Team building helps to create a team spirit among employees. Ideally, it consists of a set of measurable outcomes. The main task is to increase efficiency and effectiveness and improve interactions between team members, one long-established key to business success.
One of the most compelling reasons for corporate team-building activities is to develop a “well-played team.” Through a series of planned team-building activities that are fun and motivating, teams develop critical skills such as communication, planning, and conflict resolution. Team building helps establish relationships of trust between employees.
People have always been and remain the main resource of any business. It is the task of every manager to use this resource as effectively as possible.
Team Building Goals
Some of the most prized goals of team building include:
- motivating employees;
- avoiding burnout;
- giving people an opportunity to get to know each other in a different setting;
- building confidence and trust in a company;
- facilitating “mental unloading” and stress reduction;
- building a productive work culture in a company; and
- helping resolve problems.
Types of Team Building
The format for your team building will depend on identified needs. It can be everything from a joint nature trip to participating in an amazing race company event. You can set up quests or facilitate cooking an exotic dish. You could even have a drum band of employees perform the company anthem. There really are no limits to your creativity here.
Sports
This type of team-building activity has been popular for many years and is unlikely to vanish anytime soon. Most people relate well to team-building activities as mock athletic competitions.
Team building exercises such as this have been popular since the 1960s. Carl Ronke created the idea of companies navigating a ropes course together, which brought him worldwide fame. He borrowed the exercises of the course for office workers from the American military. Ronke modified it to help create company teams dedicated to accomplishing tasks.
The emphasis for sports team building should never be on the physical fitness of the participants. Tasks must be chosen so that everyone can contribute to the effort.
Mental
This team-building technique requires minimal investment. It can be held in the office without additional equipment. Participants go through training, perform tests based on comprehension, and so forth. Activities could even be organized for remote workers via corporate chat, video conference software, or task management systems.
Structure your team building so that people get feedback from their colleagues and understand what guides their decision-making. During the training, teams perform a series of exercises to develop trust and effective interaction.
After tackling difficult situations and successfully solving them, the atmosphere in the team reaches a new level. This builds confidence and helps employees better understand each other.
Typically, training such as this takes place according to a predetermined scenario. Organizers offer exercises that help uncover and strengthen leadership qualities and teach employees to trust each other. If you’re wondering how to unify one of your teams, this type of exercise can help.
Creative
Creative team building is a type that involves giving participants the maximum room to generate new ideas. Everyone should be able to prove themselves and possibly discover new talents.
As this type of team-building focuses mainly on creativity, it requires setting up an environment in which you have to be creative to find an out-of-the-box solution.
One distinctive feature of such events is the absence of winners and losers. Here, not only creative qualities are put in the first place, but also the ability to achieve common goals together.
Intellectual Competition
These activities require organizing a game in which you have to demonstrate intellectual superiority over your opponent to win. These can take the form of quests, competitions in the style of the well-known “brain ring” or something similar. One useful example might be brainstorming. This is an effective way to find solutions for complex issues.
This kind of team building can be done without the necessity of leaving the office. It can even become part of a working process. You might decide to make an inspiring video for events such as other enthusiasts do on this website. A video provides an event keepsake and can help you integrate corporate values with friendly competitions.
Charity
If you look around, you can always find things to do to help others. When you see a need, put together a team of employees to address it. For example, you could plant trees, volunteer at orphanages and relief agencies, and support other activities such as these.
Working for charity helps people come together. Philanthropy produces better appreciation and support within teams.
Is It Necessary?
Team-building activities should not be mandatory. Sometimes employees resist these efforts even though relationships within a team obviously need improvement.
In most cases, team building is important because it offers a lot to both the company and employees. However, there are situations when team building becomes necessary. A few of the most typical cases include:
- Employees are sitting out their work hours. They don’t care about the company’s success.
- A lack of motivation significantly degrades performance.
- A large company changes organizational form. In this case, many employees find themselves in new teams and feel like newcomers or outsiders.
- Conflicting relationships have arisen within a team. They may involve individuals or the entire team. In either case, a difficult environment impedes work.
- Your company creates a new team. People don’t know each other well. The new team has yet to become a full-fledged operational resource.
Distinguishing Between Social Events and Team Building
Team building is not the same thing as hosting company parties or other events. There is a very big difference between events and team building. Team building’s purpose is not just to make friends, but to find synergy — to combine skills and abilities to achieve a new, higher result. Isn’t that the goal of a successful company?
It’s of vital importance to support the ideas your company provides in its training sessions and the daily activities of the company. Be quick to live out your support no matter what type of team building was chosen, regardless of how the events were organized.
