Team Building: Springboard to Success

Is your organization operating at full throttle?

If not, the missing ingredient could be a lack of focus on team morale. Good team spirit is established as a springboard to higher levels of performance.

Whenever individuals are required to work together some element of disharmony enters the picture sooner or later. For this reason, it is good business practice to pay close attention to team morale in the organization.

In highly successful organizations, special attention is paid to the development of high performance teams. The importance of team-building activities in promoting cohesive and productive working environments is fully appreciated.

They buy into the concept that "happy cows give more milk" and seek to ensure that individuals are comfortable and empowered and that there is cohesiveness in their teams.

In an effort to maintain high levels of connectedness, team building interventions are a regular feature of their operations. Effective team building activities embrace fun/learn activities, outdoor exercises and goal directed competitive team activities.

The objective is to stress the value of communication, cooperation, goal-directedness, loyalty and commitment.

I have participated in some unusual outdoor team building activities that produced strong bonding. Top of the list would be the fire walk with Tony Robbins where we rallied each other to walk on hot coals with bare feet. Before the event, I vowed that I would not attempt it.

Then putting up tents and sleeping on tree branches in the snow at the North Pole with the Extended DISC crew was another strong bonding experience. One highlight there was running from a sauna for a quick dip through a hole in an ice-covered stream. All this for a born and bred Jamaican - sand, sea and SUN!

One of the most interesting team building exercises that I have led is the use of MTa kits to challenge teams. The group is divided randomly into two teams. They are given a task to complete which requires the fitting together of parts (think Lego). They are working with tight deadlines with no real opportunity for planning. One team is assigned the task of producing the desired object and the others play the role of supervisors and evaluators. Their responsibility is to evaluate the "producers" with respect to issues such as team awareness, willingness to lead and to follow, communication, motivation, cheer leading, frustration threshold and a desire to win. Basically, a composite of factors that is embraced in good business practice.

When the allotted time has expired, the evaluators present their reports. This is a powerful exercise in getting teams to learn how to give and receive feedback in a healthy and empowering manner. The producers are then invited to give their responses.

To the distress of the evaluators, the roles are reversed and they are now expected to eliminate the poor business practices of the previous team. They also submit themselves to receiving feedback from their peers.

In reality, team building activities abound. It is not critical that you select exotic options. The key is to provide opportunities for team members to interact with each other in carefully designed activities that are different from their regular work.

By spending time together outside of the normal working environment and either having fun or achieving something meaningful they will bond more closely together.

Do not get bogged down in the selection of your team building activity. You will have many options. One key consideration is that team members get excited about the event. Inserting empowering, fun experiences in your teambuidling workshops will add value and achieve deep impact. Focus on stimulating a sense of bonding, shared goals, and a desire for group action.

The investment in team building activities goes beyond achieving good team morale. If the exercises are carefully designed, it will enhance the productivity of individuals, teams and the entire organization. They serve to identify talents that might not have been apparent and also to pinpoint areas that are in need of developmental work.

The gap filling spin off benefit of team building exercises present opportunities for improvement. Weak links in the team chain are identified and strengthened in a non-threatening manner.

Developing high performance teams is just simply good business practice. Team building interventions help to give participants a deeper appreciation of espoused best practices in a variety of areas.

Respect for leaders and leaders respect for those who follow is one major spin-off benefit. Team members experience greater comfort and feel more secure when they understand and accept their role in the team. They are then better able to contribute meaningfully to the performance of the team and the organization.

In the final analysis, team building is effective because it brings to the forefront the value of each member of the team, regardless of their role. Well designed team building sessions invariably help some team members to feel more assured in the company of their colleagues.

It is also good for business because it produces a heightened sense of awareness within the team. Team dynamics are brought out in the open and ways to use them to good effect can be devised.

Regular, high impact team building sessions have been shown to reduce the productivity sapping impact of conflict and friction that are a feature of ineffective teams. As team members get to understand and appreciate each other better, office politics, back stabbing and dirty tricks all seem less appealing and highly unnecessary.

The fact is that high performance teams are the foundation of strong businesses and organizations. Best practice with respect to organization development dictates that team building be given priority attention.

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