HOW CAN YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT CONTRIBUTE TO GROUP COHESION?

Posted on Tuesday, 21st June - 2022, in ADVICE & TIPS, by Saki Mimura

Successful Group Interaction Can Depend On Your Office Environment.

Look around your office and see if you notice any acts of group interaction. Do you often see your employees communicate with one another? Or do you see them working individually for the whole day? Encouraging group cohesion among your staff is more than just asking them to work more collectively. It is important to prepare a certain setting in your workplace where communication takes place smoothly among the team members. 

How Can We Develop A Setting That Promotes Group Cohesion?

Try these 6 tips to promote greater group cohesion.  

1) REVIEW YOUR OFFICE DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Whether your office is a small room or a whole floor of a building, its design and layout matter. Specifically, ‘proximity’ plays a vital role in promoting group cohesion. As a matter of fact, the research found that the more closely team members work, the more they communicate both physically and digitally. Therefore, next time when you form a team with a new project or assignment, make sure that all team members are located nearby with one another to boost their interaction. 

2) MAKE OBJECTIVES AND RESPONSIBILITIES CLEAR

However, simply improving your office layout is not adequate to fully encourage effective group interaction. Your team needs clear and specific goals to pursue. When you communicate and articulate the goals specifically assigned to your team, your staff are able to recognise what is expected from themselves in their team to accomplish the objectives. Moreover, it is crucial to give each of your employees a certain position and responsibility as a team member. This is because your employees are likely to consider the responsibility as an opportunity to grow and enhance their strengths.   

3) REWARD YOUR EMPLOYEES AS A TEAM

Rewarding your fellow employees is to show them that you recognise their effort and contribution. Indeed, a study emphasises the effectiveness of rewarding employees because rewards, especially ‘intrinsic rewards’ such as recognition, have a substantial influence on the employees’ performance. To reward those staff as a team is just as significant as to reward them individually because you can express the importance of team cohesion in your company.    

4) HOLD TEAM MEETINGS FREQUENTLY

Regularly held meetings are a great opportunity for team communication. Get every member of the team involved and set the meetings frequently. Even if your members are not close to each other yet, those meetings can help them get used to the atmosphere and develop a sense of belonging in the team. 

5) DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE 1 ON 1 SESSIONS

As a manager aiming to encourage group interaction in a company, you don’t want to underestimate the significance of ‘1 on 1’ sessions. Having a private talk with each of the team members helps you grasp their individual situations. Through 1 on 1 meetings, you can be notified about stress or pressure an employee is feeling, or an underlying problem one is facing with other team members. Hence, great teamwork resonates from taking good care of your employees’ individual circumstances. 

6) ARRANGE TEAM BUILDING PROGRAMS

Many people would agree that nobody wants to work with people who they don’t really know as a person. Team building activities can help you enhance the effectiveness of the tips explained above, by assisting your employees to create a personal bond with one another. Unique Team Building can arrange a special team building program designed just for you and your team from numerous options available. For greater team cohesion, we provide activities with objectives such as team bonding activities, communication activities, and many more.  

CONCLUSION

Group cohesion can be one of the most crucial factors to achieve and ensure when bringing your company to the next level. Although each of the tips listed above seems simple and easy to realise, they are often forgotten and overlooked in the workplace. Have a look at your office once again and try out these 6 strategies today to enhance performance through greater teamwork. 

Unique Team Building is here to help you make the best team out of your employees. Contact us whenever you feel ready to start this wonderful journey with us! 

Email us or call 07 3186 1026.