The art of team-building has taken on many forms over the years. From the corporate scavenger hunts to help employees problem-solve, to encouraging cohesiveness and trust through a partner obstacle course, no matter what the initiative in some form or another it has bought people together.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to team-building. Businesses are generally made up of people with varying personalities, backgrounds, experience, knowledge and the list goes on. People respond differently to initiatives or exercises that they are required to undertake when a company introduces team-building activities.
With this in mind, we have put together 4 simple strategies that will help you carry out successful team building activities.
1.Schedule the activity during work hours
Buy-in from your employees is essential if you are to make your team building activity a success. If you schedule the activities outside of work hours during personal time then this is a surefire way to get everyone off-side.
It’s a work activity so make sure it’s done on business time. Depending on the size of your business and how it operates will determine what and when the activities can occur.
2. Hold the activity at a location other than the workplace
Allow your employees to engage with each other on an even playing ground. For example, a junior employee may feel uncomfortable working with a senior employee if it’s in the workplace as people may identify with each other in terms of their organisation hierarchy as opposed to an equal employee of the business.
A location that is unfamiliar to everyone is more likely to be received positively as all employees will consider it as ‘mutual’ territory. This will give employees no matter what level of seniority they are, the chance to openly engage and participate in activities as ‘people’ that work for the same organisation rather than being identified by their workplace positions.
3. Make sure the activity is about ‘working together’ not ‘who wins’
While some employees may love some healthy competition when it comes to team-building activities, some might feel uncomfortable with a situation where there is a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser’ so to speak.
A successful team-building activity is based on collaboration and teamwork where everyone plays an equal part in the activity and has the opportunity to be involved without the fear of being ‘measured’.
4. Encourage feedback
Finally, it is important to seek feedback from your employees as to how they perceived the teambuilding activity. Maybe the reason someone wasn’t very enthusiastic or engaged was that the air conditioning in the building where the activity was occurring was too cold. Perhaps, there was an issue with the concepts, activities, ideas that were too difficult for some to comprehended.
Whatever the reason, you want to know that your team-building activity is well received by your employees and achieves its objective. Whether it’s a new team forming or an existing team that has become disengaged, the business experts at UpCoach can advise you on the right solution that will ultimately improve your team’s productivity or cohesiveness.
For more information call us on 1300 459 302 for a no-obligation free discussion about your requirements.
