Team Building

In an ideal world, when a manager identifies issues that are preventing his/her team from running as efficiently as possible, s/he would simply hire an outside consultant. This is preferable to an in-house, manager-led program for a number of different reasons. First, when a team-building workshop is run in-house, it is difficult for the team to see the leader in a role other than the manager. Likewise, it is difficult for the manager to view the participants in new ways. Secondly, it is difficult for the manager to open his/her mind to the idea that what s/he thinks is the problem may only be a symptom of a larger problem, and that team members may have a wholly different view of the issue. Finally, pre-existing office politics do not disappear simply because the day’s activities differ from the norm.

Unfortunately, in today’s economic climate idealism often clashes with reality, and the reality is that team-building may be a line item that is quickly eliminated as organizations and departments struggle to work with shrinking budgets. So managers are left in a quandary, as they have identified that their teams need to work better together, yet they lack the monetary resources to bring an outside consultant in to assist with their objective. Furthermore, managers are often asked to do more work with fewer resources.

 

If a manager finds him/herself in this position, there are a number of different strategies that can be used to ensure that a team building session is successfully run in-house, even without outside expertise. To follow are six strategies that can help drive a successful team-building event.

 

Gradually Slow Down: Ever had to make a sudden stop in your car? This is generally not a pleasant experience. The same concept applies to work. If team members are suddenly jolted out of their routine to take part in a team-building day, their minds will often wander to the tasks on their to-do lists. To avoid this, provide team members plenty of advance notice that they will be slowing down for a day, and let them know how important it is that they bring their full attention with them (i.e., no cell phones, lap tops, etc).

 

Make the Objectives Explicit: Most individuals want to know why they are taking part in a meeting. With team-building this is often ignored, leaving team members to wonder whether they are taking part in a punitive meeting. The leader can easily frame this in a positive manner. One example of this is:

We have set some incredibly aggressive goals for our team this quarter, and we will all need to work together more efficiently in order to achieve them. I know we are all working hard, so it makes sense to me to regroup for a day to ensure that we are all on the same page moving forward. I have gone ahead and scheduled an offsite (or conference room) for a workshop that will last the entire day.

Open Your Mind: If a manager feels the need to have a team-building workshop, then it is likely that s/he has identified “blockages” that are preventing a team from working to its potential. This brings to mind the tale of the five blind men and the elephant: each described the portion of the elephant with which they came in contact with certainty, although each description vastly differed from the rest. It is possible that the manager is only seeing a portion of the issue. If you approach the rest of your team with an open mind, and explicitly state that you do not have all the answers, you are more likely to solicit their honest opinions, and a more complete picture can be created as to what the issues – and solutions – are.

 

Pop the Bubble: Team members understandably adopt a narrow focus on their individual tasks. Although this bubble can help to shield team members from external interruptions, it can also blind a team member from recognizing the importance of their task in context of the larger goals. This bubble can be popped, and a discussion can be generated where team members’ individual contributions can be put in the context of the team’s collective contribution. Likewise, it can be powerful to put the team’s collective contribution in the context of the overall organization’s success. If done properly, individual members will identify more strongly with their team and organization, resulting in lasting motivation towards their task.

 

Conversation Trumps Activities: Perhaps the most critical goal of any team building exercise is that contact is generated between team members. This includes understanding team members’ needs, their frustrations, successes, and identifying any issues that might exist between team members. Put simply, the objectives of team-building are to raise collective awareness of team processes, dynamics and existing or potential blockages. In some cases, this will bring conflict to the surface. Conflict, in the case, is a good thing. It is an opportunity for the impacted parties to express their frustrations, and it presents an excellent opportunity for the leader to get a better understanding of the dynamics between team members and move towards resolution. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that any conflict that is raised is resolved in a productive manner.

 

Connect Activities with Work: Although activities may be fun, too often no explicit connection is ever drawn between the activities and the actual work that is done. This is the most common mistake made in any team building session, and when it occurs team members struggle to translate the day’s activities back to their work environment. Even worse, many team members will see the day as a waste, as their workload has increased due to the time spent away from their daily activities. If activities are planned, make sure that they are thoroughly processed, and give the team a chance to connect it back to current work events.

 

Although it is ideal to have an objective outsider with expertise in team and organizational dynamics, a team building event can still be successful provided that enough time has been invested in the planning process. Following these six strategies will increase the chances of achieving your objectives.

 

Best of luck in these challenging times.

To build a successful team you need to start at the very beginning. In this case the beginning is in the time just before the team is formed. At this point you should take time to define the roles and goals for the team.

Set down on paper the goals for the team. Make them specific. “Increase production” is not enough of a goal, it needs a quantity and a time scale i.e. “increase production by 10% over the next six months” is much better. As well as the goals, you need to have some ideas about how you intend to achieve those goals although you should allow flexibility for ideas that may come from your team. I’m sure you are familiar with SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable or agreed, realistic, timed) and that’s exactly what is needed here.

The idea at this point is to be able to go into the team well prepared in order to give it the best kick start possible. If you go into the first team meeting with enthusiasm and good preparation then you will be well on the way to creating a successful team.

You also need to define the roles that you think will be necessary within the team. This may be as obvious as design engineer, IT, sales, QA and production or more generic roles such as organiser, resource finder, planner, closer/finisher.

What you are trying to create is a picture of what your team should look like to be effective before you start selecting team members. Having both the goals and roles in your head before you start lets you begin with the end in mind.

As with the your ideas for how goals should be achieved, you should be ready to be flexible with the roles within the team. You may find that the balance you first thought necessary could me more effective with a little alteration. A word of caution here though, you need to firmly establish the goals and roles very early on in the team building process. It is one thing to keep an open mind about your original ideas but quite another to keep changing a team once it is established. Changes within a team do sometimes become necessary and they need to be managed properly.

At this point you can begin to consider who might be suitable to fulfill the roles you have in mind or, if you have been assigned a team, establish how best to use the people you have in the roles that need to be filled. This is also a good time to identify any weaknesses you may have regarding the group structure and plan for dealing with them.

If you start with the end in mind and have a structure and plan to achieve that then you will be well on your way to building a great team.

The team building industry is well established and there are events on offer to appeal to most tastes. However, time moves on and companies need to come up with new ideas and concepts to keep their market interested.

Last year was very much a time for cooking activities, either based on cooking programmes from the television or chocolate making which proved to be the most popular team building event of the year. Traditional country sports, or anything that seemed trivial or too much of a jolly, was generally off the menu as companies adapted in a world in which not just what you do but what you are seen to do is important.

This year the market is starting to show signs of recovery and some of the fun is coming back into the industry. Country sports style events have new activities. for example Segways – a two wheeled electric vehicle which always proves popular. They are not only a new experience for most but they appeal to the green aspirations of many businesses.

Progressive Resources have renewed and evolved all of their Command Tasks which form the basis of their Crystal Challenge format. In the past these were often made from rope, planks and tape. These have now been uplifted and more professionally made using better materials. An inflatable dome has been added for the grand finale of the event.

Hustle is an event which teaches participants how to improve their odds in casinos, using such techniques as card counting and roulette strategies. It’s fascinating to learn more about these tactics and there are uses in business, particularly linked to understanding risk better. Events which in some way reflect one of the many television show formats seem to prove very popular.

Anything that increases life skills is popular. This is one of the reasons for the success of cooking events. One of the other trends is a growth in sophistication of events, so murder mysteries have evolved into events where the participants become members of a jury watching a trial. There has been an evolution beyond the corny nature of many events, so that people no longer feel embarrassed by having to take part.

Rib speed boats can be used on The Thames or in The Solent. A brand new event for 2010 is the Time Challenge, based around Greenwich and down into The City of London towards Big Ben where teams have to record the clock chiming at different times. They must also complete time themed events to collect the pieces of a clock to be concentrated at the end of the event.

These are just some examples of the many new events for 2010. The construction industry is constantly evolving group of large firms in the industry will have new ideas every year to reflect the needs of an increasingly sophisticated and experienced market.

Corporate team building events are sometimes recreational and sometimes educative, that’s when they are categorized as training. Companies conduct both the events very often to improve team bonding. After all, won’t the world be a much better place if people got along well and things happened smoothly? Whatever the methodology, keep in mind a few things to get the maximum out of the event.

Set out with an objective – Very often in companies, a lot of money is spent on team building. But then HR departments see budget cuts later on because it’s extremely difficult to show tangible benefits (or ROI) from team building activities. The business and HR department should mutually agree upon expected outcome. If it is just to have fun, it’s easy. But if the objective is resolving a conflict between two departments, you must plan better.

Location selection – Don’t select a location where stay and activity areas are far from each other. And where ever this place is, make sure it is away from their workplace. Let your budget, time, age of participants and types of activities determine the location and not the other way round.

Clearly convey – Don’t keep the participants in dark about the event. Clearly conveying the WIIFM (What’s in it for me), ensures better attendance and commitment towards the event. They are adults, don’t keep them guessing. More often than not surprises fall short of the expectations.

Take care of emergencies – If your team building event is going to be an outdoor event, make sure you have a sufficient supplies in the first aid box. It’s also a great idea to engage a doctor on call for the days of the event. In case you intend to do adventurous sports, hire an expert to guide and take them through the experience. Keep the adventure level basic.

Take away – Whatever the event, take a feedback. It could be written or verbal based on the type of activities. It can also be clubbed with a debriefing session. Clearly discussing the take away and reactions to the session will help you estimate to what extent your objectives have been met. This will also convince the participants that their time was well spent.

Slog out to make this event a success and put as a much details into the planning as you can. But on the days of the event, don’t forget to have fun!

Large firms are implementing team building activities these days. In the older days, team building was seen as an unnecessary expense. Now, with the passing of time team building is gaining respect. The tendency has been changing and will remain to change. When the concept was first brought out, it was purely seen as a platform due to which various fresher’s can mix and get to know with each other.

There have been instances in which team building seances were seen as company field days, because it required visiting unfamiliar locations. Sticking to the discourse at hand, we will look into one of the major team building action.

We shall be discoursing about 4×4 off road driving in this article. Well this demands no formal introduction or explanation. It is the taming of the unknown lands with vehicles that have been especially intentional for the role. Make certain the fairer sex also enters in the event because, many may consider it is a men’s athletics. What is the deal? Rally over anything that you come across on your way. 4×4 motortrucks are equipped with larger engines which supply power independently to all the wheels. Therefore, the vehicle will be able to harness any obstacle on its track.

There are special courses that have been planned for the purpose. The whole squad will be split into smaller groups of five to six and will be left with their own respective vehicles. The practiced 4×4 team will be following the lead and the other will have to pursue them at a space.

What makes the whole scenario challenging is that you will have to mount over stones, cover streams. It is a clear struggle between man and nature, a battle in which mankind constantly wins, with the help of scientific advances in the auto industry.

The minimum qualifications that are required in this event are rudimentary driving skills and courage to drive over any obstruction. So do not worry, the full team will be companion you and will be feeding you with applicable information with the service of which you will be conditioned to successfully pilot the obstructions.

A trainer will ab initio and explain the path, which should be observed as many courses are oftentimes split into two – one for, practiced users and the other for the beginners. It must also be kept on the mind that just because you drive a outstanding vehicle, you will not be capable to undertake the path. All of it churns down to the driver who should be competent enough.

The pros who are coordinating the event will always undertake ample preventive measures. Driving can be exhaustive, so it is best to carry yourself with food for the journey. The duration of the event will depend on the length of the course and the obstructions that are to be tackled. Remember there is no short cut to completing this event, once you start the vehicle, you and the group should be aligned with each other and act together.

People in the business world all take risks.  Before they can reach to the zenith of success, they need to undergo several challenges and trials.  The trials that they meet will serve as a test in determining how strong your business is and how far are you willing to sacrifice just to make your business grow and flourish.  This is not an easy task and people in the business world need to make firm decisions, need to be witty at all times, need to be strategic and lastly they need to have good analytical thinking skills because in business, you need to carefully analyze things especially when it comes to the demand and supply of products and services.

In every company or in a business organization, all of the people including the workers work hand in hand in making the company to be productive and in making the company to grow even bigger.  If the company or a certain business is being handled with good managers and executive officers, definitely the company will reach success whereas if a certain company is handled by corrupt managers or perhaps by a number of irresponsible personnel, it is of no doubt that the business will lead to a major disaster.  Your business might be just small but when it is handled well, it will grow and be well developed just like a mini stun gun which is small but holds high power electricity.

It is important for the management to train their staff and to let them undergo exercises and activities that will motivate them to do better in their respective jobs.  Motivating them is important.  Somehow, when an employee is motivated, the tendencies are he will create more effective projects, learn more problem solving skills and lastly will render quality service to the company or the business itself. 

Team building exercises also keeps every employee to do well at work.  Just simply imagine how things will be if you let all the employees practice teamwork and if you train them to become one of the best.  Things will all be running smoothly in your company once you develop skilled employees whose trust and loyalty are given to the company. 

Another helpful thing about team building exercises is that it helps every employee to improve themselves and to better understand the nature of their work.  Henceforth, if employees and other personnel in your company engage in such, the company will be more developed and will become very well known all over the country.  It is the only way wherein employees could update and freshen their minds with what is new when it comes to business strategies.  If possible, you should do team building exercises more often so employees can do their best at work the same as how the best stun guns give their best if you know how to properly take care of it.

There is a purpose why almost all companies let their employees engage in exercises and activities. They are not only doing this for the sake of their company but they are doing this to let the employees relax after all the hard work they have done for the company.  Also, team building activities will enable the employees to get to know other employees as well.  Conflicts among employees are resolved and this is the time wherein their patience and cooperativeness are being tested.  This is a good way to strengthen your company.

Much has been written about teams and team building over the past decade. Much of it has been either based on psychology or corporations. I have nothing against psychologists. And I myself, spent many years working for large corporations. But to understand teams and team building you need to understand what teams are, how they form and what makes them successful.

What are teams?

Teams are groups of people brought together to achieve a common goal, objective or purpose. Teams can be large. Teams can be small. Teams can be global or they can be local and co-located. Teams can be people who are all different. And teams can be people who are all of very different backgrounds. So what makes a group of individuals a team? Teams differ from groups of people in that they are brought together or they gather together to achieve a specific purpose as that group.

What do teams look like?

The very best teams have different educations, backgrounds and experiences. They come together to achieve a common purpose. They commit to subjugating their individual needs, goals and desires to those of the group. This does not mean that they do not have individual needs, goals and desires. They do. They just make them secondary to those of the group. The best teams often:

- Meet as a group face-to-face when forming.

- They have many events where they internalize their goals, objectives or purpose.

- They clearly define “success” for the group.

- They establish effective means of communications.

- They define what is common to all members versus what is specialized by individual to achieve their goals.

- They bond through socializing rituals (such as meals, activities or like events).

- They establish success rules (time lines, targets, rewards, roles, priorities, how to communicate outside of the team as examples).

- They define ways to maintain team effectiveness (future face-to-face meetings, regularly scheduled conference calls, group “touch points” and other communal activities).

What do the best teams do right?

The very best teams achieve their goal, objective or purpose through a singular focus, effective communication, flexibility, encouraging innovation by all and displaying respect for all members. Specifically they:

- Set high standards for all members and help one another achieve those standards.

- They do not tolerate those who do not carry at least their share of the “burden” (work).

- They respect input by all but do so in a crisp and disciplined manner.

- They make sure all members of the group know and have internalized the goal, purpose or objectives.

- They make sure all communication is clear, effective and timely.

- They insure that all members clearly understand all roles and responsibilities but are willing to modify them based on the needs of the group to achieve the objective.

- They do not tolerate egos based on prior performance. Every member has to earn their slot every single day.

- Members of the group treat the other members with respect and integrity. Lapses are not tolerated.

- A group mindset that “failure is not an option” is maintained from day one.

Why teams fail?

The list of reasons why teams fail is like a grocery list of human weaknesses and failings. The key reasons that teams fail include:

- Lack of a clearly defined purpose, goal or objective.

- “Team” members who spend less than 51% of their time working with the team.

- Lack of clear or timely communication.

- Team rituals (fun, awards, long hours and other drinking or partying) override the goal, mission or purpose as the reason for the team.

- Egos (putting self before the team rather than subordinating to the goals and needs of the team).

- Sub-elements within the team with agendas other than the goal, purpose or objective.

- Lack of respect for innovation. - Lack of ability to change as needed (flexibility).

- Lack of integrity by any team member.

- “Failure” mentality as opposed to “success” mentality.

Many companies, organizations and other groups try to spend part of a day or a weekend together once a year to “team build”. Team building is not about a day or even a weekend. For a group to become a team and then to succeed as a team requires many elements – including time and often shared adversity – for an organization of any size. By applying the elements outlined in this article, any organization can more effectively operate at the “team” level.

The success of any organization depends on how well the teams work together. The more they work in sync with each other, the more effective and efficient the organization will be. Hence, it is no wonder that most organization are trying to promote team building! But why team building? Like the five fingers on your hand, each member of the team is different. They come from various ethnic backgrounds, cultures and have varied talents. If left unattended to, they will work independently, each with their own objectives. This will lead to a lot of chaos and confusion. Hence, it is important to turn these differences into benefits by tapping each of their potentials and channelizing them to suit the organizational requirements.

To create and develop an effective team which is also efficient is a challenging task. Though most of them try to accomplish this, they fall flat because they tend to miss out on a few important details. Hence, it is very important to keep a few points in mind while trying to work on building a team. In this article, we shall discuss a few tips that will help you build an effective team. The first step towards building a strong team is effective communication of team goals. Ensure that each team member is made well aware of the team objective and goals. This will ensure that the entire team will work towards achieving a common objective.

It is important to explain each member the role they are going to play in helping the team be successful. This becomes very important if more than one person is aiming for a particular role. In those circumstances, you can divide the role amongst them and ensure that their roles and responsibilities do not overlap. Giving each one a free hand in their domain will ensure that your team tastes success very fast. Assess the strength and weakness of every team member before offering them a role to play. This is very crucial if you want everyone to put their best foot forward and deliver unparalleled solutions. The next important aspect to facilitate a great team building process is to involve the entire team in while making important decisions. This will make them feel important and more responsible towards their roles. Brainstorming as a team will also throw up better ideas and solutions. Another best part is that you can get a buy-in for the idea from the entire team which will help increase their ownership towards the project.

One more very important aspect of building a strong team is ensuring that all the team members are kept well informed of the changes. Unexpected surprises and shocks can spring up a lot more tension and stress than what you imagined. Last but not the least, it is important to take the team out on a regular basis and ensure that the team bonds even outside office. This will help them understand their peers and colleagues better. It will also bring up new facets in a person that most of them are unaware of. Building an effective team is challenging but not impossible. Keeping the tips mentioned above will help you ease the process to a great extent. The rewards at the end of it are truly worth your time and patience.

In any large company, and even in the smaller ones, it is sometimes necessary to get the workforce together to allow them to mix and mingle a little. When this is on the cards, finding someone who offers team building events is the first stage in bringing the workforce together for positive reinforcement of their skills. Corporate events have taken off over the past few years and there are many interesting venues large enough to take even the most diverse of companies.

There are many venues of course which offer all kinds of interesting things to do on one of these great short breaks. But the better ones will also offer some unusual pastimes for people to learn while they are working for the company. In Texas, it is obvious that anything connected to ranches is high on the list of things to do at these venues, and these can be both fun and informative at the same time.

Many people join in the line dancing lessons, or learn to ride a horse while they are on one of these gatherings which will give them something to brag about for the coming years. But there is obviously a serious side to these functions too. There will probably be several motivational speakers, or formal functions to attend, which brings all the personnel together to mix and mingle too.

Indeed, many executives also come along to the party so that the personnel can put a face to the name that they see on the letterheads. When the personnel can mix freely with those who own or run the company, it makes for a more cohesive workforce which tends to then hang together better as a family style company.

For the executives there are often health spas and golf courses which offer them the opportunity to kick back and relax after what may have been a very hard year, particularly with the economic downturn that the world has been facing. However, these days, even the workforce can be offered the same kind of incentive to try harder to bring the company more success.

If the company is a particularly successful one, they can offer these kinds of gatherings just to say thank you to their workforce. What they try to do is to book the venue when there is some world class stars appearing there so that the staff have all the entertainment they need right on site. This coupled with the ability to throw formal functions, make these venues ideal places to have family fun days added in with perhaps an annual company outing all at the same time.

People, no matter what their standing within the company, always likes to feel appreciated no matter where they are within the company structure. By having all the workers come together in a fun way, they begin to see the human face of the company and when this happens, they will certainly strive harder to make the company, and their careers, much more successful in future.

There are different ways to create more efficient and functional teams within your company. You can try different team-building activities like company picnics or company outings. This activity is not just a simple day out with your employees. It is a team building plan-and a perfect venue-for your employees to bond with each other and enhance their camaraderie which is very important because increased camaraderie can increase your employees’ productivity. However, the success of each activity is greatly determined by the different activities and discussions organized by the team building event planners.

Thus the question: how can you evaluate team-building companies? How do you choose that ones that are best suitable to respond to your company’s needs? Who has the better programs and more experience? There are different ways to evaluate a certain company to choose which is better. Among the many things that you need to consider are the programs that they organize, the packages that they offer and their capacity to meet your company’s needs. Company outings and picnics is not about finding the best resort or the most sumptuous foods for the participants. It is also about keeping the participants, your employees in this case, interested while promoting their team building skills and bonding.

If you plan to hire a team building company, you need to first present them with one of the challenges that your company experiences and ask them for their advice or suggestions. For example, if you are having problems with a particular section in your company, you can always ask corporate outings planner to create a customized plan and package that will directly focus into the challenge that you mentioned and respond to your needs. There are a lot of event planning companies that are not able to mix fun and work dynamics in their activities. You will be surprised at how much some of them do not know which things or activities are fun for the employees during picnics or outings, while some do not seem to know how to evaluate the inner workings of the corporate world. These companies cannot immediately respond to your needs so stay away.

One of the many reason why these team building companies are not able to understand the dynamics of the business world is because they do not come from the same universe. People behind these team building companies have minimum or no business knowledge that is why they are not able to relate their activities to the requisites of the company. But that is not to say that they cannot organize activities and games. They can, but they are ideal for individual or friends but cannot be utilized to respond to certain ‘corporate’ needs. During the initial stage, if you ask them for a solution for a problem that you stated, then you can easily know if the company is a service provider or an entertainment provider.

Team building cannot take place without the necessary instructive activities that should be provided by people who have business or training expertise. Playing cooperative games is not team building because there are other dynamics involved. To organize the best company outing or picnic for your employees, you need to find a team building events organizer that knows exactly what team building is and the proper techniques to achieve it in a fun, entertaining way.