Build Your Team Through Community Service

If you manage a small business or a department within a large organization, a great way to improve the cohesiveness of your employee team is to engage them in an activity away from the workplace.

Engaging in a community service activity is a great example. Your team can work at a food bank. Or, they can pick up liter along a highway. Or, they can provide a service at a local senior citizen center.

When you and your team are away from the workplace, working together and giving back to the community, everyone bonds in a way that is often difficult to do within the workplace. Away from work, it's an even playing field. Job titles and position levels disappear. Walls come down. Discussions open up.

Shoot for having your team do one activity per month. Make it voluntary. You may start out with a small group, but as the months go by and participants benefit from the team-building and the good feeling of providing service to their community, you'll soon likely get close to 100% participation from your team.

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Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

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