Article Written By: Michiel Van Kets
Team building fits into organizational behaviour theory. Within this teams use self-assessment as a way of continuous improvement and to manage how effective it is. Feedback is then given from everyone within the group to be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses and again continue to improve performance. Focusing on team building has traditionally been a low priority for businesses, instead ignoring their human assets and concentrating on sales and productivity. However, with the global market and increased pressures on business, in order to stay competitive, team building is essential to capitalise on their best assets; the employees. Valued and motivated employees are far more productive and this empowers employees and creates good communication channels and relationships. It is a committed on-going process that should be well-planned out and tailored to individual needs as well as ultimately the business needs. It is no good building a team around solving complex mathematical problems if the business never requires such. It equally needs to suit individuals within the business taking into account ages, abilities and what they feel comfortable taking part in. As already mentioned communication is one of the top reasons along with stimulating creativity and thought processes, finding new ways to problem solve and strategize, bring about change and manage change and encourage a learning environment. On an individual level, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses can enable a team to work to everyone's strengths and create a dynamic environment with collective potential. When looking at various activities it works best when employees have a say in what they do as this will develop individuals potential. People may have shared interests or a special expertise that team building activities can be organised around. A mix of activities within a plan will enable all employees to achieve and learn at their own pace. If inviting the entire workplace is unachievable then one day workshops for selected groups may work best. It's all about finding a range of team building activities that will work best for your business and your employees.All businesses have different requirements and therefore activities have to be tailored to their needs. Building a team from scratch requires everybody to get to know each other and games and ice breakers are a useful starting point. A defined plan would then need to be put in place for continuous improvement and to bond the team together. Bonding sessions can include fun activities and days out so that the members can get to know each other before moving onto more structured team building exercises and personal development. Team development workshops and individual programs are required to improve confidence. Trust activities are also a good way to re-group the team and provide a softer approach to solving the issues. Further down the team building line, psychological analysis of team members may give a better understanding into the personalities and skills to enable the team to work better together. Social activities as a whole company may be needed to bond the business back together and build upon relationships between the management and employees. Communication exercises are a great way of enabling a team to effectively communicate within the group and the business environment. Problem solving exercises are designed for teams to be able to handle complex tasks and solve multifaceted problems. Trust exercises enable a business to form and build upon trust between members with simple games and activities. Team building is an essential part of business and should be incorporated into every strategy to ensure global competitiveness, efficiency and good overall performance. There are lots of different approaches to team building and businesses need to carefully assess why it is needed within their workplace in order to get the most out of it.
This Article Has Been Published on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 and Read 118 Times