Midlands & North West
Team building events have grown considerably over the last twenty years and it is commonplace for organisations today to hold team building events at either department level or company level at least once a year.
One of the main reasons is that most managers today believe team building events are able to bond organisation members together both horizontally (between subordinates) or vertically (between managers and subordinates). However, what is lacking is the understanding of the concept of corporate team building. As a result, team building events today often end up to become merely “a trip to the park”, a one night stay at a nice hotel or an afternoon of games. The outcome can leave much to be desired unless the concept of the rationale behind the team building is well understood and this is essential to maximise the benefits for the time and money spent.
Team building is interaction among members of work teams to learn how each member thinks and works. Unfortunately, in today's practice, the focus upon team building has been misinterpreted. The key phrase here is "to learn how each member thinks and works". Team building events therefore should go beyond the idea of a "trip to the park". They have to allow for learning about how each member of the team thinks and works in relation to the workplace. However, some team building companies today commonly use corporate team building events to simply ‘encourage’ people to work together rather than using the team building to learn about how each team member actually thinks and behaves.
The common message inherent in most team building events is "you must all learn to work as a team". A successful company needs to do more - they need to provide a structured opportunity to help team members learn more deeply about how other individuals operate in the workplace.
When we were children special efforts to learn to work with others were unnecessary because children live and grow together. As we get older, we learn to become more sceptical of others and this is often culturally reinforced. We are no longer as naïve in our ideas about other people. Combined with the rapid shifts in workplace environments and the changeover of personnel, this eventually makes it harder to work as a team and so corporate team building becomes an integral part of maximising corporate performance.
Adults are more inflexible in accepting changes and other people’s values because as we grow, we become more inflexible and intolerant of others. We may not accept others views and opinions and therefore may not so easily change ourselves so that we can work effectively with other colleagues - we forget that we should try to compromise as we work along. Therefore, simply asking adults to work together is not the answer – they need the benefits that structured team building brings.
Working together takes time, it takes effort - adults do not just learn to work as a team from a one or two day team building event - some people may not even gel together after years of being in the same office. It does not help by asking people to work as a team; they have to experience and understand other people's ways of working and being in order to really believe in their capacity to find effective ways of working together. Therefore, team building events alone are not the answer to all failing teams.
To make corporate team building events practical and beneficial, you should allow for interaction that leads to understanding. The simple “trip to the park” will not just work. It may promote interaction and everyone may have a good laugh, but if it is not structured, the best they could probably remember about their team building is that they ‘had a good time’. Team building has to be structured - you must have first considered your objectives. To what level is it you want your guests to interact and work as a team? Bear in mind the purpose of interaction is to create understanding, and understanding that will help individuals know where others are coming from and why they act in a certain manner. Useful information could be gained - the person’s family background, their pastimes, their friends. All this may just surface from the interaction, but generally needs the more structured prompting which comes from a well considered and organised team building event.
Effective team building needs to provide behavioural opportunities for revealing underlying thinking and behaviour patterns. Initiative based team building events are best used to see how we behave. A problem is given to a team to solve or a mission is set for them to achieve as a team. Each of the team members may have different ways of solving the problem. Allowing team members to understand why others make certain decisions will enable the team members to understand better why others make such decisions in the workplace. The team building process is crucial, it is not the end … it is the means. If during a raft building activity, your raft sinks it does not show that you are unable to work as a team. Whether or not the raft sinks is unimportant. What is important in any team building activity is how team members made the decision and interacted with their colleagues.
Team building events invariably, but not necessarily, take people away from the office and put them in an unfamiliar situation. It is where people are most likely dressed informally and therefore, behave differently. At these occasions, positions in the corporate hierarchy are often forgotten and the true self appears as people tend to lower their guard and behave differently. Not only do people act differently, they say things differently too. The way we act and behave outside the formal work setting is often our more true self. Team building experiences should help to show our true ‘human’ nature. Knowing each others true attitude and behaviour will often change our perceptions of fellow workers.
Team building events will therefore be more successful when there is a structured programme which will allow specific objectives to be met. Activities that create the opportunity to reveal the way we think, make decisions and react will create better and further understanding of work colleagues. Finally, a team building event that allows each others attitudes and behaviour to surface creates better relationships in the office.
However, managers are reminded that team building does not just happen in one or two days, it has to happen in the workplace every day and it takes time. Managers must promote interaction in the workplace among colleagues to learn how each member thinks and works, to allow team building to work. This might also involve several different training methods including class room training, role playing and profiling tests. Managers need to contribute to the process rather than being hopeful for the best results from one or two team building events.
Based on the understanding of the principles of team building above, it is hoped that managers will be able to make a better decision when organising future team building events. For help and advise on organising a structured Team Building Event contact KDM.
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