When you think about team building, you may think about the silly games you played instead of seeing the real benefits of the practice. Since its inception, team building activities have focused on interactive games that allow leaders and teams to work together on new and unusual tasks. These challenges and games are designed to allow each member of the team to serve as both a leader and as a team member.
So how does team building help organizations? The right team building activity develops a stronger team, strengthens relationships within the team and improves the capacity in your team to achieve results.
TEAM BUILDING IMPROVES TEAMWORK
Well-designed team building activities make sure each member gets an opportunity to take charge of their share of responsibilities. The team achieves a much-larger task than an individual could accomplish. Because the team works together through a challenge to meet their goal, cooperation and collaboration become necessary.
The common goal gets placed before personal feelings so the team becomes stronger by completing the tasks together and achieving success. This carries over to collaborative tasks in the office, where employees work together on objectives to fulfill the company’s vision.
TEAM BUILDING BUILDS STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS
Working together in new and unusual ways allows team members to get to test new approaches to solving challenges and listening to other team members. Everyone gets to know one another better, and to build trust. Team members who trust one another and care about other members’ successes are more productive members of a team.
When they care about their fellow team members, employees are more likely to be engaged, stay with your company, stay more focused on results and illustrate greater commitment to meeting goals and objectives. Team building games build personal skills and require team members to cooperate within the group to complete the tasks. This behavior is becoming increasingly important in the office. It’s how successful projects happen now.
TEAM BUILDING RAISES EMPLOYEE MORALE
Perhaps most importantly, team building raises employee morale and builds enthusiasm. It’s not only because team building events often mean a day out of the office, either. Team building allows individuals to improve personal skills and become more confident in their team’s strengths. It builds individual self-esteem and encourages others to offer compliments and praise. The team that cheers together – achieves together.
TEAMWORK CAN HELP YOUR ORGANIZATION
Teamwork helps organizations grow in many ways that are not always apparent to participants. It makes teams stronger and increases their ability to work together to meet goals. Reaping these benefits doesn’t require extensive, day-long team building events or special tools. The best options are internal training programs focused on developing the skills involved in effective teamwork. Align them on important internal priorities then get them to take action. These professional development days can be completed at the office (or virtually) and require no more space than your company conference room offers.
