How to Build a Strong Team Without the Pricey Off-Sites

Photo: Hung Nguyen

-  Create opportunities for employees to get to know one another

When we bring on new hires, the veteran sales reps always seem to be cordial enough but never go out of their way to welcome the new people--perhaps it's because they are busy, or maybe it's because they hesitate to invest in a new teammate until they see whether the rookie will make it at our company.

Helping the new hires to integrate the team, however, can be fundamental to their success at the company. The best way to do this is simply by incenting teammates to get to know one another better. If you recently hired some new sales reps, ask all the veteran reps to take a rookie to lunch, paid for by the company, so they have a chance to see each other as real people, and not just colleagues that have been forced upon them.

-  Use shared situations to promote togetherness

Helping teams to rely on one another across departments can seem more difficult, because the team members have fewer moments of contact with one another than they do with their own teammates, so you should seize any opportunity that arises to do so.

That they had all experienced the same event in the same way gave them something in common and opened doors for future communication. Companies whose employees communicate well are companies where ideas can flourish and be taken from concept to inception in record time.

-  Insist on direct conflict resolution

The worst detractor from team morale is a conflict that is allowed to fester, especially when it is personal in nature. Some companies use human-resources directors or managers to mediate these types of disagreements. Another way to handle them is to require the people in conflict to meet directly with one another to resolve any issues.

Taking out the middleman and incenting the people in question to work together to find resolution forces them to see one another as people with feelings instead of just adversaries. In so doing, they often come away not only with a solution to the problem, but also with a willingness to work harder to understand the other person’s perspective.

Source: navigossearch.com ; Inc.com ; Linkedin.com ; forbes.com; Tlnt.com