THE IMPORTANCE OF TEAM BUILDING

Team building exercises can benefit you and your business in many ways. You may know already where they could help. You may have a particular problem that needs addressing, or you may want to inject some fun into the work environment, but when you consider all the ways a team building activity could help your business, you would be foolhardy to not include them in your yearly plans. Employees getting to know each other

Unless you work for a very small business then the likelihood is that not all of your employees know each other. That doesn’t mean that they never have to interact with each other to make your business run. We have all seen it at the Christmas party, accounts stick with accounts, marketing stick with marketing, IT to IT, and so on and so forth. Some people do mingle with other departments they have regular contact with, or had a training session with and therefore kept in contact with, at the very least in the form of a hello on the stairs. But when it comes to a crisis, or a piece of work without a real home, how often have you also seen the attitude, “that’s not for us”, “they said”, “it wasn’t our fault”. It often seems very them and us. Team building can help! If this is a problem in your company then you need to be very stringent about creating the groups people work in. Make sure you keep in mind any bridges that need some maintenance. Improving communication

Ok, this one coincides with point one, but to make it clear, most team building activities are just that, a way to build on your team. It will require the team to complete the activity, usually with the key being around communication. If there are problem areas in your business with bad communication then these are the employees that need to be mixed together. They will hopefully realise through the exercises that communicating in the correct way, and working together made the task a whole lot easier than standing there with their arms folded refusing to participate. Enjoyment in the work place

You will most likely have a mixed bag of reactions to the announcement of a team building event. But most should see the activity as something different and interesting outside of the usual working day. The importance here is that you make it just that, and that you make it enjoyable too. If you choose the right team building event then you will succeed in all the points listed here, but the one your staff will notice the most is how much they enjoyed the activity. Choose an activity that creates an energy and buzz within your team members, and that energy and buzz will be taken back to the office with them. Motivation

Going to the office day in, day out Monday to Friday keeps us all in a routine, but sometimes that routine needs to be broken to get your team pepped up and motivated once more. It will remind them what a great company it is to work for and also make them look at how they can relate the activity back to their day to day office role. Many employers make the mistake of investing in a team building activity just once when they think the team needs a focus or a boost. But why not consider giving them a boost every year? It will be a boost for your business at the same time, as happy staff will be far more productive in the work place. Identifying strengths and weaknesses

This point has two aspects. If you are able to observe the activity, you will be able to identify where strengths and weaknesses lie within your team members. You may be allocating a job to the wrong person on the team, you may see strengths going unutilised as their current role hasn’t adapted over the years, you may identify natural leaders and you will certainly get to know your team members a little bit better. Also, team members may learn something about themselves, they may identify their own strengths and weaknesses, and aim to grow from the experience, which once again, can only better their overall production and dedication to the company. Confidence

This maybe the most important point for your individual team members. Placed in the right team building environment people can gain confidence. Fun team building exercises will seem so far removed from the office that team members who may not usually feel they are heard can find their voice. You may have noticed that a lot of meetings are dominated by the same personalities, but that doesn’t mean that the quieter team members haven’t got good ideas, they just may not be confident enough to voice them. Activities like this may help them to gain confidence that they can take back to the office, especially if you help to boost that confidence through acknowledgement of what you have seen and been impressed by. If you need to create teams to participate together then try to separate the dominant personalities from the team members you wish to hear more from and learn more about. You may have a diamond buried in your team that just needs a little help being excavated. Teamwork

It seems silly not to mention the obvious one, even if this is an amalgamation of all the points above, but team building exercises promote teamwork! Getting people together on a project outside of the office that is engaging and fun will unwittingly get participants on the same page, and isn’t that what business is about? All staff should be singing from the same hymn sheet, working towards one goal and using each other for support in the process. This point works hand in hand with point one, building bridges and bringing the focus back to the fact that they all have one common goal. Remember if you have problem areas be savvy with your team choices. Identify who would benefit from this lesson the most and ensure they are the ones working together.

SI5 SpyMissions offer corporate team building events provide all the things you need. Our spy missions are both mentally and physically challenging and rely on teamwork to complete the mission. Most importantly participants will have fun, and leave with an energy you definitely want in the office.

We have centres in: Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Northampton & Nottingham, with more opening soon!

Visit www.spymissions.co.uk for more information.

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