There's always a reason to look at office team building ideas for your business
We are totally human. We make mistakes from time to time. This is true in our personal life, as well as our professional life. From time to time, we need to take a step back and evaluate a few things. If your office environment is slacking due to a lack of energy, then it's time to look into office team building ideas that will change the way your company culture affects work production.
But first, let me provide some background.
A Little Preface
I have this recurring nightmare where I am suddenly back at my old cubicle job. Standing at a desk in the middle of a warehouse chuck full of cubicles with a hundred chatty middle-aged women. And I’m next to the queen of them all, my old cubicle mate, Jeanette, a 40-something know-it-all.
The nightmare brings me back to every Tuesday and her ongoing phone battle with the trash company regarding her discord with the placement of her beloved Rosie Roller after her Monday trash-day. I was again “enjoying” her monthly battle with the cable company and her 45 minute epilogue on why she deserves a free month of service due to an unacceptable interruption of her beloved Bachelorette. The nightmare continues with Jeanette on her hands-free headset directing her mother in the proper method of baking a “better” lemon meringue pie…because Jeanette’s are the best, of course. My nightmare usually ends with me realizing I am sitting on a toilet in the middle of the cubicle with my teeth falling out, you know, pretty normal stuff here.
Then it ends with me walking over to Jeanette, taking her head-set off, telling her mother to bake her own damn pie, and giving her a good-old schiaffino. 
It’s hard to believe that it has been almost six years since I was Jeanette’s cubicle mate, and while I don’t remember most of the women’s names that I worked with, I still remember Jeanette’s trash day.
If you are fortunate enough to have a few different jobs under your belt, you have most likely worked in close proximity with your own version of Jeanette. This is actually a very important experience.
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Adapt and Learn
I am the youngest of seven children. We also cared for both of my grandfathers as they were aging and one of them had advanced Alzheimer’s. My parents and siblings had and still have incredible patience. They taught me by example the value and incredible importance of finding commonalities in everyone you meet and making relationships work.
When I graduated from high school, I moved to Italy for a year and lived with 65 other young women from 24 countries. We spoke 17 languages and I was the only North American. I shared a room with six others and shared a bathroom among thirteen. I backpacked Europe for two months with my friend and we stayed with all types of people. I also lived in Sierra Leone while in graduate school. So, there is one thing that I know, and that is I can adapt and learn new environments, and love it!
I never once was rude to Jeanette and we actually got along quite well. I cared about her and still do. I learned to still function and do my job well and respect her and all my colleagues, no matter how agitated I was.
But not all employees grow up with six siblings, two live-in grandparents, lived in Italy with 65 women from all over the world, and then lived in Africa with no running water or electricity.
Tips For Office Team Building Ideas
So, rather than shipping your employees off for an immersion team-building experience in the third world (which is worth a shot!), here are some other great tips.
1.) Great Communication
Great Communication is not just something that stays in marriage counseling. This is an important factor in all functional relationships. It first needs to be effectively modeled from the top down. This is a cultural component and begins in the business plan and runs all the way through the technology, to the physical design, and within the employee relationships. If employees don’t communicate well, imagine what their relationships may be with your clients and customers.
2.) Build Trust And Don't Look Back
Transparency is key (within legal and ethical reason). Be as transparent as possible when managing. This builds a sense of community and employees will know where they stand with managers as well as with one another. Don’t pin employees against one another. In small spaces, this only intensifies issues and creates tension that will not allow for productivity.
3.) Hire Right, Or You Will Only Go Wrong
Know your own business culture and build the hiring process accordingly. Involve current employees and the employee environment into the hiring process and be aware of the chemistry and the atmosphere during the process. These are real elements and observations in these areas are critical when making these decisions. It is much easier to hire then it is to fire.
4.) Ease Conflict Quickly
Ease Conflict Quickly before things get out of hand. If one waits culture shifts, the norms adjust, and rules begin to bend. Keep credibility as a leader and don’t send open emails regarding one employee’s issue. Deal with issues as they come directly and in person. Keep everything documented and in writing. If the issues relate to more than one person, bring them together to discuss it with you. Manage the issue immediately and make them face one another. Rumor only festers anger and resentment. Get them face to face with impartial mediation immediately. Remember, document in order to protect the firm in serious cases.
5.) Collaboration Is Key
Collaboration is Key when working in small spaces. The more people learn to work together, the stronger that skill-set develops. In this day and age, generations are depending on technology for relationship rather than in-personal encounters. But, the reality is, we still need interaction for real success. It may take time, but if you have the right employees for the job, then creating collaborative projects to enhance their work relationships can create new opportunities for your firm and a warmer culture.
Tech Saavy Tools For Office Team Building
Now, let’s talk about some techy tools to make a small workspace have as much virtual space as every nerd-heart’s desire. It’s ok, we finally live in a world where nerds are cool. Hello…Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, and the entire cast of that show with the annoying blond from the Priceline commercials.
My favorites are Asana, Dropbox, Wunderlist, and Evernote. Here, we will approach office team building ideas from the stand point of improving morale through production tools.
Asana
Asana can be uses to manage an entire business project via task management. It is a web and mobile application designed to enable teamwork without email. Guess what? It was founded by the co-founder of Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz (nerd) and ex-engineer Justin Rosenstein (also nerd) while they were working on improving productivity of Facebook employees. One of their tag lines is “less work about work.” I love it. You can tour the product here https://asana.com/product.
(By the way, Dustin, you can send me my commission as soon as you want. Just message me regarding payment details through Asana, of course.)
Dropbox
Dropbox we use to store entire business database and share files with each other and with our clients. This is great if you don’t want to have to pay tons of overhead for an IT provider. And it provides back-up tools for sharing, updating, and cloud storage. For example, I am the head speechwriter for my boss and when I upload a draft to Dropbox, she can change the content and I can immediately see the updated version without her needing to resave and send. This is what I call teamwork! https://www.dropbox.com/business
Wunderlist
Wunderlist is great for quick personal lists of daily tasks. If firms really are in severly small spaces and one of the perks of the job is that employees can flex and telecommute, then this is a great tool. Supervisors and team members can work through projects via Wunderlist from tele-locations through secure connections. Sometimes we just need a break from each other, but that doesn’t mean work can’t get done. https://www.wunderlist.com/en/business
Evernote
Evernote is for a virtual whiteboard where teams can throw everything on: concepts can be sketched, notes written, pictures posted, PDFs saved, tasks, calendars, projects, meetings. And everything can be share as needed. It is the place where everything can be put so nothing is forgotten. It is perfect if a creative team is traveling or working remotely, or if space is limited for conceptualizing ideas and digitizing is the only option. Plus, nothing gets lost!
(Where did I put those keys?)
Anyway, you can check Evernote out here: http://evernote.com/.
There are so many amazing applications and personal management practices that can be used to help small workspaces (as well as remote or telecommute firms) not only function, but soar!
But, the more important thing of all is to be nice…and shower daily, that helps too.
Photo credit to Flickr user lostintheredwoods
How Do You Drive More Team Collaboration?
Try having your company website work as an efficient tool for collaboration, lead generation, and smart growth! Incorporate these office team building ideas into your business, and see what happens!
