Making your team work as a well-oiled, cohesive machine isn’t easy. Getting different people from different backgrounds to coexist with their different habits, work ethics and personalities is a feat I fight for every day.
I would have never imagined that a major part of having one’s own business is keeping the team running like a machine. Of course, I knew there would be a managerial side to the job, but never this hands on. So in attempt to make all right and fun in our office world, we’ve decided to invest in team-building incentives.
In order to make your employees happy, you must do the following:
1. Play to your employees’ strengths
Not every employee is capable of taking on every task or project that comes into the company. Just like you have your strengths and weaknesses, so do your employees. Putting the pressure on them to be able to deliver regardless of the project will not only demotivate them, but frustrate them, leading to results in the end you would not be happy with.
2. Be transparent
Being straightforward with your employees is probably the best way to make your team more solid. Most likely when your apprehensions arise, they have the same ones, and it’s up to you to help them weather the storm and hold down the fort. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a scattered team, demotivated, with no foresight into what’s to come.
One thing we really believe in is sharing our future plans and goals with the team. It gives us all something to run towards.
3. Establish ground rules
In order for your ship to sail, there has to be ground rules and everyone has to be on board with them. If employees and managers alike can’t follow them or respect them, then assume there will definitely be a riff that will not be easily mended. Any entity needs rules, no matter how lax and laid back the environment is.
4. Have your employees’ backs
This is especially important if they mess up. Remember they are human just like everyone else and mistakes are bound to happen. As long as they were not careless and acted to rectify the situation immediately, the best thing to do is stand up for them and present a united front. Your employee’s self-esteem and faith in the establishment will grow tenfold.
5. Give incentives
Spreading the wealth is one of our biggest pillars. If we are making money, then so are you; bonuses on projects are given and assignments that can be done in-house are returned monetarily on top of employees’ salaries. Making sure your employees have more to look forward to, and can achieve more when working harder, will only help take the business to the next level.
6. Keep the environment fun and ever changing
This is where actual team-building initiatives take place. Just at the beginning of last week, Alia El Askalany of Lulu’s Kitchen fame came into the office to do a team-building activity that involved cooking RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR WORKING SPACE.
The results and overall morale in the office grew enormously. Not only was everyone having fun (not doing their work) but they were actually participating and helping one another put the ingredients together to make some of the most delicious sandwiches, salads and home-made chocolate balls possible.
If I could recommend any in-house activity, this would be the one. Not only do you reap the benefits you sow (actually eating it), but it gives everyone something to look forward to upon finishing the tasks at hand.
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss Sherry’s last “The Smart Way To Start Your Own Business” post: 6 Lessons I Learned from Starting a Business in Egypt.
