Team Building - a waste of time?

Team Building - a waste of time?

Ask 10 people what team building is and you'll get 10 different answers depending on their past experiences or preconceived ideas.  Some people will immediately think of taking the team to the pub, others will think of formalised training based on a theorised model such as Belbin's Team Roles, and others will think of an Amazing Race style activity, running around the city.

One thing is for sure, team building has changed over the years and it's interesting to note the current trend towards activities such as cooking, art and music.  But is this really team building or just a waste of time?

The reason for doing team activities is to give team member common ground which leads to natural team building as a result of this shared experience.  Some people call this team bonding and suggest that this only need to be done when a new team is formed.  But not so, team building activities should be an integral part of all workplaces and form part of an ongoing commitment to build a better team, which, not surprisingly, will also result in increased staff retention.

As Tuckman suggests in his well known 'stages of team development' (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing) that team bonding is all important.  It's all about people getting to know each other better and developing an understanding of each other.   They start to view each other as whole human beings not just co workers.

As a team develops and becomes more comfortable with each other, they will start to open up and confront each other's ideas and perceptions.  Teams that have bonded well, will resolve their differences and communicate better and more comfortably.

But don't think that team development is a straight forward linear process, even a performing team will circle back through the forming and storming stages when there are changes within the team or the external environment.  At every stage of team development, team building activities can be used as a valuable way of incorporating experiential learning.

Whatever you think of as team building, one thing is certain - teams that play together stay together.   The basis of team building is simple - getting to know, understand and trust the people that you work with, leads to better communication, a supportive environment, and a more effective team.

A well balanced approach to team building is essential.  Incorporating fun, with theory based development.  Team building is not something you can do in one hit or with one type of activity, but must be an ongoing and diverse series of events.

Team building, a waste of time?  Certainly not.  Embrace it and get all you can from it.

Article by : Adrian Risely - ifind Team Building.