When it comes to managing a sales team, you know the results you want to see. You have the numbers and goals that need to be met. So, how do you help your team get there? Building a strong team takes time and effort, and maintaining that team’s high performance can sometimes see like a puzzle. One key piece of the puzzle is work culture. The work culture in an office can play a large role in a team’s success or failure. Check out these tips to make sure you’re creating a work culture in which your sales team can thrive.

Build relationships

Building relationships within your team is important. It’s not enough for you to have relationships with each team member, but you want your team to genuinely get along as well. Team building activities are a great way to do this. They could include group lunches, after work drinks, or a fun activity. Make the effort to get to know your sales team members so that you can organize activities that generally suit the interests and lifestyles of the group.

Drive healthy competition

The key word here is healthy. Too much competition can quickly destroy work culture, but not enough can drain it of energy. Establishing both individual and team goals and setting up incentives for achievement is a great way to encourage healthy competition within your team. It’s not necessarily about strict goals, but about keeping things motivated yet light. Maintaining a level of competition in the team will help keep complacency out and have everyone moving toward the next milestone.

Talk about success and failure

Building a stronger work culture means talking about what works and what doesn’t. When your team doesn’t meet a goal, talk about what happened and what you can work on moving forward. When the team meets goals, discuss the trends that took place this cycle and how those goals were met. This honest dialog helps build trust and understanding within your team, and it helps to narrow in on successful practices.

Recognize the needs of each team member

Take an honest interest in each of your team members. When you engage your team members, you can boost self confidence, offer guidance, and inspire great quality work. The more you invest in them, the more they will invest in you, the team, and the company. You’ll also learn each member’s strengths and weaknesses which will help you to better utilize each person’s skills; and when things need to improve, you’ll have a better idea of where each person should be directing their efforts.

Offer opportunities to learn

Aside from having open conversations, another way to create a culture of growth is to offer opportunities for learning. Whether it’s a casual meeting or email or a more formal training session, giving your team the opportunity to learn cultivates an attitude of striving for the best, continual improvement, and engagement.

Know when to delegate responsibility

Part of creating a strong team means recognizing the strengths of each team member and knowing who to delegate tasks to. Make it clear to your team that you’re all working together to reach a common goal. If one team member can handle client calls with agility, let him or her handle them. If another team member can set up an automatic e-mail campaign for prospects and follow-ups, let them. Micromanaging is detrimental to a positive work culture, so make delegation a common practice to keep everyone accountable, engaged, and prepared to deliver.

When you work to improve the culture of your team, you’ll notice the results. Engaged team members who enjoy working together and reaching goals are much more likely to be high performers. Invest in your team, and develop a culture that supports the type of high-quality work you’re aiming for.