Teambuilding – a Newbie’s Perspective

Why is teambuilding important?

 

As I enter the world of team building, bonding and development, a little research soon raises questions as to what teambuilding means and why there is such a demand for it. Various articles quote surveys and reports that claim team building is a waste of time, and even embarrassing for those undertaking the activities. This doesn’t prove that teambuilding is a waste of time, only that those clients did not gain everything they had hoped from it. Every team and every individual is different. Teambuilding cannot be generic, not every team will benefit from the same activity and the planning process should be thought through to ensure maximum benefit from the activity. 

 

It’s a well proven fact that staff that are looked after perform better in the workplace. A happy working environment provides a base for staff to work at their best and achieve the highest results. Teambuilding is an important aspect of creating and developing a successful team. Skills learnt by taking part in activities can be transferred to many different aspects of working life and they often encourage people to think outside the box and solve problems using a variety of different methods.

 

Teambuilding is a leveller because nobody knows what they may be doing. All hierarchies are thrust together to work towards one common goal regardless of their experience, backgrounds and personalities. This may create opportunities for staff who are not normally leaders or decision makers to explore their own abilities in these areas. Skills can be learnt that can be transferred straight into the workplace. Those that do not feel valued in the workplace will not produce their best work because they feel that what they do has no importance. This is why teambuilding is so vital. It gives teams a chance to work together and appreciate everybody’s role within a group. Taken out of comfort zones, people are given the chance to use skills they wouldn’t usually and this can be quite enlightening.

 

Any number of people can form a team, and we often overlook exactly how many people it takes to produce a product or provide a service. Directors, salespeople, accountants, cleaners and many more all work together towards one aim, thus creating a team. When teams work well together they create a happy and successful working environment in which to do business. It is clear that even in uncertain economic times, companies that provide the best working environments allocate a reasonable amount of their budget to teambuilding both to reward and train their staff.

 

So, put very basically, teambuilding activities are not only beneficial to companies but are an essential aspect of working life and working within a team. They won’t be successful unless there are clear objectives so that the activities can be planned specifically for each unique group. Not only can groups learn and enjoy the activities, but they can take the experiences back to their place of work to create better and more profitable environments.