Whenever a pandemic occurs, the companies that emerge stronger are those whose employees can overcome its challenges. That’s the scenario with covid 19. Many businesses had to shut their operations because the impact was adverse. Others made their employees work from home.
While that played a critical role in ensuring their operations continued, the employees lacked togetherness as they could no longer work as a team physically.
This article will explore the different strategies for getting your team working well together post covid. Whether motivating your employees or collaborating with co-workers, these tips will help you get started.
1. Create a Group Chat
Group chats are becoming popular in the business space. They offer an opportunity to team members across different locations, time zones, and schedules to work together. Some of the platforms to use are Slack, Skype, and Google Hangouts.
It’s also possible to create your chat platform using open source platforms like Mattermost. It will let you customize it according to the needs of your team or company. Whatever method you choose, set clear expectations for participation in the group chats so that everyone is on board with them from day one.
2. Use Collaboration Tools
Another way to ensure that your team members work well together is by using collaboration software. It will enable them to share documents, transfer files, and chat. The collaborative possibilities are limitless when using the right tool for group projects or remote teams. Some of these include Asana, Trello, e.t.c.
You can also use different tools for each department or even team within your organization to ensure that you get the best from everyone. For instance, a marketing project will require a Hubspot collaboration tool, sales may need Salesforce, and HR may need Workday. The main goal here is getting all of your employees working well together towards the same purpose.
3. Team Building Activities
Team building activities are a great way to encourage employees to work together. They can also help build trust and communication within teams. This is important when you have remote team members who may not know each other well.
There are many different types of team-building activities that you can use, but it’s crucial to find the right ones for your team. For instance, they don’t have to be big group activities if you have a small number of employees that work together already.
Some ideas include going on a company retreat, organizing an office Olympics, or hosting a potluck lunch at the workplace. You can also check on Team Tactics for additional team-building activities to consider.
4. Allow for Flexible Work Hours
Apart from the fact that employees are across different locations, time zones, and schedules, it becomes difficult to get them working together when you have strict rules about their working hours. After all, no one wants to go into an environment where they can’t be true to themselves or their lifestyles.
But flexibility in terms of hours doesn’t mean that employees can come in and leave whenever they want. It’s about giving them the freedom to work when they’re most productive and ensuring that their output is still measurable.
Final Thoughts
Getting your team to work well together can be challenging, especially during a pandemic. However, if you use the strategies outlined in this article, you’ll overcome any obstacle. Implement them today, and you won’t regret it.
