Team building is part of a psychological discipline called organisational psychology. It inspires groups of workers to communicate through a series of planned events that are fun & motivational.
These events can be used to determine strong points in an individual’s personality, such as leadership skills. This can benefit the individual by giving them greater job satisfaction & the opportunity to progress to their full potential as their strengths are highlighted. This is a circle of reward, with positive feedback following positive action; a far more efficient way to have efficient workers.
Job satisfaction is an important part of a person’s employment. Feeling worthwhile, worthy, part of a team & having a sense of achievement within the working environment are essential elements to happiness. These feelings can motivate a workforce & ensure they are at their most productive, & in turn, this attitude will motivate their colleagues. Working on the premise that happy staff are productive staff, companies often find that team-building events positively affect the productivity of individuals, teams & the company as a whole.
Team building also benefits the team as a whole. When people who rarely work together are forced to communicate, they can discover that they enjoy the interaction & continue to network & bond with different people back at the office. Those who previously may not have been getting along will have to forget their differences in order to overcome an obstacle & their dislike is be diminished as the work together for a common goal.
Most offices contain allegiances between certain groups of workmates & divisions are often clear between these groups. Team building helps break down these barriers by creating a forced interaction between the established groups & creates opportunities for networks & friendships to develop.
10 Reasons for Team Building
1. Improving communication
2. Making the workplace more enjoyable
3. Motivating a team
4. Getting to know each other
5. Getting everyone “onto the same page”, including goal setting
6. Teaching the team self-regulation strategies
7. Helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths & weaknesses)
8. Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members
9. Improving team productivity
10. Practicing effective collaboration with team members
Team Building encourages the improvement of Interpersonal Skills such as: communication, negotiation, leadership, & motivation.
Types of Team Building Exercises
Communication Exercises:
Involve problem-solving activities that are geared towards improving communication skills. The issues that teams encounter
Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercises:
Focus on groups working together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions.
Planning/Adaptability Exercises:
Focus on aspects of planning & adaptability to change. This is important for teams to be able to do when they are assigned complex tasks or decisions.
Trust Exercises:
Involve engaging team members to induce trust & can vary in degrees of trust, depending on the comfort levels of participants.
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