Author: John Ingram

What is the goal of a teambuilding exercise? As managers and team leaders look at value for money teambuilding activities to engage their teams, it is important to understand the real value that a well-executed teambuilding can provide organisations.

Yes, teambuilding can become exciting without being meaningless. Team management and team development do not have to convey traditional boring training techniques either.

However, too many executives have superfluous beliefs that it is difficult or rather impossible to marry the fun games with the more serious team training value. For many, teambuilding is equivalent with (forceful) participating in foolish games with team members they do not interact on an ongoing basis – or rather avoid.

Let us paint the real picture of a teambuilding exercise and address this misconception once and for all. Teambuilding is neither foolish or pointless, but the gateway to an effective team building training that leads to a more unified and contented workforce.

The goal is to strengthen the team for the benefit of the entire organisation. Since businesses are made of people working towards a common goal, it makes sense to invest in team development, and do it in the most efficient way possible.

Effective team building training creates an atmosphere of trust which boosts morale, effectively creating a more enjoyable working environment. Yes, work environments do matter.

Team building improves productivity, processes and procedures, and enhances problem-solving techniques. Furthermore, teambuilding exercises can promote stronger communications and team cohesion, and successfully address often strained employee relationships.

However, misconceptions persist, especially when employees participate in engaging activities that are unfortunately not aligned with the purpose of performance improvement and can cause more damage than good.

Team leaders should be aware of the default culture of the organisation, their choice of teambuilding activity, and how this particular choice can make a positive impact in improving the team communication, morale, creativity, or whatever the case may be.

Just because popular team building activities such as paintball or racing are extremely fun and competitive does not mean they are the ideal choice for your team. In some situations, teambuilding activities can exacerbate team conflict, perpetuate tension and disguise serious problem under the fun of the situation (e.g. the target shooting in paintball).

Another important aspect of team building is the ability to recognise the specific needs or weaknesses of individual team members, and how it affects the entire team. Team development and training are instrumental in identifying these dysfunctional patterns and address them before the fun and games start, by focusing on emotional intelligence an individual skill development.

Next time when your team engages in a teambuilding activity, take a harder and closer look at the approach to team building and ask yourself if it adds or detracts from the value it brings the organisation.

Teambuilding is highly effective when activity engagement and value-based training go hand in hand to enhance the performance of your workforce and your organisation’s bottom line.

Get your team ready and make the right choice for your teambuilding exercise – or let us assist you in making this important decision!

A well-facilitated and engaging team building event will add great value and return on investment (ROI).

The team building experience, formal or informal, is not recreational and includes process facilitation, debriefing, and reflective questioning.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Take your team beyond with Beyond Teambuilding’s exciting events, activities and challenges that push boundaries and guarantee loads of fun.