Team Building
“Building an effective team implies getting the team out of its comfort zone, dive it into an actively transgressor environment that will challenge both leader and team to acknowledge its limitations, and be aware of their hidden inherent resources”.
José Alfredo López
Team building consists in organising activities to promote and improve teamwork, communication and cohesion amongst the company staff. The aim is to improve the relationship between them and to increase their participation and their commitment within the Organization.
Getting integrated and motivated towards a common productive goal is one of the top priorities of any company. Team building helps organizations to achieve this goal through the following benefits:
- Consolidates employee’s motivation and their feeling of belonging to the company
- Reinforces collaborative spirit and trust among team members
- Encourages personal individual self-acknowledgement
- Improves the working atmosphere, creativity and innovation of the teams
- Strengthens leadership and the ability to delegate responsibilities
- Increases resistance to stress and the ability to adapt to changes
- Stimulates communication and integration between the different areas and members of the organization
The achieved goals after a team building session are so satisfactory that many companies plan the group dynamics sessions throughout the year.
This type of events generally take place out of the office hours and are always related to leisure or ludic activities which take place indoors and outdoors.
Team building is not something new. Its early origins can be traced back in 1927 and 1932 when Professor Elton Mayo´s studies in the Western Electric Hawthorne, in Chicago. Set a experimental study, known as the Hawthorne effect, demonstrated that building a group identity together with a feeling of belonging to a company, directly affected the productivity of the company the so-called haw. The study also showed that the workers valued aspects such as security, the recognition of its work and the sense of belonging, even considering them more relevant than the workplace facilities conditions.
In the following decades, many organizations began introducing team building notions in their companies, which led them to the implementation of dynamics, events and sessionswhose ase is the same as the activities we may recognize in today’s companies.
What is team building and what is the team building in a company for?
Discover the benefits of team building to improve the cohesion amongs the employees of a company and increase your productivity and efficiency
The team building consists in organising activities to promote teamwork, communication and cohesion amongs the employees of a company, aiming to improve the relationship between them and increase their involvement and their commitment to the company.
These events are typically organised out of office hours and are always related to leisure or ludic activities which take place indoors and outdoors.
The team building objectives are focused on improving the interpersonal relation and communication among the staff of a company, increasing the feeling of belonging to the organization, promoting leadership skills and working together in the resolution of problems.
Results obtained after a team building session are so satisfactory that many companies are already planning a year ahead different group dynamics sessions. In this way, it improves the motivation and productivity of employees already that, through these activities, they are able to work in a more efficient way.
The ORIGINS OF TEAM BUILDING
Team building is not something new. To find out when all began, we have to go back to the early 1920´s, when the British psychologist Dr. William McDougal published the book “The Group Mind”. In this book, McDougal highlighted the importance of team training and described the conditions which were considered necessary to create a cohesive work group.
Shortly after, Professor Elton Mayo performed some studies between 1927 and 1932 in the Western Electric Hawthorne, in Chicago. This experiment, known as the Hawthorne effect, attempted to demonstrate the relationship between productivity and working conditions. Apart from physical and environmental conditions such as humidity or lighting, the study also included psychological factors such as schedules, the leader’s role in relation to the group or the attitude of the employees.
One of the main findings of the study stated that building a sense of group identity and cohesion among the staff directly affected the productivity of the company. It is also showed that workers valued aspects such as security, the recognition of its work and the sense of belonging, and that these came to be more relevant than even the physical conditions of the place of work.
In the following decades, many organizations began introducing team building notions in their companies, which led them to the implementation of dynamics, events and sessions whose base is the same as the activities we may recognize in today’s companies.
TEAM BUILDING BENEFITS
In team building events we work on skills such as confidence, companionship, collaboration, coordination or communication, all necessary for a effective and organised group. Team-building sessions promote both personal and professional growth of the participants through the development and presentation of the ability of the individual in favour of the group.
Getting integrated and motivated team towards a common productive goal is one of the top priorities of any company. Team building helps organizations to achieve this goal through the following benefits:
- Improves employees´ motivation and their feeling of belonging to the company.
- Reinforces the mutual trust between the members of the team.
- Increases the self-acknowledgement of the individual.
- Improves the working atmosphere, creativity and innovation of the teams.
- Strengthens leadership and the ability to delegate responsibilities.
- Increases resistance to stress and the ability to adapt to changes.
- Stimulates confidence and a collaborative spirit.
- Encourages communication and integration between the different areas and members of the organization.
Some team building activities are based on competitive component, with made-up competitions among different groups of employees aiming to become the winner of the event. You can also decide for non-competitive sessions, that may go from a business lunch to a company trip, sports activities or bespoke events, among others.
What is team building and what is the team building in a company for?
Discover what must be taken into account for organising a successful team building activity.
Team building activities pose a challenge to employees, a goal they have to accomplish together. This kind of experiences generate greater cohesion between the workers, strengthening bonding between them, generating a personal relationship leaving aside work issues and job positions.
Thanks to team building, the organization can work values such as:
- Cohesion: Individuals show a feeling of belonging to a team, feel part of a group that must work together to accomplish a specific challenge.
- Confidence: The individual competitiveness is left aside giving place to a reliable bonding between workers and the company to achieve a common goal.
- Creativity: All team building activity should have elements of innovation and a creative contribution to motivate, surprise and encourage employees.
The BENEFITS OF TEAM BUILDING
Many companies tie organization of a team building activity to a significant investment, but this is not always the case. The cost will depend on the type of event designed; yet, with few resources we can develop enriching and motivating team building sessions for the staff of a company. The most important thing is to have a clear idea of how team building works and which are the necessary steps to prepare this kind of activities.
In the first place, planning is required to choose the most suitable team building activity. Analyse the situation of the company and consider which issues are the ones we want to solve or which employees ‘skills are the ones we would like to improve.
Once your action has become clear and plane, it is time for implementation, developing different elements and always trying to recreate daily work situations that may help to improve team performance.
Lastly, it is very important to assess whether the team building has met the aimed goals. Planning a follow up action, considering employee´s considerations and feedback.
To ensure a successful team building activity,
we recommend following these seven crucial steps:
- Analyse the aim targeted by the team building activity. Improve communication between departments, promoting leadership, increasing motivation of employees or the cohesion of teams can be some of the challenges associated with this type of activities.
- Define the budget and resources that the company is willing to invest in the organization of the team building.
- Since it may not be the first time that you organise a team building activity, it is advisable to analyse which activities have been implemented in your company in the past to avoid doing them again.
- For a team building activity to be successful, it is crucial to innovate, use imagination and creativity in order to surprise employees, entertain and motivate them. We can vary traditional events by other thematic, more experimental, dynamic and entertaining.
- Make up your mind whether you would like an indoor or outdoor activity, and the level of relation to sports or nature.
- The internal communication strategy is crucial before, during and after the event. It is necessary to create expectations among employees, nurture illusion for the activity and never disappoint them.
- In the event that the company may not be able to allocate resources of time and personnel to organise the team building, it is advisable to outsource the planning and development of the activity to an agency expert in this type of training programs that will have the experience and know-how to make it a success.
- It is highly recommended to make a distinction between leisure stimulating companies from solid coaching companies specialised in training, with accredited staff trained in coaching.
Indoor versus Outdoor Team building.
Find out which team building activity is the most effective way to promote and improve teamwork in your company.
The team building activities properly designed should not be conceptualised as leisure or games, but as empirical training activities, in which the employees have the opportunity to discover and enhance skills and abilities necessary to work in a team. Team building can be organised indoors or outdoors, having its own peculiarities and advantages. Choosing one or another will depend particularly on the objectives aimed by the company with the activity.
Make up your mind whether you would like an indoor or outdoor activity, and the level of relation to sports or nature.
The internal communication strategy is crucial before, during and after the event. It is necessary to create expectations among employees, nurture illusion for the activity and never disappoint them.
In the event that the company may not be able to allocate resources of time and personnel to organise the team building, it is advisable to outsource the planning and development of the activity to an agency expert in this type of training programs that will have the experience and know-how to make it a success.
It is highly recommended to make a distinction between leisure stimulating companies from solid coaching companies specialized in training, with accredited staff trained in coaching.