5 Tips For a Successful Team Building
Team building often gets neglected – even in larger organizations. The usual perception is that team building can only happen one time per month when our employees are taken out for a nice dinner or a day of fun.
Why is this a problem?
In reality, if we want to achieve high results and lose count of our business successes, team building is something that should occur incessantly. For starters, a happy employee is an effective employee. We can’t expect the people working for us to be highly motivated at all times without first fostering a good working environment.
Also, team building is a great way to give employees a chance to be more engaged by providing them with a sense of ownership. This basically means that people feel in charge of their own actions and decisions, thus they want to be more engaged in their work. All in all, team building should be an essential tool in every organization’s toolbox, especially because if done properly, it stimulates creativity and innovation.
How To Do Effective Team Building
Team building is a lot more complicated than it sounds: we can’t just throw people together in a room and expect them to enjoy themselves and leave the place highly motivated every single day. There are a few things every business should keep in mind when it comes team building.
Common Goals and Vision
To really come together as a team, all members should spend time visioning what they want to create and where they want to go. This will not only allow them to form stronger bonds and foster closer relationships, but also to celebrate their successes together.
Clear Roles
Defining roles for each team member from the beginning helps them to set their own goals, which is vital in order to contribute to the larger goal. In this situation it’s also important for each team member to understand his/her value to the team and why they are given this specific role.
Challenging Exercises
Did you know that 70% of employed Americans report that they are not engaged at work? For people to really engage and commit to what they’re doing, it’s crucial that they feel challenged. In this case it’s often worth bringing in an experienced facilitator when we do team trainings, in order to support our own efforts.
Visualization
The power of visualization is not only valuable for team building, but for a successful organization in general. By learning how to perfect this skill, your team will potentially start applying it to their daily routines at work, which can boost productivity and engagement.
Clear Communication
This is something highly underestimated – especially in smaller businesses. The truth is, we simply can’t approach our employees at all times regardless of the channel. To have a clear and straightforward communication flow, we need to agree on a channel together from the beginning and then stick to it: no 11PM Facebook messages!
Team building rarely occurs naturally: we have to not only encourage it, but also provide the framework for it to happen. Breaking down the barriers on the road to collaboration will prove invaluable once we start seeing results. From conflict resolution to problem solving skills and even reduced turnover rates, team building’s potential contributions should always be at the top of our minds.
