Team collaboration is the cornerstone of any successful business. Collaborative workplaces have improved cohesion, a more engaged workforce and see better performance.
Despite the known benefits of effective teamwork, it is rarely prioritised by organisations and their management teams. A recent study from Salesforce of 1,400 executives, employees, and educators revealed that 86% believed that lack of collaboration was the top reason for failures in the workplace.
Promoting a collaborative team environment is no simple feat. It takes determination and resilience to plan, develop and implement change at both department and organisational level.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so let’s start with the basics. Below we outline how we use our office to encourage collaboration and teambuilding within Feedr.
Create an environment fit for collaboration
We moved into our new office a few months ago. Not only do we have the best open plan set up; complete with a top of the range coffee machine, moss wall and fully stocked fridge. We have a number of quiet pods, large tables and dedicated meeting rooms for employees to use. We share some of our space with another Compass Group business called Restaurant Associates, who we work closely with. This allows us to link up with employees who aren’t part of Feedr, but who are part of the larger group. You will often find us sharing information and updates over a nice cup of coffee in the kitchen.
Bring teams together for planned sessions
Most modern offices are open plan and provide very structured deck and seating areas. While we have become accustomed to working from home and being heads on screens, this is often the same when we come to the office.
How often have we visited the office to find ourselves dialling into to Zoom and Team’s calls from our desk?
At Feedr we coordinate our meetings with other departments. We also switch up our office days to ensure most of our office time is taken up in face-to-face meetings that we would have otherwise hosted virtually.
We have found in-person meetings to be more fun, productive, and helpful when planning or troubleshooting. Overall, it has improved teambuilding, understanding and focus. As a new starter myself, this was a great way for me to spend time with my team, but also meet and collaborate with other departments within our organisation.
Incentivise collaboration
Here at Feedr we have an exciting tech launch coming up. The development team are currently looking for beta testers. As a way to bring other departments together, the product team are hosting a group meal testing day. We are inviting employees to come into the office, place orders for sharing platters and a variety of instant group meals using our improved ordering system. This means that the product team get to meet some of the employees from outside of the tech team and also gather first hand data from a new user perspective.
Our new HR manager Molly is also hosting regular socials to encourage employees into the office. Did someone say Thirsty Thursday and Foodie Friday?
Summary
While many companies struggle to encourage employees back to the office, here at Feedr we have seen it as an opportunity to unite and reconnect with our team.
Alongside Cloud Canteen which delivers tasty subsidised lunches to all our employees in the office, we also bring teams together with amazing pantry fill products, sharing platters and food samples. We want our employees to feel like that can use the office as a valuable resource, not as a place they have to attend because its mandatory or written in a policy. As a result, we have employees in the office every day of the week and we hope to see our numbers rise as we move into the Spring and Summer.
Food has and will always bring people together.
In the words of Pavarotti “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
If you are interested in bringing your team together for group meals, food days or your next office social, get in touch with us today.
