Teambuilding for Fun and Profit (and a Better-Performing Work Environment)

It’s been established that when your employees have a sense of cohesiveness, more work gets performed with greater efficiency. In fact, it’s been found that in addition to increasing efficiency and productivity, a workforce that operates as a team enjoys more effective communication, higher morale, stronger interpersonal trust, increased motivation and greater confidence. In addition to "making the dream work," teamwork connects remote employees, improves collaboration skills and nurtures a positive work environment. Anything you can do to foster the bonds among your employees, then, is a great boon to your organization’s productivity. It’s teambuilding for the win!

The term "team building" is a broad umbrella that covers activities that foster several general categories of outcomes beneficial to employees (and ultimately, employers):

Communication - clear and effective communication supports understanding and prevents conflict. Team-building activities that enhance communication focus on improving verbal - and non-verbal - communication, active listening skills and clear messaging.

In order to facilitate the building of team communication skills, ensure that every participant feels comfortable sharing by incorporating activities to help employees relax and feel safe and comfortable. Model good communication skills by actively listening and offering encouraging feedback.

Group discussions/debates are an example of a communication-building activity as it affords participants an opportunity to concisely articulate and present their thoughts and to practice paying careful attention to what others are saying. Puzzle- and challenge-solving activities are likewise ways to get employees sharing information to accomplish a shared goal.

Trust - A foundational element of teamwork, trust makes coworkers more willing to support one another, take risks and collaborate. It raises morale and strengthens their relationships to improve overall performance.

Make certain everyone has the opportunity to participate in trust-building exercises - being left out does not encourage trust in your coworkers! Provide opportunities for participants to safely and honestly communicate their feelings during - and after - the activities.

While the "trust fall" is the quintessential activity in this category, there are others that likewise foster a sense of trust among participants. These include cooperative games or challenges in which participants must rely on others’ guidance and decision making to accomplish a goal. Other activities build trust by sharing unique experiences with one’s coworkers.

Problem-solving - A team adept at problem-solving performs better when overcoming challenges because they employ stark analysis, creative solution-finding and collective consideration of situations.

To ensure your team gets the most out of their problem-solving activities, be certain to make it known that brainstorming of the most imaginative kind is encouraged so that a diverse array of ideas and solutions is at the team’s disposal.

Activities that fall into the problem-solving department include those that encourage team members to collaborate to find clues and hidden objects or build something with limited materials, necessitating that they put their heads together and work to achieve a common goal.

Decision-making - Honed through experience working together, the capacity to act decisively is key to a well-oiled, tight team who can make and deploy their goals, adapt when necessary (or well-advised) so they can remain effective and competitive in their field.

Placing parameters upon participants’ abilities, roles and responsibilities in a decision-making activity will make the exercise more realistic and effective. Encourage the team to put into place an agreed-upon process so the decision can be unanimous.

Since much of decision-making falls into the strategic realm, games of strategy, role-playing exercises or real-life simulations are helpful for providing participants an opportunity to practice and hone their skills.

So, what team-building activities should you be doing with your employees? It depends upon your business’ unique needs as well as your individual employees. Avoid doing team-building exercises just because - do them with a particular purpose in mind. Once you decide upon an area where your employees could use some reinforcement, choose activities that will appeal to your workers (you might want to get some feedback from them to avoid any resistance). Explain the activities and their purpose thoroughly so instead of feeling inconvenienced, your employees will look forward to teambuilding with their coworkers.

Once the exercise has happened, gather feedback from participants so you can continuously improve their experience and make it more impactful. Ask them specifically what they gleaned from the exercise so you can ensure it is resonating and making the difference you are hoping for.

Most teams could benefit from some skill-building in at least one of the key areas of communication, trust, problem-solving or decision-making. A more productive, cohesive team is on the other side of a well-chosen and executed team-building exercise!

Which team-building exercises would your employees most benefit from?