What is Team Building?
Team building is a management technique that uses various activities to improve the efficiency and performance of workgroups. It is the process of transforming a group of individual contributing employees into a cohesive team—a group of people organized to work together to meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing their purpose and goals.
Team building strengthens the bonds between members of a group. Individual members respect one another and their differences while also sharing common goals and expectations.
Team building can refer to the daily interactions that employees have when working together to complete their assigned tasks. This type of team building occurs naturally and can be value-adding if the group takes the time to develop a set of team norms. These norms assist group members in understanding how to interact appropriately within the team and with the rest of the organization.
Strong teams are not formed simply by employing talented individuals; rather, they are created via activities to bring employees together. Any action or strategy that brings a group together and inspires them to work together is called team building. The goal of every team-building activity is to create a more cohesive group of employees.
Why Do You Need Team Building?
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For firms, team development offers several advantages. It boosts productivity, boosts employee enthusiasm, promotes cooperation, and fosters trust and respect among employees. Team building activities should be done outside of the office to offer workers a cause to engage with one another in a non-work setting and encourage them to collaborate.
Team building Activities
The most effective and engaging team-building activities are those that do not feel like a typical workday. Exercises that explicitly try to teach leadership principles or provide practical takeaways are less effective. Spending time together, sharing an event, or working toward a similar goal allows for more organic and far more successful bonding.
Structured activities and exercises led by team members can also be used to build a team. Managers can also contract out facilitation to an external resource if they have the appropriate budget and goals. External facilitation by an experienced individual can help your team-building efforts.
The team leader or manager will often organize a series of meetings to help employees get to know one another and form cohesive working relationships.
In a larger organization, team-building sessions can be led by organizational development staff. Many human resources professionals are also capable of leading team-building exercises. With a little practice, teams can enlist the assistance of another employee to facilitate their groups session.
However, team building does not always require a facilitated meeting to achieve the goal of a cohesive team. You can strengthen your teams by organizing activities and fun events that team members can participate in together.
Ideas for Internal Team-Building Exercises
You can also sponsor activities where employees can socialize. You could, for example, begin with a department picnic, taking a couple of hours during the workday to visit a nearby park. Grill some food and ask each employee to bring a dish to pass. The goal is for you to get together and spend some quality time talking over the meal. Employees who bring their lunches to their offices to eat alone defeat the purpose of team building. Basically, any event that your team can do or attend as a group is beneficial. You could, for example, begin with a department picnic, taking a couple of hours during the workday to visit a nearby park. Grill some food and ask each employee to bring a dish to pass. The goal is for you to get together and spend some quality time talking over the meal. For teams that enjoy outdoor activities, consider organizing a fishing trip. This can be a relaxing way to bond and engage in a bit of friendly competition. Ensure you have the right equipment by checking out these fishing rods.
Ideas for Team-Building Exercises with External Assistance
When an external facilitator is used for team building, groups can participate in structured activities to help employees meld into an effective team. In most cases, the facilitator collaborates with a group of employees to create team-building activities or sessions.
These team-building activities will be most effective if they are tailored to the needs of your group. A generic team-building event can be beneficial, but it is not as effective as a customized event.
Icebreakers, discussion topics, games, cooperative assignments, and group brainstorming can all be included in these sessions.
Team building is a disciplined process that teaches teams the abilities they need to function well at work. Basketball players work together to build successful teams. The same may be said for office employees. When a team engages in team-building exercises, they are preparing for crucial, real-world circumstances that require cohesiveness.