What’s corporate culture?
Corporate culture is the set of values and rules that characterize a company. In a way, it’s its DNA – what defines it, sets it apart from others and conveys its unique personality and distinctive story. Corporate culture affects all employees within an organization. It defines the way they communicate, the way they work together and the kind of relationships they have with their customers.
Not sure how to start defining your corporate values? Read this article to find out.
Embracing corporate culture means being part of a bigger whole. This helps:
- Strengthen collaboration and effective communication (which is all the more important with remote work)
- Improve team performance
- Facilitate recruitment by helping the organization stand out through its employer brand
- Improve retention rates
Of course, for organizational culture (a synonym for corporate culture!) to become an integral part of your company, you can’t simply define it. It needs to be nurtured through concrete actions so that employees fully embrace it, share common goals and feel a real sense of belonging. This is where team-building activities come in: they’re a fun and effective way to enhance your corporate culture.
A human resources team plays a key role in the process of maintaining corporate culture. It ensures that the company’s values are firmly anchored and put into practice on a daily basis.
How does team cohesion benefit your corporate culture?
What’s team cohesion?
Corporate culture relies heavily on employee cohesion. A cohesive team is better at the decision-making process, has more fun working together and is more productive.
Team cohesion through team building
Team-building activities are excellent tools to improve team cohesion through shared group experiences. They create a sense of trust and openness, foster better understanding of each other individually and as a team, and encourage people to be open to others’ ideas. They can also help encourage people to speak out, facilitate discussion of emerging problems within the team or even reveal internal weaknesses. These activities are a tried-and-true method on how to build team cohesion when used effectively and appropriately.
How do you choose the right activities to build team cohesion?
There’s a wide range of activities to choose from, so it’s easy to find one that suits your team and objectives. These activities are usually organized away from the workplace since informal atmospheres bring out personality traits and skills that employees may not be able to showcase at work. This allows them to present themselves in a different light and let their colleagues discover new facets of them.
Whether you choose a casual outing designed to strengthen team relationships, a culinary workshop or an intellectual or physical task to encourage team members to join forces, every company can find an activity to suit its needs. The key is to identify your goals and consider the specific characteristics of your team.
To be effective, team-building activities should be tailored to the employees’ interests. Are you a team leader to a group of outdoor enthusiasts? Why not propose a riverbank cleanup or a kayak trip? It’s important not to take people too far out of their comfort zone, as this could create feelings of incompetence among colleagues. If you’re organizing a team-building activity for a group that doesn’t like public speaking, proposing improvisation exercises might not be the best idea.
Team building can be useful at any stage in team development: at the outset, when team members are unfamiliar with each other, when a new colleague arrives, when you need to increase team effectiveness or even when everything’s going well! There’s no need to wait for a slump to strengthen team cohesion.
A complementary tool
Team-building activities can’t solve all your problems, but they can help you find solutions to certain issues. That’s why they should be seen as a complementary tool within a broader strategy. One activity alone won’t fix everything, and it’s important to seek feedback and follow up with your team. Analyzing the results and applying what you’ve learned to workplace dynamics will help ensure success on many levels.
When chosen correctly, team-building activities can be highly effective. They help improve communication within the team, increase employees’ sense of belonging, raise their level of commitment and, ultimately, achieve more results. Remember: the stronger and more united the team, the more the company benefits.
Whether you’re a start-up or a growing business, we’ve got the right advice for you.
