5 Ways to Build a Better Team
I'm about to start a long day of travel back to the West coast (FLO to CLT to LAS to LAX) after visiting my family for Thanksgiving. And while I spend my last night in the Carolinas I'm thinking about how my current job compares to past jobs I've had, when it comes to the strength of the team. So I started thinking about what makes a team successful. Oddly enough (in my experience), it has very little to do with talent (everyone knows how to use Google at this point).
If someone gets a job, it's usually a given that they can do the work, so that's rarely an issue. The main thing is building trust through communication, and not just any communication, proper communication. These are 5 things I've found to better communication and cohesion within a team.
Have lunch together
I've done this both ways. I've worked at a place where everyone sat at their desk and ate while they worked and I've worked at a place where everyone goes out to lunch together every day. Ideally, think there's a balance in the middle somewhere. Seeing people outside the confines of their cube or desk is very important in building trust on a team.
The biggest complaint I've heard about this is that going out to lunch every day can get expensive (which is true). Going out to lunch doesn't necessarily mean buying lunch every day, a lot of times I bring a sandwich with me. What's important is the act of sitting down with people on your team outside the office, relax a little, and talk about something other than work.
Ask people how they like to be contacted
Instant messenger, phone, e–mail, a tap on the shoulder, a rubber band gun. These are all ways to communicate with someone at work. Everyone has ways they prefer to be contacted. Some like IM, some like e–mail, personally, I like the tap on the should because it gets my eyes away from the screen for a few seconds.
Finding this out can be as simple as saying to someone "Hey, how do you like to be contacted at work?" And you'd be surprised, but it makes a world of difference to someone who hates juggling IMs, when they can sort through e–mails instead.
Don't make everyone share their feelings
I'm specifically talking about typical team building exercises here (and that awful Meyers-Briggs test). We're all Web people, mostly introverts and let's face it, we hate sharing our feelings with people. Don't make us do it, it will come out naturally over a period of time as you spend time together and get to know everyone
Include everyone on everything
There's always someone in the office who doesn't talk much, keeps to themselves and is pretty reserved. It's very important to include everyone in plans (lunch, after work, etc.). Even if they say no, the gesture of inviting someone tends to mean a lot and it makes someone feel like they're part of the team and not just another employee.
Have a drink after work
Most people (higher ups) massively under value the after work drink. It doesn't even have to be alcohol, like lunch, it's the act of getting together. The attitude and personality of a person tends to change once they leave the office, people relax, drop their guard down and let out some real parts of themselves that they just can't at work.
The first few times you do the after work get together, most people act the same way they do in the office. So it's important to make sure everyone is comfortable. This is always a great place to vent some frustrations of the workday/week. You can learn a lot about someone while your doing this. The after work drink has produced some great friends for me that the workplace wouldn't have really allowed for.
I'm sure there are hundreds of things self proclaimed professions can tell you to improve a working environment (usually those HR people everyone hates). This is just a list of things that work for me, because you're not going to find out how to have a great working team in some text book. It's all about the people, get to know your coworkers; in many cases, they're the people you see the most (unless you're married I guess). Most of all, it is possible to stay professional and also let your guard down.