Teamwork is a buzzword in today’s work culture. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, leaders are implementing new strategies to increase collaboration and create a more supportive environment for employees. But if you’re not working with others on a regular basis, it can seem like an impossible task. That’s where the 5 teamwork tips below come in handy. They will help you create an inclusive environment that encourages teambuilding, trust building and collaboration among teammates—no matter their role or position in the organization.

Communicate Often

Communicating frequently is critical for effective teamwork. A team or organization that communicates just once per month will also communicate once every month. Therefore, if you work with colleagues once every two weeks, you will communicate with them once every two months. On the other hand, a team that is constantly communicating with each other will improve their performance exponentially. How often you communicate will depend on your role and how informally your team operates. You may communicate more informally with a few people in your team or you may interact regularly with the entire team. Whatever your situation is, commit to at least one communication per week with at least one person on your team.

Hold Team Meetings Regularly

Regular meetings are an important part of teamwork. While it’s true that many collaboration tasks can be completed via email, it’s more effective to talk face to face. When you hold regular meetings, you get to see how each of your team members is performing. You can also get a sense of whether they are on the same page as you are. Meetings are also a great opportunity to build rapport, exchange knowledge and learn from each other. If your organization doesn’t hold frequent meetings, initiate a brainstorming session with your leadership. Find out how often meetings are held and ask them to consider adding team building elements to meetings to increase collaboration and teamwork.

Develop a Culture of Sharing

As a leader, you have the power to create an inclusive, collaborative environment in your organization. The quickest way to do so, though, is by creating a culture of sharing. By doing so, you’ll encourage your team to explore new ideas, think outside the box and challenge their assumptions. You can create a culture of sharing by continuously communicating your organization’s values, why sharing is important and the importance of sharing. You can also create a culture of sharing by sharing crucial information with your team and holding them accountable for doing so. As a leader, develop and implement a process for holding your team accountable. This will help you identify and address problems with a team member’s performance.

Encourage Open Communication

Open communication is the key to creating a culture of sharing. When you encourage open communication and hold your team accountable for sharing information, you’ll create a culture of sharing. Open communication is not only important among team members, but also with executives and management. When you avoid private conversations and hold your organization accountable for communicating openly, you’ll create an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration. To encourage open communication and avoid private conversations, your organization must hold public meetings and communicate important information via email, social media or a company intranet.

Create a Collaborative Environment

When it comes to teamwork, the place you work in is just as important as the people you work with. If your office space doesn’t encourage teamwork, then your efforts to encourage teamwork will be for naught. To create a collaborative environment, your office environment must encourage socialization, collaboration and creativity. You can create a collaborative environment by having open-space offices, providing plenty of outlets for collaboration (e.g. whiteboards, foosball tables, beanbags etc.) and incorporating team-building activities (e.g. team-building exercises, team-building games) into your regular employee activities.

Wrapping Up

Teamwork is an essential part of every organization. It’s essential for people to work together, learn from each other and celebrate each other’s success. But it can be tough to get everyone on the same page. Make it’s frequent will seeding the idea and in the end make it as company culture.