SETWorks

7 Tips to Improve Team Collaboration in 2022

Our favorite ideas to help you feel refreshed and excited to accomplish your goals together.

team collaboration

It’s hard to believe we’re already over a month into 2022. If you’re like most teams — ourselves included — then you’ve probably devoted a lot of time in the last month to thinking about what you want to accomplish in the upcoming year. That might be growing your team, getting your files organized, or just stressing less. 

 

Regardless of what your goals look like for 2022, if you want to achieve them, it’s crucial that everyone in your organization is on the same page and working toward a shared goal. In fact, that’s the very definition of team collaboration. So how can you foster team collaboration in the year ahead? Here are seven ideas:

1. Volunteer together

Helping others in need is a great way to come together as a team. Whether you participate in a park cleanup, host a food drive, or join a fundraising walk, volunteering as a team provides an opportunity to connect with your coworkers and the community. Volunteers will have to communicate and work together, which builds a strong foundation for collaboration back at the office. 

 

In addition, volunteering gives your team a shared sense of accomplishment. Imagine how great your team will feel knowing they’ve helped feed hungry families or raise money for a good cause. That’s something you just won’t get from completing a ropes course at a corporate retreat. If you’re looking for a volunteer opportunity, VolunteerMatch is a good place to start.

2. Celebrate with team spirit days

Spirit Week is a homecoming tradition for high schools, but it’s also a great way to encourage unity and pride at the office. During spirit week, everyone dresses up according to a theme, like Crazy Hat Day, Pajama Day, or Company Color Day. Different departments can compete against each other to see who has the most spirit. Each team is awarded points for participation, and whoever has the most points at the end of the week wins a prize (like lunch or a gift card).

 

Not only does this help engage your employees and build a sense of team spirit, it’s also a fun way to break up the monotony of work when every day feels like Groundhog Day. So grab your calendar, and start planning! Here are 50 workplace spirit week ideas to get you started.

3. Go on a scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunts are a fun and easy way to practice teamwork skills and encourage collaboration. During a scavenger hunt, employees are split up into smaller teams, and they must collaborate to solve clues and collect a list of items. As they work together to find things, your staff will get to know each other better and have some laughs along the way. 

 

The best part about doing a scavenger hunt is that it can be adapted to your needs and the time you have available. You can carve out 15 minutes before a meeting and have teams look for simple items found in the office. Or, you can organize a road rally scavenger hunt where teams drive around and complete challenges in your hometown. Scavenger hunts can even be adapted to a virtual format, if needed.

4. Host a Zoom game night

Not everyone is ready to gather in person, and family obligations can make it difficult to get away for a night out. However, that doesn’t stop you from hosting a team game night on Zoom.

 

Playing Codenames or pub trivia is a great way to unwind and have some fun with your team. Not only that, but it promotes teamwork skills like communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. Games can also bring out a different side of people than you would normally see in a professional setting. You might discover, for example, that your normally soft-spoken coworker is extremely competitive. Knowing the various personalities you have on your team will go a long way toward helping you collaborate more effectively.

5. Share a meal

“The team that eats together, stays together.” OK, that’s not exactly how the saying goes…but it’s true nonetheless. Sharing a meal together is a vastly underrated way to strengthen your team’s bond. Gathering around the table gives you a chance to connect face-to-face and catch up on what’s going on in each other’s lives. And for many teams, a meal might be the only time all employees are together in one place. 

 

Pizza parties are always popular with employees, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box. A nacho bar, BBQ, fondue, or breakfast with bagels, quiche, and coffee are all relatively inexpensive and crowd-pleasing ways to feed a large group. If your team isn’t able to be in person together, coordinate a company DoorDash account and celebrate over Zoom!

6. Join a hobby club

Joining a book club or other hobby club with your coworkers is a great way to nurture a healthy working relationship. Why? For starters, it gives you something to talk about instead of “work, work, work”. You might find that you click with your coworkers over your love of Steven King novels or your shared musical tastes, which can help make you feel closer. In turn, this closeness translates to better collaboration on the job. Not to mention, having a shared hobby is a great way for your team to unwind after a hard week (or year).

 

If a book club isn’t your thing, grab some coworkers and join a bowling league, take an improv class, find a gaming group, or check out your local rock climbing or running club. Meetup.com is a good starting point to find a group near you.

7. Try out team huddles

If you’ve ever played football or even watched a game on TV, then you’ll be familiar with the concept of a team huddle. The whole team gathers around in a circle to strategize and pump each other up for the next play. 

 

Team huddles foster collaboration on the football field, but they can also serve the same purpose in the workplace. Unlike weekly or monthly sit-down meetings, team huddles, sometimes referred to as “stand-ups”, usually happen daily at the beginning of a shift. They’re typically only five or ten minutes long, which gives your team just enough time to share updates, discuss any issues, and celebrate small victories before they start their day. 

 

We hope these strategies will help your team kick off the year feeling refreshed and excited about accomplishing your goals. Which one will you try?

SETWorks offers a full IDD management platform that streamlines service delivery for everyone on your team and improves collaboration.

Request a demo
Latest posts:
Manage all the moving pieces with SETWorks
Request a Demo
Explore the Platform
SETWorks icon
Subscribe to the SETWorks blog to be up to date on all of our latest posts

"*" indicates required fields