Recipe for constant growth and success of the company depends on the harmonious coordination of its employee and that can be achieved by correct team building.
“No one can whistle a symphony it takes a whole orchestra to play it”. – H.E. Luccock
A team implies synergy, that is the whole is greater than the sum of their parts(Mallory,1991) and the essence of a team is a common commitment because without it is the members are simply individual. “Team building never works when it is seen as an activity .” it’s like trying to bake a cake with only one ingredient according to D. Axelrod. Team building is the most important investment you can make for your people, it builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increase collaboration. Cardamom may taste good alone but without rice, milk, dry fruits, saffron, and sugar it will never become a tasty dessert. It makes sense that teambuilding exercises without complementary activities would not be sufficient for truly effective teambuilding and we’ll discuss more what additional ingredients should be added to the teambuilding mix.
Why do we need effective team building?
- Team building aims to increase the productivity of a team and thus increase the economic success of the company
- To foster togetherness in the workplace while tackling projects
- Open lines of communication technique and skills
- Understand team members and team dynamics
- Sharpen your team‘s goal setting, motivation, and performance
- Practice, discuss, and problem solve
- Getting everyone “ onto the same page”, including goal setting
- Getting to know each other
- Improving communication
- Helping participants to learn more about themselves in terms of their strengths &weaknesses
- Teaching self – regulation strategies
Team building /team development process can be gradual and time-consuming but results can set the milestones to accomplish desired success. Team building can be done in certain ways as communication exercises, involve problem-solving activities that are geared towards improving communication skills.
- Decision making by a group of people to resolve difficult problems is another part of team development. Adaptability and readiness to change are crucial to perform in any given situation. Trust building in a group of members can vary in degrees, depending on their comfort and faith. It is true to be said a “team is above all & above all is a team ”and effective team building ensures to gather a group of people who are mutually dependent on one another to achieve common goals. It’s important to mention here as an important factor in any organization this whole exercise focus to specialize in bringing out the best in the team. And make sure self-development, leadership skills, positive communication among team members to work closely together to solve any problem or task.
There are twelve important pillars of team building also known as 12c’s and they are as following
- Clear expectation
- Context
- Commitment
- Competence
- Charter(mission & vision)
- Control
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creative innovations
- Consequences
- Coordination
- Cultural diversity
So for any growth-oriented organization, it is recommended for team managers to pay attention to all of these to make it big and create a story. As per Tuckman’s model, it can be easily divided into four developmental stages, forming: the team and leaders, storming to realize difficulties and challenges, encapsulating norms in form of team rules and procedure then performing with the ability to work through group conflicts and resolve differences and close attachment to the team.
Also with artificial intelligence taking on repetitive task work, it falls on human groups to develop and execute a strategy that drives profit and increases client retention. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for an organization to ensure their teams are built for maximum effectiveness. Effective teams are the crux of your business, you can set strategies, create goals, and plan to the last detail, but without carefully selected, high – performing teams you’re going to fall short.
Mental toughness is an important factor in team-building and one you should be looking for as you guide your team to success. Good teamwork requires a tricky balance, but by adhering to the team-building practices outlined below, leaders and team members can realize their shared objectives:
- Strengthened Bond: establish a trust to strengthen that bond between all team members and you have to keep few things in mind and consider a few things as having patience, remain calm, be transparent, open and flexible, provide mutual feedback and participate in ongoing team activities.
- Define Roles: It takes different types of personalities to make a team run effectively. By defining responsibilities beyond specific tasks and thinking about team roles holistically, a team can maximize the talents of the individual members while forming a single entity with the power to achieve great things. Team roles include
- Champion –someone who enjoys promoting ideas, and driving change.
- Creator –someone who enjoys designing solutions and tackling creative challenges.
- Implementer –someone who is adept at taking charge of the daily work activities and administrative tasks.
- Facilitator –someone who does well-managing relationships, both within the team and externally; they are the glue that holds everything together.
- Conduct Negative polling – you are allowing them to voice concerns rather than simply acquiescing to go along with popular opinion. You’ll notice which of your teammate exhibit ego-strength and another aspect of mental toughness.
- Give and Accept Feedback – feedback is provided in a way that supports the individual’s growth and development, it can be a wonderful tool for identifying potential blind spots and increasing self-awareness through other’s perceptions.
- View Team building as a Nonstop Activity –team effectiveness is not something you can think about out of the blue in between the other stuff. It should be your focus. Projects will come and go, but the team is the engine that drives the business result.
- Take It Easy and Know When to Step Back -It’s important that leaders’ strengths and limitations are on the table alongside everyone else’s and they are open to improving their contributions and increasing self-awareness. In the end, team members will only be as committed to team development after all efforts of team building as the leader is.
There are some of the most engaging team building activities are there which you can incorporate in your team building programs to bring about team bonding and create effective and efficient teams in the workplace. They can be broadly divided into outdoor and indoor team building activities with different learning objectives.
Outdoor Activities: Imagine a whole day based around a campfire, with no screens, no phones ringing, none of the usual day to day distractions, where everyone gets to enjoy a shared experience, and then participate in a team-wide meaningful conversation. This is where the good stuff happens. Spoon or balloon relay, Human knot, Tug of war, Soccer tournament, Cricket match, environment-friendly activity by organizing a tree planting event, and give back to earth.
Indoor Activities: Acapella a popular group singing, CSI Crime a fun based game to solve a murder mystery, The Big Picture, a collaborative effort to create .Karaoke singing, Drum Circle, Dance challenges, are among a few to see the team perspective, willingness to overcome weakness when in a team, versatility with of course fun and energy at all level Michael Jordan said “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships” the way team plays as a whole determines its success .you may have the greatest bunch of individual stars but if they don’t work together the team won’t be worth a dime.
”It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed”. Napolean Hill