8 ways to improve team cohesion in your service business

Can you guess the top two things that keep people around in an organization? We’re guessing that most of you have guessed the first one: salary. And that’s fair, but what about the second one? Is it the perks, flexibility, or benefits?

Let us save you the suspense: it’s the community they have at work. According to Gusto, 54% of employees have listed a great team as the second reason why they stay at their current job.

So, how do you develop a great team? That’s what we’re here to find out as we look at what team cohesion is, why it matters, what impacts it, and what you can do to improve it inside your team or agency.

What is team cohesion?

Team cohesion, or team cohesiveness, is your team’s ability to work together in order to achieve common goals, as well as the degree of interpersonal relations and bonds among your employees.

Team cohesion in agency teams also includes shared values, trust, and team engagement, as well as a sense of solidarity and belonging. Cohesive teams have been shown to be more productive and healthier.

Why team cohesion matters

Let’s look at the tangible factors first. According to research done by Gartner, highly cohesive teams are 37% more likely to sustain workforce health.

As for the intangibles, team members in cohesive teams communicate better, get things done more quickly, have fewer conflicts and better team performance, and share ideas freely.

And they are generally more resilient in case of unforeseen events, which we have experienced firsthand here at ActiveCollab during the global pandemic.

If you still want to talk numbers, you are basically leaving money on the table by not utilizing the full potential of your team.

Signs of a cohesive team

How do you measure if your agency team is cohesive? What are the tell-tale signs? Do they even exist?

Fortunately, they do. To gauge your team's social cohesion, be on the lookout for the following signs:

Egos aren’t getting in the way: The key word when it comes to team cohesion is “we”. Every team member puts aside their ego and does what’s best for entire team. This means being open to being wrong and learning from colleagues.

Everyone’s voice is heard: It’s not just a matter of being able to speak in meetings, but about being a part of the decision-making process. Making an effort to include everyone results in team members committing to the decisions, even if it doesn’t align with their own suggestions.

Less employee turnover and absenteeism: As mentioned previously, members of a cohesive team feel a sense of belonging, which helps them better resolve conflicts and makes them less likely to leave your organization. They are also much less likely to skip work, call in sick, or actively disengage.

Healthy conflict resolution: Conflicts arise even inside the most cohesive teams. The key difference is that cohesive teams handle them constructively. Conflicts simply become another opportunity for growth.

Resilience under pressure: At some point, things will go sideways on one of your projects. Pay attention to how your team handles it. Do they adapt, regroup, figure out a solution to the problem, and fix it together? If yes, congratulations, you have a cohesive team.

High team engagement and motivation:

When all or most of the boxes are ticked, your team members will come in ready every day, engaged and motivated to do their best. It’s not just about hitting the KPIs or goals, but also about not letting each other down.

8 ways to improve team cohesion in your service businesses

Now, there are some teams where all team members click with each other right off the bat, but those are few and far between, which means you will probably have to roll up your sleeves to make cohesion happen.

Here are 8 things you need to do in order to turn your team into a more cohesive and close-knit unit:

Create a joint vision and team goals

We’ve already briefly touched on this at the beginning. Team cohesion involves your team working toward a mutual goal or shared purpose. The tricky thing about having a vision is that it can be pretty vague.

This is where specific goals come in. Sure, it’s great that you want your agency or organization to be a leader in your industry or niche, but the way you get there is by giving your team measurable team goals or targets they can focus on.

This includes reverse engineering your vision into yearly, monthly, and weekly goals and tasks, with their own deadlines, and with each team member being given a clear role, so there are no overlaps or duplicate work.

Also, goals are used to measure progress and success.

Foster trust within the team

By this, we mean trust across the board, including:

Once your team members trust each other, they will start to foster stronger bonds. You can lead by example. What do we mean by this? Well, first of all, avoid micromanaging them and show that you have faith in them and their abilities.

This not only builds trust and autonomy, but also gives meaningfulness to your team members’ work.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Cohesive teams never guess what their members are thinking. They simply talk to each other. Making sure that the communication among your team members is open and honest is crucial, but how do you do it?

For starters, decide on all the different methods you will use and the frequency of communication. Will it be synchronous or asynchronous communication? Will you be using push or pull communication methods, or both?

All of this depends on your team’s DNA, but whatever the case may be, you will need to rely on effective communication tools, such as ActiveCollab.

ActiveCollab not only helps your team keep track of their tasks, deadlines, and project progress, but also gives them team communication and collaboration tools, such as built-in chat, mentions, comments, as well as file sharing.

Also, ActiveCollab acts as a single source of truth for your entire organization, enabling you and your team to keep track of the relevant project information, as well as to establish accountability.

Empower members of your team

What does this involve, and what does it have to do with team cohesion?

Well, for one thing, giving your team members responsibilities or even authority over certain aspects of your projects enables them to assume authorship over given tasks or projects.

Here are a few other examples of how you can empower them in order to contribute to their cohesion:

Last but not least, give them room to try different things and approaches. Will they make mistakes? Of course, they will, but it’s a small price to pay in the long run.

Nurture team-building activities

Provide opportunities for your team to engage in team sports and get to know each other not just as professionals and colleagues, but as people too. That goes double if you have a remote team, like we do here.

There is a whole spectrum of low-pressure, fun, and engaging team-building activities you can organize for your team, depending on your budget.

This includes:

People like to bond with each other when in a relaxing environment, as well as when tackling fun challenges, so make sure to have a little of something for everyone.

Teams are not built just during projects, but in moments between them, too.

Handle conflicts constructively

Make no mistake, even the most tight-knit experience conflicts at some point. The way they go about solving them is what determines how cohesive they are. So, how can you help your team get better at solving conflicts?

Here are some ideas that you might want to implement:

Make sure that each member understands that this is not personal. If done right, conflict resolution can result in a stronger and more productive team.

Provide training and upskilling opportunities

In order to build a cohesive team, each member of the team should feel like they belong. In other words, they should feel capable of contributing to the mutual goal of the team.

Now, we all experience impostor syndrome at some point or think that we can’t handle all the new responsibilities, but the solution to that is to provide your team members with training opportunities.

Allowing your team member chances to improve their skills can be done in many ways, including:

• Cross-functional collaboration
• Workshops and conferences
• Training courses
• In-house mentorship

Closing the skills gap and close collaboration with other team members will help your employees feel more confident and at ease, which brings everyone one step closer to proper team cohesion.

Hire the right fit for your team

It may seem like a no-brainer to hire the most experienced and skilled professional. You put them on a team and watch as magic happens? Not quite.

Yes, skills matter a lot, but you should look beyond the resume. Consider the following questions:

This doesn’t mean hiring someone who is like the other members of the team, but someone who will bring something different and make the team stronger without clashing with it.

And one other thing: once you hire the right person, make sure to onboard them properly and get them started off on the right foot.

Factors that influence team cohesion

Team cohesion doesn’t happen in a vacuum. In other words, there are plenty of factors that work for or against it, such as:

Team size and structure: It’s much easier to achieve cohesion with smaller teams. There are fewer moving parts, fewer egos, and fewer communication lines. Consider Jeff Bezos’ two-pizza rule: if you can’t feed your team with two large pizzas, it’s too big.

Time: You can do all of the things above, but there is no way of getting around the fact that strong bonds require time. Teams that have been around longer know this, especially if they have been through a range of different challenges and shared experiences.

Shared values: Even when you have team members with vastly different personalities and working styles, you can still achieve team cohesion if they share values, such as respect, accountability, and passion for work.

Previous successes: When your team has previous successes to build upon, cohesion comes pretty easily. Team members who have achieved something together are more trusting of each other and motivated to get new wins.

Challenges and threats: Ironically, when teams go through hardship together, it can make them even stronger. Tight deadlines, setbacks, project issues, and client pressure can cause teams to band together and overcome any adversity.

Conclusion – Enhance team cohesion and build trust with ActiveCollab

Making team cohesion happen, especially in today’s chaotic and somewhat ruthless marketplace, is definitely a big challenge.

There are so many things that can make or break team cohesion, but that shouldn’t discourage you from making an effort. In fact, you need to make an effort, because cohesion rarely comes naturally.

With ActiveCollab, you have the right tool that can support your team on its way to achieving trust and seamless collaboration.

With features for communication, collaboration, workload, and project management, ActiveCollab provides your team with all the infrastructure necessary for strong team cohesion.

Sign up for our 14-day free trial, or book a demo, and have our team demonstrate how ActiveCollab can enhance your collective efficacy and make cohesion happen for your team in no time!