Improve workplace cohesion.  It can seem like a daunting request.  From political opinions to differences in how to respond publicly to the pandemic, division seems to be growing in our nation. Yet, this isn’t the first time that our country has experienced significant differences. With such a wide range of opinions so ready to be shared through social media and other channels, it’s more vital than ever for leaders to maintain workplace cohesion. Leaders across architecture and design must limit distractions and encourage empathy to fuel the collaboration necessary in our industry.

To be clear, diversity is a necessity for a strong workplace.  This is not about hiring a team of clones ready to “yes” every idea you have as a leader.  You need to push and pull of different ideas and points of view to make a firm where people want to work.  This post is about giving you, the leader, the tools needed to keep a diverse group working together and moving forward.

Below are some tips to help you improve workplace cohesion.

Improve Workplace Cohesion

So have do you, as a leader, improve workplace cohesion?  Employee conflicts are inevitable, everybody views the world differently. You can’t assume a passive approach to keeping peace in the workplace. Maintaining a calm, collaborative, and supportive work environment should always be a priority among leaders. Firms that aren’t proactive about conflict management will soon have toxic work environments and high employee turnover. But you can transform conflicts into growth opportunities using these strategies to improve workplace cohesion:

• Improve your hiring process – As architecture recruiters, we stress that it all starts with attracting, hiring, and retaining the right people. It becomes much easier to navigate conflict constructively when you recruit more empathetic candidates with good communication skills and avoid those who are self-centered or lack emotional intelligence.
• Address minor conflicts right away – If you don’t deal with minor disagreements promptly they can quickly escalate into major conflicts. It’s important to manage conflict as it happens and stay proactive about preventing potential issues among employees along the way.
• Provide employees with conflict resolution training – Employees need the tools and skills to work through issues with colleagues respectfully.
• Strong mediation – From hearing all sides of the story to redirecting personal attacks, you have to ensure that managers know how to efficiently mediate and resolve conflicts.
• Set a positive example – Organizations with leaders who model the behaviors they want to see have much better workplace cohesion. It starts with promoting inclusive and respectful communication, reminding employees of your company’s mission, and showing compassion.

Improve Workplace Cohesion

Of course, this is all for not if you are too removed from your team and the working environment of your staff. As a leader it can be easy to make strategy and operations you top priority.  And it makes sense, with out a forward look the firm can stagnate.  Without on understanding of the head-winds, a firm can fall behind.  Be it is all for not if the team supporting the successful operations and strategies developed quit, or are not being motivated to their full potential.  As you start to improve workplace cohesion in your firm you must first understand your teams wants, needs, and frustrations.

Here are a few was to connect with your team.

• Get to know them – It seems simple but a meeting once a month goes a long way
• Find their strengths, and focus on then – This will not only keep you employee engaged but it will help you to put the right people on the right task
• Set expectations – Employees that understand what you need and expect from them are more enguged and do a better job
• Understand what motivates them – What are their goals and expectation from you as a leader?

There is a simple article about how to connect with your team here.  Check it out.

Sometimes, choosing to be happy, productive, and successful is a better path than fighting over who is right. Remember, most workplace conflicts aren’t going to just disappear, so you need to understand how to properly handle them. As architecture and design recruiters, we can help you hire better candidates and work with you to improve workplace cohesion. Then you can succeed at keeping the peace at work with strong conflict management and resolution training, as well as always modeling the behavior you want to see in your team members.

Remember, it is your job as leader to always work to improve workplace cohesion.  Team managment is not a lesson that is once learned, it takes continued learning and education to grow team that work well together, mentor people to be their best, and establish a working environment where people want to be.  Being able to improve workplace cohesion is one part of a very complex skill set.  But don’t panic.  Developing the needed skills one at a time is a very beneficial practice for any leader.

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