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( votes)Any team leader dreams about a team to be proud of: united, friendly, ready to work and achieve shared goals. To assemble this kind of team, you need to have experience and knowledge, that’s why today we’ll talk about how to do team building properly.
The concept of “team-building” is probably familiar to any working person, but many limit it to the definition of “spending time with the team in an informal environment.” In this article, we will look closer at what team building really is, who and why needs it, and whether it really makes sense.
What is Team Building?
Team building consists of events that are designed to unite the team and increase the efficiency of their work. It aims to create a certain atmosphere within the team that will help achieve shared goals and rally the staff.
Team building can become an effective management mechanism only with proper use. Since the team cannot unite on its own, it is necessary to carry out a set of tasks to form a sense of belonging, unity, and loyalty among the staff.
The most affordable way to achieve this is to conduct daily training and to plan consistent meetings. Evaluate the requests, desires, and habits of employees, identify problems associated with the psychological compatibility of people in the team, build the most effective chain of interactions, and strengthen the team.
The typical team building structure includes games, training, and exercises.
Reasons for Team Building
To achieve success, the team leader must take into account the capabilities and potential of each employee. Diving into team building helps the management to find an individual approach to everyone and make work more pleasant. For employees, this is a way to determine their place in the team, show their personal qualities, use their talents, and get to know their colleagues better.
The feeling of belonging to a team is important even when your work does not require constant interaction with colleagues. According to a study by Stanford University, volunteers who felt like part of a close-knit team could concentrate on a task for 48-64% longer than those who didn’t.
All team building programs create conditions for free informal communication and can not only strengthen corporate relations and teach teamwork, but also:
- Aid the personal growth of each participant;
- Disclose their personal qualities and talents, and even leadership abilities;
- Be the most effective way to relax and let off the accumulated negative emotions;
- Refill the life force of each employee.
Winning a game helps employees believe in success and gives them self-confidence. The most effective training is extreme (quest games, rafting, adventures, racing, etc.). It requires participants to be able to find a solution in stressful circumstances. To win, the team needs to be responsible, trust each other, provide mutual assistance, and find innovative solutions to overcome the barriers that have arisen.
How Can Team Building Tools Help You?
Don’t assume that productivity will increase several times after the first try. Teamwork requires trust and mutual understanding between people, that’s why its implementation will take some time.
However, the result is worth the effort. Employees acquire such qualities as the ability to quickly develop, exchange experience, quickly respond to changing business environments, apply the experience gained in new conditions, and develop more loyalty for the company. Another positive aspect is a decrease in staff turnover and the strengthening of the company image.
A loyal employee who does not consider their work a burden likes what they do and feels comfortable in the team is the result that you need.
Team building may also include gifts for employees, group lunches, board games and much more. As a result, the concepts of “leisure,” “work,” “friends,” and “team” mix. Which of the employees do you think works more efficiently: one who is always tired and bored or one full of enthusiasm?
Team-building will help you to:
- Increase labor productivity. The company’s staff builds a model of team interaction and learns how to react faster to changes in the business. Employees receive a boost of vitality, which has a positive effect on their health. Team building helps to develop personal abilities and gain the necessary experience in achieving team goals. Therefore, employees start working more productively for the benefit of the company.
- Creating a comfortable climate. If the team has a pleasant atmosphere and a healthy emotional environment, they are fully focused. The conflicts are reduced.
- Trust, mutual understanding and assistance. The employees develop trust in each other. Each employee is revealed from different angles and shows their positive qualities.
- Motivation. Team building inspires employees to achieve shared goals and stimulates the desire to work in a team.
- Turnover decrease. Team building creates a stable comfortable atmosphere inside the company, that’s why employees do not desire to change their place of work. They feel the value of personal contribution, support, and demand.
- The attraction of the best-qualified employees. By creating and strengthening a positive image of the company in the business world, you inspire in others the desire to work with you. Comfortable working conditions, relaxation, and exciting training raise the company’s reputation.
Must-Have Team Building Tools and Techniques
Team building is classified into several types:
- Extreme. This is usually associated with extreme sports and often carries some risk. This type of event gives an almost instant result and the most profound sense of unity.
- Intelligent. In this category, you can find quests, reality shows, role-playing events, etc. The main point is mental work and ingenuity. It is a great way to show your hidden talents and potential.
- Psychological. These team-building exercises involve tasks related to psychology.
- Creative. This group is not as common as extreme team-building. It can vary from creating music bands groups to painting and performing on stage.
Any team building toolboxes aim to get the person into unusual conditions and have them perform unexpected, sometimes even stupid tasks, after which they can relax. For that, you have to tear the person out of the usual environment. Picnics or board games during the break can give the desired effect. The main thing is to get to know each other and make the atmosphere in the team more comfortable.
Must-have tools for team building:
- Engagement. for each member of the team, try to identify what they understand and feel best.
- Trust. It is not necessary to invite employees to share their innermost secrets with each other, simple life stories that they feel comfortable sharing can help.
- Synchronicity. Lunch and other collective activities increase the sense of unity and brotherhood.
- Humor. Laughter lightens the air and relieves excessive stress.
Top 4 Best Team Building Strategies
Here are some ideas for unique team-building sessions:
A darkroom
Andreas Heinecke invented and created the Dialogues in the Dark project in 1995. The session itself takes place in a completely dark room and lasts several hours. The lesson begins with the simplest tasks: to determine the size of the room, group into teams, find a table in the darkroom, find chairs to sit down.
It is aimed at identifying leadership qualities and encouraging team building, but can also be transformed for other needs. For example, to identify the anti-leader in the team.
Winemaking
Owners of small private vineyards lease their land to various companies for training. Classes usually last three to four hours, and during this time, teams not only stomp grapes but also come up with the name of the wine and the label design, and present the product.
The zombie apocalypse
The roles of zombies are given to hired actors, and company employees portray a surviving group of people who, depending on the scenario, need to get out of an enclosed space or save the world. The result is a mixture of paintball and costume performance. The program identifies the leadership qualities of employees.
Self-check
Jim Koch, the co-founder of the Boston Beer Company, faced a common problem: he was not able to form loyalty among employees for the product that they were supposed to sell. Koch had to throw a contest-party for 850 company employees. They answered questions on the history of the product and the company and tried it themselves, earning points.
As you can see, some of these team building games can be organized without outside help. Moreover, the preparation itself can already become a kind of shared activity. Try to do everything in an informal setting and do not force anybody to participate. It will provide comfort. and the employees will be able to relax, which will increase the chance of success. In addition to the above activities, you can use a CRM system such as Nimble for easier organization. In addition, you can conduct various polls about team building events.
Conclusion
Team-building is a necessary measure for all companies. It will allow your business to grow as quickly and efficiently as possible. In addition, the atmosphere in the team will set you up for work and motivate you to do as much as you can. That’s why each team leader needs to think about organizing any team-building exercises and activities aimed at teamwork. It is not necessary to attract third-party companies, you just need to have a good imagination and a desire to succeed.
