«Teamwork makes the dream work». This phrase certainly sounds familiar to you. Is it all just said that way or is there some truth behind it? For us at least, this statement fits pretty well. Again and again we receive feedback from external as well as internal people that we are a great team. You can feel our cohesion and the mutual appreciation among the individual team members enormously. Let's take this opportunity to get to the bottom of it all. What makes a good team? What do you have to pay attention to in order for a team to harmonize?
In this blog post, we will introduce you to individual aspects of our team building. You may discover parallels to teambuilding measures in your own company or find new ideas. We hope that you will gain valuable insights while reading this post!
Respect and acceptance
The basis for successful collaboration is harmonious cooperation. As difficult as this sounds, it can be explained simply in two words: respect and acceptance. We see ourselves as individuals, appreciate and accept different opinions and views. Everyone is allowed to be the way he or she is.
Of course, as in any healthy team, there are differences of opinion, misunderstandings or discussions. In the end, we are also only human and are guided by our own emotions and opinions. Nevertheless, mutual respect is ALWAYS present.
Meeting at eye level and taking responsibility
In addition, a bossy approach and a top-down structure are out of place in our corporate structure and philosophy. All team members meet each other at eye level. Everyone is worth the same, from apprentices to management. Our managers naturally bear more responsibility, but this does not play a role in their personal dealings with other team members. Power games are not tolerated. In addition, all team members have the opportunity to take on responsibility for various tasks if they so wish. In doing so, they have the freedom to shape the approaches according to their own ideas.
Promote task distribution and strengths
And what about the tasks? The daily tasks of the team members are clearly defined and based on their respective strengths.
However, we always encourage ourselves to go beyond the scope of our regular tasks and get involved in new internal projects, such as for the "Artificial Intelligence" interest group. This allows team members to further contribute their potential, promote their strengths and test new approaches to solutions.
We attach great importance to support, especially when someone is in a challenging situation. With us, the basic rule is that there is a "debt to be discharged". This means that the person concerned must actively draw attention to their existing problem. This can happen via individual discussions or at weekly team meetings.
This encourages us to talk openly about the concerns and challenges so that we can find a solution together.
Free space with rules
As already mentioned in the section on responsibility, team members have a great deal of freedom when it comes to accomplishing tasks. This is particularly evident in the individual freedom of design. However, certain rules are also required for successful cooperation. Our rules serve as a guideline for all team members. Everyone knows what is expected of them and they create a structured basis for our teamwork and our own to-dos.
Suitable retreats and flexible arrangement
And if a team member needs some quiet time for himself? Here, too, we try to give our team members the space they need. In addition to the possibility of working in a home office, our office premises also offer the opportunity to withdraw and work in peace and quiet. Furthermore, our flexible working hours allow an individual arrangement of the working day, according to one's own wishes and sensitivities.
Our goal is to create a supportive and balanced working environment in this way.
Last but not least, shared experiences also strengthen our team cohesion. We regularly organize team lunches, pizza lunches, after-work beers, lunch workshops, private fitness courses or pub tours in Lucerne.
But of course we also organize our annual events and occasions:
Our team building works! We can continue to build on this in the long term and strengthen and develop together.
As usual, all the aspects mentioned are written down somewhere. But as we all know, writing things down is of little use if they are not put into practice. We can proudly say that implementation works for us.
We are convinced that a team does not consist of «great someone else will do it», but that you can only achieve incredible things together. Every single team member is important. And that's exactly why at last year's strategy meeting the following was finally written on our screen: «THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING. Because a company is only as good as its employees.»
Whether constructive criticism, questions due to ambiguities or simply a few words of praise – we thank you already for your comment. After a short check we will publish it.
