Imagine! A workforce that is utilizing their skills, motivated to deliver their best and constantly adding to their professional growth and success of the company. Now that is what every company aims to achieve from their teams, but achieving the same can be challenging and tiring. However, with inclusive team-building activities and workshops, every company can achieve a motivated and involved workforce. We, at Corporate Compass, can help you achieve the same through our expansive team engagement activities.
Let us first understand the importance of Team Engagement
Do you think a company can be successful if its workforce is not motivated and employees do not feel involved? The answer is a simple no. A team of motivated employees who feel emotionally connected with the company is essential for a company’s success. Happy employees are just a crux, the focus should be on having team engagement at a level wherein employees are enthusiastic to grow with the company and contribute to its success. We can help curate team engagement activities ideas that will promote inclusivity, productivity, employee motivation, engagement, and a driven workforce.
How can a company make Team engagement activities more inclusive?
An employee who is recognized at work has a sense of belonging, and feels understood is an employee who prioritizes the company and its goals. Employees who feel that their work appreciates them and thinks about their well-being. Who feel that they can communicate freely about their opinions and shortcomings. These employees feel freer to be a part of team engagement activities in the office and contribute towards such activities. In companies where employees can see a long-term commitment, an environment of team-building and productivity permeates. Similarly, companies make sure to invest in their employees who give their hundred percent and are motivated and skilled. This two-way trust and commitment are essential for creating a truly inclusive work environment.
Here are seven ways through which companies can enhance team engagement activities and make them more inclusive.
1. Ensure inclusion of team members
While organizing team building activities, it is crucial and the first step to ensure that every team member feels included. They should feel that they are needed in the activities and feel that they belong.
2. Know your team members
Imagine that you have a multicultural team. Then you will have to ensure that if you are planning any activity, for example, an activity focusing on a certain festival. In such cases, you will have to ensure that festivals of all multicultural members are also being catered to. Similarly, while planning team engagement activities, you have to make sure that the demographics, bilingual aspects, cultural norms, etc. are taken care of and that no cultural emotions are endangered.
3. Plan comfortable activities
The right approach is to plan activities that will make your team feel challenged and step out of their comfort zones. The wrong activities will be which do not grasp the diversity in age groups, generations, health issues, etc. You should do thoughtful planning to curate activities wherein generations of all age groups feel welcomed to participate in and grow their skill set, and at the same time, members from different age groups can connect.
4. Past experiences
Understanding and learning from past team engagement experiences is the best thing one can do. See how the last engagement event happened, and what were the shortcomings of the same. Learn from that and accordingly plan engagement activities to make the teams feel more inclusive and excited. Do not plan repetitive activities, rather plan something new and exciting to keep the morale high of all team members.
5. Use a language that is understandable to all
The biggest baton holder of inclusivity is communication. You should ensure that the facilitator of the engagement activities as well as the team building event, uses a language with which everyone is comfortable. It can be English or Hindi Just ensure that the language is understandable by everyone so that all team members can understand the activities and what is expected from them.
6. Diversity and inclusion practices
It is the duty of both the facilitator of engagement activities, as well as the organization to be mindful of creating a respectful environment. Every team member, after the engagement activities, should feel valued and should learn something new from the whole process. Also, to promote inclusion, the team members should have the option to give honest and valuable feedback, and the option of giving such feedback anonymously should be there as well.
7. Ensure maximum participation
A successful event is when there is maximum participation. Any team building activity is a success when the team members willingly feel the need to participate and develop a fresh skill set from it. Therefore, organizations should take the initiative to take the above-listed steps to ensure maximum participation. Whether it’s through small group tasks, team challenges, or interactive discussions, ensure that every team member has an opportunity to contribute and shine.
Conclusion
Inclusivity in team engagement activities is like incentive programs for employees, both play a highly vital role for team members to feel happy, belong, and be motivated to achieve a goal. By inculcating the above pointers, you as an organization will not only achieve maximum participation in team engagement activities but also a set of happy employees.
At Corporate Compass, we believe that inclusive engagement activities are the cornerstone of a strong, united team.
