Are You Maximizing The Benefits Of Team Building?

Are You Maximizing The Benefits Of Team Building?

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It is widely accepted that good team spirit produces improved performance in organizations. This principle applies to small Mom & Pop enterprises as well as to large multi-national corporations.

Whenever individuals are required to work together some element of disharmony enters the picture sooner or later. For this reason, it is good business practice to pay close attention to team morale in the organization.

In highly successful organizations, special attention is paid to the development of high performance teams. They place great emphasis on team-building activities to promote a healthy and productive working environment.

They buy into the concept that "happy cows give more milk" and seek to ensure that individuals are comfortable and empowered and that there is cohesiveness in their teams.

In an effort to maintain high levels of connectedness, team building interventions are a regular feature of their operations. Effective team building activities embrace fun/learn activities, outdoor exercises and goal directed competitive team activities.

The objective is to stress the value of communication, cooperation, goal-directedness, loyalty and commitment.

I have participated in some unusual outdoor team building activities that produced strong bonding. Top of the list would be the fire walk with Tony Robbins where we rallied each other to walk on hot coals with bare feet. Before the event, I vowed that I would not attempt it.

Then putting up tents and sleeping on tree branches in the snow at the North Pole with the Extended DISC crew was another strong bonding experience. One highlight there was running from a sauna for a quick dip through a hole in an ice-covered stream. All this for a born and bred Jamaican - sand, sea and SUN!

One of the most interesting team building exercises that I have led is the use of MTa kits to challenge teams. The group is divided randomly into two teams. They are given a task to complete which requires the fitting together of parts (think Lego). They are working with tight deadlines with no real opportunity for planning. One team is assigned the task of producing the desired object and the others play the role of supervisors and evaluators. Their responsibility is to evaluate the "producers" with respect to issues such as team awareness, willingness to lead and to follow, communication, motivation, cheer leading, frustration threshold and a desire to win. In essence, factors that contribute to good business practice.

When the allotted time has expired, the evaluators present their reports. This is a powerful exercise in getting teams to learn how to give and receive feedback in a healthy and empowering manner. The producers are then invited to give their responses.

The "evaluators" are surprised to learn that they now have to demonstrate how they will avoid the poor business practice pitfalls that they identified with the "producers". They also submit themselves to receiving feedback from their peers.

In reality, team building activities abound. It is not critical that you select exotic options. The key is to provide opportunities for team members to interact with each other in carefully designed activities that are different from their regular work.

By spending time together outside of the normal working environment and either having fun or achieving something meaningful they will bond more closely together.

Whatever your choice of team building activity, you should ensure that team members look forward to the session and feel good about the event. Inserting empowering, fun experiences in your teambuidling workshops will add value and achieve deep impact. The primary goal is to produce greater connectedness, acceptance of common goals and a sense of "team.".

When businesses invest in team building activities they reap rewards that go beyond achieving good team morale. If the exercises are carefully designed, it will enhance the productivity of individuals, teams and the entire organization. They serve to identify talents that might not have been apparent and also to pinpoint areas that are in need of developmental work.

One of the many benefits of well designed team building action is the identification of performance or behavioural gaps. By unearthing areas for further development these team building interventions present opportunities to strengthen the entire organization. Weak links in the team chain are identified and strengthened in a non-threatening manner.

Developing high performance teams is just simply good business practice. Team building interventions help to give participants a deeper appreciation of espoused best practices in a variety of areas.

Respect for leaders and leaders respect for those who follow is one major spin-off benefit. When team members understand and accept their role in the team, they are more comfortable and more likely to feel secure in their jobs and better able to add value to the organization.

In the final analysis, team building is effective because it brings to the forefront the value of each member of the team, regardless of their role. Well designed team building sessions invariably help some team members to feel more assured in the company of their colleagues.

It is also good for business because it produces a heightened sense of awareness within the team. Team dynamics are brought out in the open and ways to use them to good effect can be devised.

Regular, high impact team building sessions have been shown to reduce the productivity sapping impact of conflict and friction that are a feature of ineffective teams. As team members get to understand and appreciate each other better, office politics, back stabbing and dirty tricks all seem less appealing and highly unnecessary.

The fact is that high performance teams are the foundation of strong businesses and organizations. Best practice with respect to organization development dictates that team building be given priority attention.

About the Author:
For additional support in addressing team-building challenges, inter-personal relations, for team building solutions and for support solutions for behavioural coaching please visit www.swpacademy.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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