How are you rebuilding camaraderie?
It’s an odd-word camaraderie. Tough to say, tough to spell (if you’re me, anyway) and not really used widely any more, yet it’s critical in maintaining a vibrant team and organisational culture and, ultimately, results.
Its origins are French. Prior to 1571, the word camarade was used in a military context and meant ‘group sleeping in one room’, but by the late 16th century it was used to represent ‘one who shares with someone else’. It entered the English language in the 19th century as camaraderie and means ‘mutual trust and friendship among a group of people who spend time together’. Teamwork!
The OC Tanner Global Culture Report this year found that when teams develop above average (so not even great!) camaraderie they are 8x more likely to produce great work, 5x more likely to generate cultural satisfaction and 11x more likely to achieve their results.
Camaraderie isn’t something that can be forced. It takes time and money to build and requires regular work if it’s to be maintained. It’s the thing that makes employees go the extra mile for the team, not money or status. And for it to be truly effective it needs to be challenged from time to time to ensure that people can work through their differences together and become stronger as a team and more self-aware as a result.
What most employees require from managers and their organisations is trust, empowerment, autonomy and the cultural foundations for effective collaboration. If these things are in place then it becomes relatively easy for teams to build camaraderie.
In these environments, connection replaces separation, productivity replaces procrastination, engagement replaces exasperation and social capital replaces forced fun.
And yet, teams rarely get the chance to build and develop camaraderie. Instead they are suffocating under a tsunami of work, low priority activity or else there is a distinct lack of trust.
None of which are conducive to productive work and all of which will undermine a move to more hybrid ways of working.
Hybrid requires lots of camaraderie to succeed. It keeps people connected regardless of where they’re based. It informs their behaviours, enhances their discipline and generates cognitive diversity when it comes to decision-making.
This social capital becomes the glue that holds the team together. It helps them to build relationships and work well with others and enables them to connect their own purpose to that of the team and organisation.
Camaraderie isn’t simply about having a laugh, it’s feeling a connection to those around you. Being able to be the best version of yourself every day, contributing in unexpected ways and building a team spirit that’s the envy of others.
Post-pandemic, organisations need to create approaches and experiences that help camaraderie to thrive. Your people, your customers and ultimately your results will all benefit from it.
