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team camaraderie gains at the coffee spot

Team Camaraderie is the spirit of trust, friendship and loyalty present in well functioning teams. A common framework for describing and measuring this is called the 5C’s of teamwork[1].
    • Communication
    • Clear and open communication is essential to maintaining trust and building confidence among the team. Goals and risks are defined clearly and the rate of success becomes safely predictable.
    • Commitment
    • A shared goal amongst teammates is foundational to demonstrate commitment. Working together can improve the perfomance of the entire team allowing accomplishments very difficult to achieve by even siloed masters.
    • Confidence
    • Having faith in your fellow teammates allows suggestions, concerns and creativity to flow more readily and often.
    • Contribution
    • Teammates bring skills that complement others and improve overall quality and success.
    • Coordination
    • The team operates as a single unit with confidence in each moving part and with a vested interest in the success of both the team and fellow teammates.

How to build authentic team spirit

  • Build rapport beyond work life
  • Take teams out for lunch or coffee regularly and grow team bonds with humor and banter.
  • Create team brown-bag[2] lunches that allow teammates to present tech topics that are not necessarily related to work.
  • Get to know your teammate’s hobbies, likes and life.
  • Take 1:1s out of the office with walks covering short and long term career development.
  • Promote and reward team excellence
  • Showcase technical accomplishments internally and to the user community through meetup presentations.
  • Utilize events to improve/demonstrate public speaking, writing and leadership and other career development goals.[3]
  • When the team hits goals or has achievements, call it out and celebrate.
  1. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/275387/tactics-teamwork-blueprint-team-management.aspx#:~:text=To%20extend%20their%20influence%20over,%2D%2D%20provide%20a%20handy%20blueprint.
  2. What is a Brown Bag Meeting? | https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brown-bag-meeting.asp
  3. Career development goals are different for everyone; honest communication is the only way to find out what motivates your teams.