Team Training

Activities to Improve Communication Skills Within a Team

Your employees may be excellent at their jobs, with the analytical skills and technical knowledge they need to succeed. Without good communication, though, that work may all be for nothing. Strong communication skills allow teams to remain organized, get work done faster, and plan ahead more effectively. Without it, important information that allows projects to move forward may be delayed, costing your business in terms of both finances and employee morale.

Activities That Improve Team Communication Skills

There are several activities to improve communication skills that you can implement in your office, from simple open door policies to enjoying Northern Virginia team building activities. Consider using one of the following ways to build better communication within your office.

Open Door Policies

Your office doors don’t literally need to be open at all times to institute an open door policy. In practice, it simply means that employees are encouraged to stop by at any time to ask questions, address problems, or discuss work projects. An open door policy helps everyone have faster access to information about the business, which can in turn help solve problems more quickly. When it’s easier to access information at a moment’s notice, instead of constantly working to schedule meetings in advance, your entire staff will feel more engaged with their projects. Knowing that help is always available encourages employees to give and receive it more openly, which, in turn, facilitates communication and helps keep everyone informed of the latest office news.

Project Management Software

When you’re busy with several multi-step projects and need a progress report on each one, emails containing important information can easily get lost in the flurry of updates. Instead of having constant meetings or endless email chains, consider using a project management software to communicate the status of each project. In this way, your employees can update their progress on the platform and show everyone else on the team what’s happening, without risking the information getting overlooked. Provide training to your employees to ensure that they understand how to properly use the software, and ask them to consult the program on a regular basis to receive and give updates in a timely manner, as failing to do so could delay projects.

Identifying Group Leaders

Another way to ensure that important information is properly distributed is to assign group leaders for each team or project. This person can act as your point of contact, allowing you to give and receive updates with one person, who can then communicate that information to their group, instead of managing multiple email chains and ongoing discussions. Streamlining your communication process makes that communication faster and more effective while keeping it focused on the topic at hand. Be sure to choose leaders who demonstrate the ability to stay organized, adhere to deadlines, and communicate clearly.

Conducting Surveys

Whether they’re trying to address a problem or simply make a suggestion for process improvement, employees often find it difficult to bring up their concerns in the workplace. Conducting regular surveys can help ease this tension. Quarterly surveys asking employees to anonymously provide feedback can encourage them to openly discuss their needs without feeling that they will be negatively impacted by speaking up. This allows your company to address these needs with minimal disruption to employees’ peace of mind at work and provides them with an opportunity to safely address areas that make their workday more difficult. Remind employees to respond to the survey, but let them know that they’re always welcome to bring up their concerns at any point throughout the year if they need to be attended to more quickly.

Engaging In Team Building Activities

Getting out of the office to enjoy a team building activity together can jumpstart communication skills. The new environment will keep employees engaged while they work together throughout the day. Escape rooms are a popular new team building activity because they require cooperation, communication, and critical thinking to solve puzzles and escape. Participants only have one hour to find the solutions to these puzzles, and learning how to share information and make decisions while under pressure is essential. Your employees will be able to take the skills they learned while solving puzzles back to the office for improved team communication long after the experience.

Speak With Bond’s Team Building For More Information

Speak to Bond’s Team Building for more information about activities to improve communication skills, increase innovation & creativity and to schedule your team building event. Bond’s Team Building offers corporate onsite and offsite team building activities, as well as corporate retreats to allow your employees to strengthen their skills and develop new ones. Our Northern Virginia team building activities also promote a healthy working environment, fostering new and improved relationships among employees. To schedule a team building activity, contact Bond’s Team Building or call us at (703) 372-9920 today.

The Benefits of Offsite Training for Your Team

There are plenty of options to consider for your next Northern Virginia team training event. Before you schedule a day off for office activities, though, you might want to consider an offsite training. Getting your team out and in unfamiliar surroundings may be just the thing you need to make your training more effective than ever. Offsite training can increase engagement, help your team focus, and ensure that the valuable lessons they learn can really sink in.

Top Offsite Team Training Benefits

Here are some of the benefits your business might see from conducting an offsite training event.

Better Focus

Removing your staff from their traditional work environment can be an easy way to improve focus right away. Employees will be less likely to check emails, answer their phone, or even sneak away to finish other tasks during the training. With a new environment to explore, they can focus solely on the tasks at hand, instead of getting distracted by the usual workday demands. Similar to the way that working from home instead of the office can boost productivity due to the change of scenery, an offsite training can signal that it is time to learn something new and pay attention.

More Engagement

As much as your employees may enjoy their jobs, they are still going to work and doing a job. The office, then, can contain all of the everyday stresses that can come with that role. Moving your training to a new location that does not carry the same connections and feelings can instantly improve your experience. Employees are more likely to remain engaged in the activities, become active participants, and retain what they have learned if they are able to work in a new environment for the day. Your training can be more effective and have longer lasting effects simply by moving it out of the office.

Increased Networking

Removing employees from the office also removes them from their comfort zones. As a result, they may be more likely to interact with coworkers with whom they do not typically get to spend much time. They may carpool to the offsite location with a new group of colleagues or be placed into teams with them. A new environment signals a change in the typical way of doing things, and employees may therefore feel more comfortable with breaking their own patterns to reach out to someone different. This can result in meaningful connections and improved teamwork in the office.

Time and Location Flexibility

Your office environment might not be quite right for the type of training you would like to conduct. A boardroom with a long table and chairs is likely not conducive to small group discussions, and a conference room with scattered chairs throughout can make it difficult to focus on a presentation. Conducting your training at an offsite location means that you can take the time to scout out the perfect spot. In addition, it saves you the stress of having to compete with other departments’ scheduling needs. Rather than wait for a day during which the room you would like to use is available within your own office, you can select an offsite training to perfectly meet your team’s schedules.

Outside Specialists

Many offsite training options, such as escape rooms and ropes courses, offer your group the services of a specialist trained in how to use that activity for your team building needs. Other locations may be able to offer technical support, catering partners, and other information that can improve your offsite training experience. Facilities that frequently provide training and team building programs will typically have excellent support and service options to streamline your booking and training process.

Increased Relaxation

While having a relaxing day is not the goal of an offsite training exercise, it is a welcome side effect. Getting out of the office can be a refreshing experience and offer employees a good excuse for disconnecting from their emails, phones, and other responsibilities for a short time. Spending time in a new location during the workday can also break up the monotony of a usual week. Your employees may return with a new sense of invigoration and energy, allowing them to tackle their work with a more positive outlook.

Schedule Offsite Team Training at Bond’s Team Building

Speak to Bond’s Team Building for more information about scheduling an offsite team training event at the company’s escape room venue. Each escape room has a unique theme, including cartoons, horror movies, and the wild west. Theater grade props and special effects help make participants feel like they are in the middle of their own movie. When booking a private event, you will also receive the use of Bond’s VIP Room. This space can be used to discuss your goals before your event or debrief afterwards about how to bring your newfound skills back to the office. Contact Bond’s Team Building today in order to get started with your offsite training event.