Improving group cohesiveness at the workplace is one of the key factors for success in business. Nothing works as it should if a team doesn’t work well together. Of course there are a hundred different ways to improve group cohesiveness and some may prove more effective than other depending on the personality and the group dynamic you have to work with. A good team leader should be able to become a liaison between the members f the team at the beginning. I don’t mean he should become too friendly, because it’s possible that he might lose his authority, but he or she should make every member of the team feel at ease with each other. Getting people to communicate with each other inside and outside the workplace is in my opinion the most important job of a team leader because that is the best way to improve productivity. A well oiled team makes for a great business.

1.    Learn more about each other. The first thing you should do in order to improve group cohesiveness is to make an effort and try to learn more about each other as members of the same team. Try to find out what hobbies other people have, what kind of movies they like, what sort of books they read, what kind of music they listen to. These are all excellent subjects to find out where compatibilities can be made. Of course a team leader can choose to do this in an official, organized manner, with everybody sitting in a circle and talking about themselves when queued, but I believe that a great team leader can be more subtle than that and he can get people talking to and about each other without all the formalities.

2.    Office parties. Office parties are another way to go in order to improve group cohesiveness. My personal opinion is that you should always provide a theme for the party. You can always choose a classic theme like a costume party or go for something unconventional like an ugly sweater party. Either way the theme will provide everybody something to talk about, and will inevitably show of part of their personality just by the way they dress. All and all, this is a great way to get to feel more at ease with each other.

3.    Going out together. I think it is almost a cliché but in ever movie you see that co-workers wind up at the end of a program together at a bar, talking about how they want to kill their bosses. This is a good sign. Group cohesiveness can only be improved if the members of the group want to spend tie with each other outside the workplace. Also, giving them a common enemy like the boss, will only give them something to talk about and make their bond tighter.

4.    Play team games. Organizing corporate outings is in my opinion a great idea. Getting everybody excited about playing team games together can only prove useful for team cohesiveness. Having fun together will get everybody to trust each other more. Plus, playing team games will only improve the trust that forms between team members during the game.

5.    Bonuses for the team and not for individuals. If you are planning to give bonuses for a certain project make sure you let everyone know that it doesn’t matter what one individual does, because only the team as a whole will receive it. This will force everybody to work together and help each other out in order to get everything done on time and according to specifications.

6.    Train together. If the jobs you offer require training than always make sure to have sessions of team training as well, not just individual. Learning together is a great way to improve group cohesiveness, and it is profitable to start at the very beginning with teamwork. You can train somebody flawlessly, and he can have excellent results as an individual, but if he doesn’t know how to work in a team he may prove to be useless.

7.    Open office and not cliques. You should always try to maintain an atmosphere where everybody talks to everybody else so that cliques are less likely to occur. Of course from a certain point they are inevitable, but you should at least make sure that no rivalries form between the different factions.

Nothing is more important than having a smooth running team in any sort of business. So make sure you do everything in your power to improve group cohesiveness, because it will only turn out in your favor at the end. As I said before these are just some ideas that I have found to be useful, but depending on the personalities you have in your team, other methods may prove to be more effective.              

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