disputes that might occur. They most definitely will occur, there is no denying it, so you as a manager need to know what to do to sort things out. There will likely be some people in your team who you just blend more with naturally. However, you cannot afford to take their side if there is a dispute.
When one does occur, make sure you listen to all sides equally. In addition to solving this problem, you should also try to discern some steps that can be taken to fix things. If you can do so, you will be able to bring the team closer together overall, while also putting some guards in place to avoid future miscommunications or squabbles.
It is not good enough to just have a collection of people who all have a similar skillset working under you. You need to ensure that they are able to work well as a team, no matter what. If you can do so, you can be certain that they are going to pull through anything the world of work might throw at them. Take the time to allow your team to get to know each other – it will only benefit you in the long run.