What you do for a living is a big part of your life. In fact, according to statistics company GALLUP, the average full-time employed adult in the United States spends approximately 47 hours at work each week. So, when you drive to the office each morning, what’s the best way to have a smile on your face instead of white knuckles around your steering wheel? The answer is simple: teamwork—more specifically, friends, increased productivity and a feeling of communal purpose.
Whether you’re top dog or low man on the totem pole, in finance or in marketing, you’re a team, working towards a common company goal. And, small, medium or massive, organizations always function best when “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” When applied to teamwork, this quote from Aristotle essentially means that as we work together, our potential is increased as well.
Here are a few easy activities to help your office better function as a team:
- Get to know your coworkers: individually and outside of work. Learn their names, their interests, their roles and their contributions to the company. Internal networking creates comradery, but it may also be that boost you need as you climb the corporate ladder.
- Make lunch a team activity. Lunch doesn’t have to be that awkward period in your workday where you go from one task to another to eating alone at your desk. Invite your colleagues out for lunch or eat in the break room and hope that someone joins you. Eventually, they will.
- Don’t turn small talk with your coworkers into “work talk.” Talk about the weather, talk about weekend plans or even ask questions, but when an opportunity arises to fill a silent void, don’t make it about work.
- Don’t sit at your desk all day. Get up, walk around, smile and make conversations happen. Does a colleague have a personal knickknack or family photo on their desk? Ask them about it! It’s a great way to break the ice.
- Have a free minute? Ask a colleague if there’s anything that you can help them with. Totally swamped without time to spare? Over lunch, ask a colleague if they have time to help you out. Sharing the load is a cornerstone of a great team.
Now, you don’t have to be “best friends” with your entire office, but something as simple as learning the name of your coworker’s cat could start a conversation, lead to a lunch, finish a project faster, prompt a promotion and ultimately, create a stronger, more productive team. It may even make the 99,117 hours that you’ll spend in your lifetime at work some of your most fulfilling.