Showing posts with label Team building. Show all posts

Saturday, 6 September 2014

The Two Truths Of Team Building

by: John Davis

There are a few “truths” every manager, supervisor or team leader should realize before beginning any team building initiative. Ignore these principles and you’ll be building your castle on sand. Recognize them at every step throughout the team’s work and you’ll have a group that will function smoothly and effectively.

“So what are these truths?” you may ask. Well, their simplicity may astound you, but their effect is significant. I’ve listed the Two Truths of Team Building in the order of their importance below, and I’ve also suggested ways for you to implement them for the benefit of your organization.

Truth #1 – Know Your Team on an Individual Basis

If I had to choose one of these truths to build on initially then this would be the one. People are far too anonymous these days. Even within families and in the workplace where we see each other every day, we don’t tend to connect on a real level with very many people. In fact, if you ask anyone they’ll probably tell you that their friends of their childhood years are far more memorable and meaningful to them than their present associates.

Now I’m not suggesting that you befriend everyone in your workplace in a deep, personal way. But a few extra moments of “lingering” after the necessary work-related communications have happened can open up a whole world of opportunities to learn about those within your workplace in a natural, non-threatening way.

Truth #2 – Let Your Team Get to Know You

Most managers, supervisors and team leaders have an unreasonable sense of how they should hold themselves within the workplace. In our efforts to serve as a role model and a standard bearer we tend create a distance from the very same people who need to feel like they can come to us with their ideas and concerns. But who feels at ease in the shadow of Superman or Wonder Woman ? Not very many people, that’s for sure. Team building efforts will never come together as effectively as possible if the leader is seen as unapproachable or “too perfect”.

So how should we combat this? I wouldn’t suggest for a minute that you do things that would lower your status in their eyes. But you can give them insights into who you are by being more of who you are at work. We all have lives outside of the office. Why not bring more of that to work? Do you have a favorite sports team? What kind of music do you like to listen to? Where have you been with your family recently?

Bring those things into your work environment so that your team can see who you are without having to come right out and ask you. Remember, it’s hard to get close enough to an icon to find out who he or she is. You’ve got to make those features about yourself accessible so that they can pick up on them without being too forward in finding out for themselves.

When you practice these two truths on a consistent basis along the road of team building you will find your team coming together more easily and more effectively. The power of getting to know one another within a work group can be the lubricant that eases the team through challenges that would stop a less cohesive group dead in their tracks. Which one do you want to be?

Source

Employee Morale Booster: Fun Team-Building Ideas

10 Benefits of Booking Next Year’s Team Building Now

Tips for Preparing for a Corporate Team Building Event

When you are looking for team building facilitators in the Philippines…

The Neuroscience of Effective Collaboration: What the Best Leaders Know about Team Building

Building Strong Teams in the Workplace

Team Building in Gratchi’s

High 5 Team Building Offers Online Store with Team Building Products

Team-building events – Chicago

Team Building Events Can Be So Much Fun!

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Thursday, 14 August 2014

The Benefits of a Team

The Benefits of Working As a Team

By Marc Mays

Pittsford Mendon Girls Basketball team building. Create-Learning Team Building and Leadership (15) (Photo credit: michaelcardus)

Working with other employees makes a business much easier than it would be otherwise. If you spend more of your time fighting with your team or working at cross-purposes, then you would probably be better off alone.

Here are some of the benefits which you will experience when you work with your co-workers as a team:

Better synergy

While some ideas are fairly good in their initial form, working with co-workers enables your ideas to be even better. This makes it more likely that your company will succeed, resulting in accolades for all involved (see below). This synergy can even result in learning opportunities which would not be possible if each team member were looking out for their own limited interests. In this way, all team members can benefit, even if later on they each go their separate ways to pursue better opportunities. Better synergy can be a great lesson which team members use long after they finish working for a particular organization.

Fewer occasions of political infighting

When you work well with co-workers, you spend less time fighting with them over limited interests which do not help your company. This means that your future as an organization has better prospects than when you are competing over individual self-interests. By itself, this can determine whether or not your company survives, or prospers. A positive result for your company makes everyone look good. Failure of the company results in a black mark for everyone associated with it.

English: Summer School students create their own team-building exercise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Less stress

When everyone is focused on a common task, it makes for a much lower stress environment than when everyone is competing against each other. Lower stress has other benefits as well, such as lowered risks to health, improved life outside of work, and improved productivity from additional discretionary output by team members. Given all of these benefits, it is surprising when team members still insist that they are better off working alone than together.

In short, when you work with your co-workers, it is more likely that you will experience better synergy, less political drama, and lower stress overall. This not only makes the work environment a pleasant place to be, but it also results in better business results, especially when the future of the business depends on how well employees work together. This helps the entire team when the results are successful, and hurts everyone if they are associated with a failing effort.