When you think about how to
improve teamwork in the workplace, holding meetings may be the last thing that comes to mind. Employees usually want
fewer meetings, not
more. But, when done properly, meetings can help to create a culture of teamwork, inspiring your employees to work together, lean on each other for support, and push each other to do great things.
Just like a rock and roll band, your employees need to play together to make successful music. As Marvelless Mark® tells his clients, the music doesn’t happen without everyone’s participation.
Meetings give you the opportunity to foster trust and companionship among your staff. They provide a safe place for employees to air grievances (and brainstorm solutions), create a feeling of camaraderie, and get to know each other on a different level.
How to incorporate teamwork into your regular meetings
There are several things you can do to improve teamwork through your scheduled meetings. You can:
Include team building exercises
You don’t have to climb walls in the middle of the woods to foster teamwork among your employees. There are exercises you can do at the beginning of your meetings to get team members working together and thinking as a group. These can include Follow the Leader, creating a story as a group (one word at a time), or for you rock stars, throw on some music, start a band and have everyone jam out on their air guitars. It may seem silly, but play allows people to loosen up and work together.
Play Show and Tell
A big part of working as a team is knowing who your teammates are and what they like to do. Do you remember playing Show and Tell in school? You brought something in from home and had the chance to tell the class a little bit about yourself. Encourage your employees to do the same. They are all individuals with interests and experiences outside of the office. Sharing those with the team will help them bond.
Celebrate team successes
Who doesn’t like to
celebrate? After a great gig, you can bet that the rock stars will be partying hard on their tour bus, congratulating each other for a successful show. It’s not much different at work (though there are fewer groupies). People want to be acknowledged for the work they do. When you acknowledge what a team has accomplished together, you encourage them to work in harmony to reach their
goals and fulfill the company’s vision.
Create teams to tackle challenges
If your company is facing a difficult time or must overcome a setback, put employees together in teams to brainstorm and work on solutions. When an employee is responsible for solving a problem by his or her self, it puts a great deal of pressure on them and can stifle their creativity. However, when a team is responsible for coming up with a solution, the pressure is off, the creativity is flowing, and the team will uncover ideas that no one would’ve thought of alone. It’s like a jam session where musicians play off of each other to create new music.
Host a “fake” meeting
Now this one may sound silly, but wouldn’t you love it if you walked into a meeting that you were dreading… and the only thing on the agenda was pizza? Throwing the occasional fake meeting will improve morale and give employees an opportunity to chat and get to know each other on a personal level. Chances are that at some point they’ll even start talking about work and some problems might get solved because there is no pressure on them to do so.
Here are more tips for hosting an
effective meeting.
In order for your team to create rockstar results, they need to play together as a band. Fostering teamwork among your employees will improve morale and increase your bottom line.
“Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it.” – Keith Richards
Mark Kamp® aka Marvelless Mark® works with organizations who want their teams to achieve immediate rock star results. A Keynote Speaker/Entertainer/Author, Husband, Father, and child of God, his primary message, “Opportunity Rocks®” gives attendees a fresh new perspective on Sales, Marketing, and Employee Performance. Fun and engaging, Mark combines the success secrets of your favorite rock stars with just the right amount of entertainment to transform your employees into business rockstars. Learn more at www.
OpportunityRocks.net.