The Importance of Team Building For Company Morale
For a company to be successful in this day and age, every single employee needs to feel like they are an integral part of the team, because they are.
If an organization isn’t promoting a healthy workplace environment, where everyone’s opinions are respected and everyone works together for a common goal, that company will surely not thrive.
“Employees serve as the most important connection between brands and consumers,” said Chinwe Onyeagoro, president of Great Place to Work. “The Best Workplaces in Retail inspire their teams to exceed customer expectations and spread the word about the experiences these organizations offer.”
According to Markets Insider, the ability to act and feel like yourself is what makes a company great when it comes to working with other people. Roughly 89% of employees at successful organizations agree that a key factor is “being myself” around co-workers.
Team building is also an essential part of succeeding as a business. The adage, “teamwork is less me and more we,” really applies for companies that are trying to improve their culture and thrive as a successful business.
Team building exercises can help an individual employee feel much more connected to their employer, which will subsequently lead to increased productivity and efficiency. A Gallup study revealed that engaged workers could actually boost a company’s productivity performance by as 200% over a competitor that is staffed full of disengaged employees.
In addition to strengthening the team through fun activities, there needs to be a focus on organizational moral from the supervisors on down.
A great way to improve company morale is to get rid of day-to-day tasks that accomplish nothing meaningful. Busy work not only wastes company time, but it demotivates employees by making them feel like their work doesn’t matter. Already, the entire U.S. economy actually loses roughly $7.4 billion per day due to improperly filled out timesheets. That’s approximately 50 million hours of productivity tossed out the window. Any waste you can eliminate will both improve morale and translate to real savings.
In the meantime, here are some great team building exercises to consider for any business:
- Bonding Belt — Grab a timer, a giant rope, move all the desks out of the way, and watch the fun and team building begin. The goal of the Bonding Belt game is to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible while being stuck with specific members of your team. Keep in mind, however, things can get a little hectic if you’re not careful.
- Circle of Questions — Another great way to find out more about your team is to simply play a fun game of asking each other questions. Rather than just having boring conversations, however, your team should act like it’s the kid’s game Telephone. Have one person ask another a questions and then see how far the team can go with that same question.
- Escape Rooms — Though these rooms might lead to some heated arguments, that’s still okay. For your team to grow, you have to get past the bad — and these escape rooms are a great way to achieve that level of closeness and improve overall trust.
You can also participate in a team leadership course!
You should always be working toward improving your company morale and strengthening your team — good luck!