How can a boss influence the ability to work in a group?

The ability to work in a group will be the holy grail of any team that will go through the pandemic when most employees worked alone from home. Is it possible to build such competences on-line and how to influence them during integration trips, as well as every day, in the office?

Below you will find an extension of the following topics:

The ability to work in a group is acquired at an early age. Later it is developed in the first work. Today, when learning or working is largely done online, the more valuable are the classes that allow you to quickly catch up in such soft skills.

Ability to work in a group or individualism?

Asian work culture is about working towards a common goal, while in the West individualism dominates. This makes it easy for each employee to achieve their own goals and take responsibility for their decisions. Working in a team is a bit more difficult when both the responsibilities and the consequences of actions are distributed evenly. There are professions where individualism is more useful than cooperation. However, in an average office with more than a few people working in a team, the ability to work in a group comes in very handy. Predispositions to cooperate with people can be assessed using tests, such as the famous Gallup test. This also allows you to build a team focused on cooperation or, for example, competition.

Daily group bonding exercises

It is worth starting to build the spirit of teamwork with small, everyday tasks. teambuilding it is most easily created in practice when employees need to reach a consensus or collectively make a choice. It is worth giving them opportunities to do so, e.g. by entrusting them with tasks in different and changing teams: pairs, threes and larger groups. It is worth noting that even moments of relaxation or meals in the office can be conducive to integration or contradict it.

Table setting, menus and even beer Fridays or pizza Wednesdays - this can help employees break through, get to know each other better, and eventually gain the ability to work in a group. Similarly, team games available during breaks from work. Office competitions are a type of simple activity that helps to build teamwork skills. For example, they can be puns or quizzes based on current company matters. One hour a week, or even a month, is an incredibly effective group work exercise.
 

Building teamwork skills

Office life, however, is mostly work. Therefore, the ability to work in a group must be additionally built on the trip. Scenarios of company events can be selected so as to foster cooperation within the team. They work great:

• games,
• competitions,
• expeditions,
• workshops,
• karaoke parties.

It is worth knowing that today's integration trips are not just a table full of food and drinks. Such a corporate event can have a very extensive and interesting program, and the details depend only on the imagination of the organizers. Balloon flight or natural cosmetics workshop? Everything can be organized thanks to the experience of advisers gathered around Dwór Korona Karkonoszy.

It is better not to try to complete all the details on your own, because choosing a hotel, ordering attractions and keeping an eye on the schedule can be beyond the most experienced. After all, on such a trip, the boss can also relax and take part in interesting workshops or a concert. Particularly good are those group work skills exercises where you have to create something together, but those where you have to work against each other are risky. Therefore, if it's survival or paintball, it's based on the fight of several teams against each other, and if it's cooking workshops, it's leading to the creation of one common dish.

Teamwork as a recipe for success

Strength in a group! The ability to work in a group is very valuable for employers. Thanks to it, it is possible to perform professional tasks faster and more effectively and achieve better results than in the case of working alone. And that's not all! To the greatest advantages it brings teamwork in the company, we will include:

1. Ability to implement larger or more complex projects. The project can be divided into several parts and appropriate people can be appointed to perform individual tasks. The involvement of all members of the group allows you to achieve the set goal faster.
2. Greater knowledge, skills and experience. The combination of knowledge and skills of group members is a recipe for success! Drawing on the potential and experience of individual employees allows you to achieve better results and solve any problems faster. Each employee does what he or she is best at, and as a result, the group works more efficiently. Moreover, it is a great basis for carrying out the so-called brainstorming (exchange of views and experiences), which is a way to find the best solutions and ideas.
3. Mutual motivation to work. Group members can motivate each other to act. In teamwork, the phenomenon of facilitation is noticeable. Employees know that they work in a group and are watched by others, therefore they are more eager to act. They do not want to stand out from the team and be perceived as unproductive and lazy.
4. Saving time and effort. Many projects can be done on your own, but their implementation would be really time-consuming and complicated. Working in a group and dividing responsibilities among individual members allows you to achieve the set goal faster.

Ability to work in a group - how to develop it while working remotely?

Remote work offers many benefits. Employers value it for the chance to acquire employees with high competences, who would normally not be able to hire - e.g. due to living in a different city. For employees, it is an opportunity to get an excellent job and the possibility of a more flexible approach to the performance of professional duties.

However, working from home office is not all advantages. A major limitation here is the distance between individual employees - which is particularly noticeable in the case of teamwork. The lack of face-to-face contact makes it difficult to build strong relationships, which can lead to conflicts, misunderstandings and understatements that will negatively affect the effectiveness of team projects and the results achieved. How to develop the ability to work in a group in the case of home office activities?

First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the bonds between employees. Simple integration games that can be conducted, for example, via video chat, are very helpful - such as "Truth or Dare" or "Two Truths and a Lie". Integration games it is a chance to get to know your co-workers better, to relax the atmosphere and build friendly relations. In order to break the communication barrier in the form of screens and distance, it is worth introducing the tradition of cyclical virtual integration meetings during which employees will be able to talk about loose topics unrelated to work and thus strengthen mutual ties. If there is such a possibility, from time to time it is worth meeting in "real life". A joint integration trip with elements of team building will make it easier to build a strong team.

In order for the ability to work in a group to be at the highest level, communication is essential. Effective group communication should be the foundation of any business. Thanks to it, it is possible to perform professional tasks faster and more effectively and to achieve the set goals more easily. The employer should specify in detail the rules of communication in the team - who, what, when and to whom should communicate.

The key to building teamwork skills is the selection of appropriate communication tools, including:

• project management tools (e.g. Wrike),
• tools for conducting everyday conversations (e.g. Slack),
• video calling tools (e.g. Skype).

An example of a game that improves the ability to work in a group

The best way to learn teamwork skills is team building. Team building consists of tasks and processes aimed at building a strong team that draws on the potential of each of its members and efficiently performs all professional duties. example team building funthat develops the ability to work in a group is the construction of a Goldberg machine.

The Goldberg machine is a cause-and-effect structure made of various levers, pendulums, wooden blocks, gears, and other components. The machine consists of several parts, where the individual mechanisms drive each other. As part of team building, participants are divided into groups. Each team must build one specific mechanism. The combined parts should create a well-functioning machine. The key to success is cooperation and communication.

Building a Goldberg machine is a task that equips participants with valuable skills useful in everyday work - such as active listening, getting the best out of the knowledge, skills and potential of each team member, efficient transfer of information, effective division of tasks and clear and logical commands .