Building strong teams is something successful organisations do on an ongoing basis and it doesn't have to be expensive. Penny Mallory provides some insights.
Most organisations recognise that a happy workforce is going to be more productive, efficient and loyal. Yet traditionally, team building has not always been a top priority, with many companies choosing to focus on productivity and client satisfaction before paying attention to their most important asset – employees. But as the business environment becomes more and more competitive and the current economic climate affects everyone's bottom line, it is more important than ever to retain the best talent.
Team building can significantly help to improve communication and relationships, make employees feel valued, improve their confidence and performance, which will ultimately lead to the improved productivity and client satisfaction that every organisation is after.
No man is an island
Although some people work in isolation, but more often than not they will be working as part of a team or a group of people who each depend on each other to varying degrees, to complete a project, programme or piece of work. So, they need to get on together, to respect and trust each other, maybe to help out the weaker team members, but above all, to understand how each member thinks and works in relation to their workplace. Every member of a team brings a different ability with them, based on individual experience or different points of view.
There are many ways to help teams to 'get along', such as training, incentive programmes, or job re-definition, but the one I would like to address here is team building. Team building has been around since the 1970s, so it's far from a new idea, and its methods undoubtedly improved through the 1980s and 1990s, leading to a practice which is widely used today by organisations around the world.
What concerns me is that, despite the sophistication of numerous team building exercises available in the 21st century, I believe that many of the companies taking it on board are missing the point. They fail to understand the concept of team building, then end up organising an afternoon of games, followed by a few drinks down the pub or a day paint-balling followed by an overnight stay in an expensive hotel. Certainly lots of fun, but without some sort of strategy, a waste of time in terms of improving inter-company relationships.
Team building is not going to benefit anyone without adequate forward planning and it's the thinking beforehand that people are falling down on. At the outset you should be asking these questions: What is team building? Who is the team? What are you trying to achieve? How are you going to approach it?
What is team building?
Let's assume that the word team is 'borrowed' from the world of sport, but all members of the team are on the same side and need to pull together to make things work. The building bit is the ability to identify and motivate individuals to form a team that stays together, works together and achieves together.
Team building courses or events are held to make individuals learn how to work collectively in teams and understand the value of team effort. However, it is also useful to use team building for a team that already has all the right ingredients and is already working well together. Just because a team appears to be working doesn't mean that they should be left to 'get on with it' alone. They may well have small issues, which left unattended, could become problematic further down the line. Either way, they should be allowed to benefit from further bonding away from the workplace
Who is the team?
Team selection isn't an exact science and it may not always be easy to identify the exact members of the team beforehand. A team building session may have to be held before it is possible to identify who works well together and to ensure the right balance of skills. It is important, however, to have what they think is the ideal combination of people who will work well together at the outset, even if later changes have to be made. This can be achieved by looking at the behaviour of individuals within their existing roles or teams.
When choosing a leader for the team building sessions, this doesn't have to be the most senior person, in fact a junior member may well benefit more from the opportunity. Between five to eight people is considered to be a good size and will allow a different range of abilities. Any larger and it can limit people's participation as well as their interest.
What are you trying to achieve?
It is important to have a goal in mind. This will obviously vary from business to business, but here are some examples of what can be achieved by team building:
- Responding to a specific change within a business, as a result of a merger or take-over or in response to new customer requirements.
- Responding to opportunities or risk as a result of change in the outside business environment.
- To improve production, speed up workflow or improve customer focus.
- To improve employee morale and motivation and encourage flexibility.
- To improve problem solving or creativity skills.
How are you going to approach it?
A healthy mind works best with a healthy body, and some companies are increasingly making sport and fitness pursuits part of a team building exercise. However, this won't suit everyone and it will depend on what you are trying to achieve. There is no point choosing an activity that you know some people will hate, be uncomfortable with or unable to participate in.
Sport can be very competitive and if a company decides to go down this route, they would need to be sure at the outset that they had willing participants and that the activity was an event where team members have to depend on each other to succeed and try to avoid a 'winning' situation.
Team building through a charity project can also lead to a number of benefits to an organisation. Giving something back to the community makes people feel good and not only do charity events create an opportunity for a team to help others but at the same time they help with their own building team skills. Charity events can also provide an organisation with the opportunity to satisfy the corporate social responsibility (CSR) side of the business by helping the community either locally or nationally.
Case study – Omega
One company that takes its social responsibility very seriously is leading UK sign company, Omega. That includes supporting a number of charitable causes where the company has managed to integrate its 'giving something back to the community' ethos with team building. Managing director, Duncan Chapman explains: "Whilst we support several charitable causes, last year our main focus was on raising 6,000 for Oxfam by members of staff taking part in the Trailtrekker Challenge, a 100km trek across the Yorkshire Dales National Park.[1] It's a great event and this year we are entering two Omega teams, hoping to raise even more money.
"We work closely together in a work environment on a day to day basis but an event like this allows us to do something completely different outside of work yet still working as a team".
One hundred kilometres is the equivalent of two-and- a-half marathons, so an event which is obviously not for the faint hearted, but it works for Omega. As well as the two team of four walkers, who train together in the five month lead up to the trek in June 2011, other members of staff play the part of a support crew, like senior project manager Chris Norfolk, who says: "Last year I was part of the support crew. I did the night shift until the end of the walk the following day and so saw first hand the effort and elation of my colleagues as they finished the challenge. It made me want to be part of it and this year I'm going to attempt the whole walk myself.
"We've found it to be a really valuable team building exercise, where directors and factory staff alike get involved, plus a little friendly rivalry among the two teams."
Debriefing and learning points
Whatever the kind of event organised by a company, it is absolutely essential to hold a de-briefing session to discuss what everyone learnt from the session and how that can be integrated into their day-to-day work. Without this, the effects of team building are likely to be short lived.
Routines
Ideally, team building sessions should be held on a regular basis, but this will depend upon the type of activity. It may not always be possible to repeat a replica of a session if people were taking part in an outside annual event, or if finances aren't available. It is possible, however, to incorporate regular team meetings into a corporate structure, either weekly or monthly, to discuss progress and issues. Simpler team building exercises, such as building towers from newspaper or trivia quizzes, can be built into these meetings to give everyone the opportunity to continue bonding in a fun atmosphere, more than once or twice a year.
In today's fast most commercial world with widespread budget cuts and potential redundancies, it is easy for employees to become disengaged. Employers need to provide an opportunity for members of staff from all levels of an organisation to work as real team players. Team building in the workplace is vital and it enables improved communications, better relationships and will increase productivity. When employees are motivated, feel valued and respected, they are more likely to go the extra mile and go on to exceed organisational expectations.
Note: Team building training costs do need to be watched in case HMRC perceive them as a 'benefit'. See Lorraine Owens' 'Employee training costs - a rewarding experience' in the previous issue of The People Bulletin.
[1] TRAILTREKKER 2011, now in its third year, is a 100km non-stop team charity walk across the Yorkshire Dales in aid of Oxfam