Having a great team is important to the success of any business
If a business is to be successful, it has to have teams that are collaborating and cooperating well together. It may seem like everything is fine on the surface, but there could be simmering tensions and personality clashes that you are not even aware of. These can boil over and turn into a serious problem if left unattended. Equally, a team that doesn’t really care about each other may not be motivated to contribute the success of the organization. So, what can you do to deal with these issues and develop a better working environment?
One perfect way to increase team collaboration and develop rapport and trust between members of staff is to take them on a team building day. There’s a huge range of options available aimed at boosting workplace relationships which can make it easier for companies to achieve their goals and targets.
Some business leaders are suspicious of team building, seeing it as a waste of time that could be spent being productive. However, team building events lead to more engaged employees, and this can actually make them far more productive the rest of the time. In fact, a recent study showed that businesses with highly engaged employees achieve twice the annual net income of organizations with less engaged staff.
There are many group activities that can make an ideal team building exercise, ranging from sessions of a couple of hours to events that stretch across weekends. This range of options makes it easy to choose something to suit your business and team. They can also be used to work on specific issues across the team. So here are some things that a team building exercise can help you with, as well as an example of something that might be suited to you.
- Team building to improve trust and communication
Teams that do not communicate well cannot be working at their full potential. Good communication is such a key to strong business performance, so it can really worth choosing a team building activity that allows staff to develop communication skills. There are many different fun-based team building days that can be a brilliant way for employees to get to know each other better in a non-work environment – this will actually carry over to their professional life.
A great choice: paintballing
- Team building to develop collaboration and productivity
One huge benefit of team building is that it encourages your team to work together. Choosing a task that requires communication and teamwork can really help to bring people together. Of course, one of the great advantages here is that interpersonal relationships can be strengthened. This not only gives a boost to overall morale, but can mean that your staff start to work for each other – everyone wants to see the team succeed because they like the other employees. As such, this can be an enormous boon for productivity.
A great choice: Crystal Maze
- Team building to boost creativity and problem solving
Every business needs to have creative and innovative staff – it can make a huge difference to productivity, efficiency and, ultimately, profit. So, it is good to know that there are a huge number of team building activities that can help with this. Place your team members in an environment where they have to be creative and see how the dynamic changes. When staff feel empowered to be creative outside of the office, it can give them the confidence to do it at work too.
It is even better when these creative tasks also involve an element of team problem solving, so that staff can come with a creative solution.
A great choice: cooking classes
- Team building to improve motivation
One of the best ways to use a team building session is as a reward. When you send your staff on a day out that is fun, it shows them that you care about them and that you recognize and acknowledge their hard work. This can be a brilliant way to boost their motivation – and motivated employees are more willing to work hard for your business.
A great choice: obstacle course
Written by: Mike James, BOSS Contributor
