This document is all about understanding teams and team building training; the purpose of team building activities; why corporate team building events can be effective; planning a team building strategy; building creative teams.

Why have a team building activity or event?

This is a phrase we hear a lot these days: ‘we need some kind of teambuilding activity’. Corporate team building events are on the increase: everyone seems to be having them these days. But are they living up to expectations?

See, from our point of view, often the people talking about team building don’t really know what they mean.

The reality is, that many, if not most, team building activities don’t work. They should. All that thought, effort, money, planning should make your team building event exciting, worthwhile and productive.

It’s as if we all know that teams are good. We understand the sum of the parts thing, but we don’t quite know how to make a team work in the way we’d like it to, so we think, ‘My team isn’t working as well as it could; a team building will sort it all out.’

Why a team building event?

When people say they want a team building event their picture is of this perfectly working group of people. But they don’t take the time to pin that picture down and really get clear what the issues are. If they did that then their team building activity would certainly help them get their team working more effectively.

So, before you can even tackle the ‘how’ you need to tackle the ‘why’.

Here are some questions that will help you clarify ‘why a team building event’.

Do you want people working better together?
Do you want to set new team goals and agreements?
Do you need to iron out communication difficulties that have crept in?
Do you want a jolly – to reward the team for being terrific?
Do you simply want to get everyone’s creative juices going and brainstorm new ideas?
Do you need to set clear parameters and boundaries so everyone knows what’s expected of them?
Do you want to inject some fresh enthusiasm and energy into a group that’s been working too hard and may have lost sight of the goal posts?
Have the goals posts moved and you need to let everyone know that?

Benefits of team building activity

A good corporate team building event can tackle many of the challenges facing your team. There are real payoffs and advantages to being part of a well-functioning team. To begin with, it’s just pleasanter being around people who get on.

More importantly, real benefits include:

A feeling of identity
On-going support
Creative pooling of ideas
Increased confidence
Things tend to work better as a result of team effort
You aren’t alone
Goals that make sense
You don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel
If you do have to reinvent the wheel for some reason, so is everyone else in the team

A team building training can address a huge range of issues you may be facing and certainly make work a better place to be.

How teams work

What is a team?

It may help you decide what your team building activity is going to look like if you understand a bit more about how teams work. And, get this – no matter what the books say (and there are plenty of them) – every single team is different: there is no model you can follow that will create the perfect team.

You’ll read that you need ideas people, drivers, completer-finishers, etc., etc., etc. And yes, possibly you do need a variety of ‘types’. But for our money, the ‘types’ are far less important than ensuring that your team knows why it exists and what its aims are.

So let’s look first at just exactly what being a team means. You might think that the very word ‘team’ is clear in and of itself: a group of people working towards shared goals. We wish it were that straightforward. As it isn’t, we thought we would unpick it a bit.

Sports teams

The most obvious kind of team that everyone knows about is a sports team. Every team member is on the same side trying to beat the opposition. They train together, get to understand how to make the most of each other’s skills, and when working well, they are able to fulfil the manager or coach’s strategy.

They know who their opposition is and they have very clear goals. Yes, there may be personality quirks and differences, but the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts.

Work teams

However, it’s not quite so straightforward when it comes to work teams, though, is it? Personalities, which in a sporting context might get absorbed by the team for the good of the game, often take centre stage in the workplace.

The oddest thing of all, of course, is that it’s not always clear who the ‘opposition’ is. You’d think it would be the competition – whoever your closest corporate rival is. Unfortunately, far too often, the opposition turns out to be right at home base: another team or department, the ‘management’ or someone sitting right beside you.

The common enemy

Now the thing about ‘opposition’ is that it gives a common focus, a common ‘enemy’ if you will. Now that’s great if it’s productive. Creative ideas can pour out of a group when they have to figure out how to handle the competition.

However, when the common enemy is someone or some group or some department, or the ‘them’ and ‘they’ are within the same company, the results are divisiveness, gossip, complaining. The end result of this is, of course, a loss of productivity and people working against, not for each other.

Then it’s all about ‘them’ and ‘us’, with people running around using their energies to get more of ‘us’ to agree just what’s wrong with ‘them’. We see this in company after company after company – people are spending vast amounts of time and energy having a ‘go’ at each other rather than using that same amount of time and energy to make things work better.

This is one of the key reasons why team building is such a hot topic. People can easily recognise that something needs to be done, but they aren’t quite sure what.

Defining your team

Kinds of teams

These days we see a lot of ‘virtual’ teams – people who hardly ever see each other, or even work in the same office or even the same country.

Then there are teams that all sit in an open plan space and chat with each other all day as things arise.

There are teams where people sit in separate spaces and get together once a day/week/fortnight.

There are teams that seem to do all their communicating via e-mail or conference calls.

There are teams that work on projects together and others where people go off and do their own thing and come together every once in a while to report and bring everyone else up to date.

Whatever your team looks like, however, it still has to be able to function well and achieve its goals.

What teams aren’t

They don’t have to be a family
People don’t have to be bosom buddies
People don’t even have to like each enough to want to have dinner together
Teams aren’t group therapy

Teams can, however, on occasion, be any or all of those things.

Team building training

Effective team building

Teams are complex machines and it’s not surprising that they malfunction occasionally or need re-alignment. Every once in a while all teams need an MOT, so of course, you want to ensure that your team building event is as effective as it can be.

The one thing that everyone recognises is that your team building activity needs to be done away from the office environment. The idea is to slow things right down; to get away from e-mails, phone calls, questions and demands, being asked to pop into unscheduled meetings, people dropping by.

It means getting away from all the day-to-day stuff that sometimes makes it hard to see what’s going on and what’s needed.

Here are a few hints and tips to make planning your team building event more effective:

Everyone needs to have some input into what the team building event should accomplish
Listen carefully to people’s concerns and incorporate them in the team building training
No one should ever be put on the spot or humiliated
People shouldn’t be forced to do things they don’t want to
People learn better when they’re having fun
Focus on the positives of the team rather than just what isn’t working

Team building activities

Once you know what you want your event to achieve, then you can decide what it’s going to look like. You can do the go-carting thing, the throwing people off Welsh mountains thing. You can have the cosy get-away in a country hotel thing. You can have it non-stop fun, be business focused or have a bit of both.

There are hundreds of different team building exercises, games, workshops, courses, all designed to get your team working better and handling the day-to-day challenges in the workplace.

There is no ‘right’ kind of team building activity, only the one that’s right for you.

The key always is to ensure that your event has a positive effect on the morale, motivation, confidence and effectiveness of the team and its individual members.

Originally posted 2010-10-03 02:15:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2010-09-29 04:40:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Originally posted 2010-10-03 23:14:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2010-09-29 15:14:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Originally posted 2010-10-04 11:45:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Originally posted 2010-10-01 16:17:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

When it comes to the use of teams in the workplace, there is so much more to it than tossing a group together and telling them to get to work. There are a number of ways to build your team up to be an effective tool for your cause. You should always begin with looking at teamwork itself and the importance of it to each individual as well as the whole team. The importance of teamwork is not something that you should assume is known and understood by everyone. Many people start out in jobs that do not rely on the use of teams. And every team functions differently.

Perhaps the most obvious reason for using teams is because it enables you to do so much more. It is important because it effectively accomplishes something that never would have been possible for just one person to do. No task is too small when you have a team that is willing to go the distance to move mountains and achieve nothing less than success. Doing more than one person could do alone is a large part of the importance of using teamwork in the workplace.

Putting aside personal issues and opinions is often necessary for those that work within a team. We do not all view everything the same way. Opinions are likely to differ and personal issues can arise. The importance of teamwork means being able to set those things aside while focusing on the greater good. When bigger things are at stake such as a big sale or client contract, your team needs to understand what is important and do all that they can to obtain that outcome.

The creation of something out of nothing is one of the most important aspects of teamwork. It is very empowering for a team to discover that they have achieved something that never would have been possible otherwise. Once a team becomes empowered, they tend to grow in both confidence and skill. A team that understands the importance of what they do will be much more effective in doing it.

Problem solving and idea building is often a necessary expectation of most teams. Quite often there are issues that need to be addressed and it is up to teams to work together in reaching a realistic outcome that everybody can live with. Idea sharing is always better with multiple people to contribute. Not only does everybody have their own ideas but they also tend to build off one another. Some companies have teams that focus solely on problem analysis and solving.

Teamwork can be all the difference in paving the way towards a strong future. Everyone wants their team to be the best that it possibly can be. Understanding the importance of teamwork is vital for moving ahead in a very competitive business world. This is something that should be part of team meetings and team building events. Discuss how your team feels about teamwork and what it means to team members as individuals. Establishing the importance of teamwork is vital to ensuring that it works for your place of business.

Originally posted 2010-10-01 18:15:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Team Building Program: Beyond the Power of One

Individual efforts grant the person a sense of recognition, but there is no better reward than knowing you have finished a great thing through teamwork. This fact is made as the focus on the team building exercises designed for organizations.

Team building exercises start with the awareness of individual competencies then this is connected with how such individuality will be used to attain corporate objectives.

These programs center on activities that foster group dynamics and teamwork, and these are directed at helping participants realize the significance of teamwork in the company.

For teamwork to give the organization a competitive lead, it has to work in such a way that best output at most efficient costs are generated.

Advantages of Team Building Trainings

At the outset, individual improvement is the direct positive outcome of teamwork but in the long run, it spells corporate gain because goals are achieved and profits are reaped.

Let us illustrate this construct by imagining that individuals with different skills work towards a unified objective. With the teambuilding, each person will think of himself/herself as an essential component of the wheel who needs to work with the whole group so all of them will move in one direction.

The program should be directed towards developing team effort by addressing the problems that plague teamwork or team building such as bloated egos, personal avarice or ambition, and the drive to outperform others for personal gains. Employees who are aware of all these foreseen issues will feel responsible in cultivating an atmosphere of trust and integrity.

Also of equal significance is the leader’s ability to listen to team members, brainstorm ideas and be responsible for the team. These characteristics make the leader respectable and will make the team, as a whole, efficient and dynamic.

Teamwork Assures Success

Before a team is made, individual employees must be developed and they should be taught on how to behave as a team and how to work with other teams with less supervision from their managers.

When people acknowledge their role in the team, they become responsible in creating a close relationship with others and forgoing personal interests for the sake of the group.

Managers are trained to build, handle, and maintain high performing teams through different styles, veering more on the needs of the team and the organization.

Teamwork also gives way to the identification of promising leaders within the team who can be groomed to assume more extensive roles should the need arises.

Team building exercises motivate employees to work for the accomplishment of company goals. Employees become more creative and innovative in responding to the various corporate challenges in the workplace.

In addition, team members will have company loyalty, team strength, and, of course, better performance as individual contributors and members of a team.

Originally posted 2010-09-30 22:14:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2010-10-05 07:14:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In a day and age where many companies are looking to for their employees to cooperate instead of working independently, team building is essential. In many cases, effective team building can be achieved through many different team building events. A successful team building event can dramatically affect your company’s productivity for years to come. But, if these team building events are not properly facilitated due to poor team building training, the result could be worse than not performing a team building event at all. That is why it is so important to have a professional company that specializes in team building help organize and run your team building events.

A professional organization can help for many reasons. First, some of the most important qualities that a company is looking to improve upon, such as cohesiveness among group members, enhanced problem-solving, generation of ideas, and improved morale are best accomplished by those who have team building training. These organizations have been performing these activities for many years and know what does, or does not, work. Second, the knowledge that these companies have can be used to design a team building event that is not only unique to your company, but unique to the certain aspects your company is trying to improve. Many of the people who run these companies specialized in team building, and know the ins and outs of how they work. This knowledge allows them to understand a company’s specific problem and find the best way to solve it. And finally, a professional organization can take care of all the details that would bog down a member of your company. Many of these organizations already have locations, restaurants, and possible lodging already lined up if a company needs it. This ends up saving the company valuable time, and money, for other things.

How do these all affect effective team building training? All of these components are necessary in order for an event to work properly and successfully. And with these components, effective team building can be achieved, along with all the benefits that come along with it. That is why effective team building training is so crucial.

Originally posted 2010-10-03 23:15:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter