Recently, I wrote on six of the twelve factors it takes to make strong teams – communicating your expectations, providing what people need to do their job right, matching strengths to jobs, giving meaningful recognition, caring about the people you work with, and to encouraging mentoring.

Here are the other six factors, based on research by the Gallup organisation.

1. Value people’s opinions.
Encourage your team members, as well as those from other teams, to come up with solutions to problems that arise.

This not only helps people to feel valued, it allows creative solutions to be developed, and increases their ownership in making that solution work.

Make the time to ask people what they think and then act on as many of their ideas as possible.

2. Speak about the sense of purpose in your work.
We all need to appreciate what our workplace is endeavouring to achieve and feel that it is worthy of our efforts.

We also need to appreciate what our part is in making it happen. Communicate the purpose of your team and celebrate success stories consistent with your mission.

3. Address poor performance quickly.
It can be incredibly frustrating when a team member is performing poorly and nothing is done about it.

Although there is a time to ‘cut people slack’, it is also important to address performance problems before they become major issues.

If you have someone who is not performing well, first consider what is causing the problem.

Is it that you have not clearly communicated your expectations or have not provided enough coaching or encouragement?

Can the person’s strengths be better applied in another area or are they simply the wrong person for the job?

4. Foster friendships at work.
Friendships at work help drive team success through people knowing that others care about them, will help them out, and not attack them if they have made a mistake.

You can encourage friendships by providing opportunities to socialise both during work time and outside of work, to connect around food, and perhaps to work as a team in a fundraising event or a friendly competition another team.

5. Have regular two-way discussions.
The research has found that formal performance appraisals are often de-motivating.

What works better is giving regular feedback, especially on employee strengths and what they are doing well.

Regularly ask team members how they are feeling about their work, what they would like to learn, and how they would like their career develop.

6. Provide opportunities to learn.
If you are asking team members how they would like to develop, this will help you to provide opportunities for learning consistent with their strengths and interest areas.

Giving people variety in their work will also help them to learn and feel more engaged.

Consider also temporary placements with other teams or organisations, job swaps with other team members, providing new challenges or responsibilities and training new team members as ways to encourage learning and variety.

Ken Warren is an expert on Workplace Relationships. Subscribe to his free newsletter through www.positivepeoplesolutions.com.auand receive three e-books on becoming happier at work.