Team building events often fall to the bottom of the budget list, and this is especially true recently what with wallets being squeezed as much as they are. But, without amazing teamwork and happy employees, many businesses would crumble…fast.
We wanted to take a moment to explain the value of team-building events; how they can inspire, unite and boost morale for the good of your business. Read on to find out why they should remain a priority.
A Whole New World
Apologies for putting the Disney classic in your head, but team-building events really do provide a whole new world for your employees. Taken out of their usual workspace or home office, away from their inboxes and phones, your employees can experience something new and enliven.
Firstly, the physical change of scene can be a relief from day-to-day monotony. Getting out into nature or even just to a new conference room can re-set energy levels and free your teams’ minds to wander.
Secondly, they get to see each other in a new light. In their usual routines, it’s easy for employees to stick to their desks, focussed on their own busy schedules and demanding time constraints, heads down and focused on only those they work with directly. On an ‘away day’ they get to see a new side of their colleagues; including those they work with all the time and those they barely come into contact with during their normal working day.
Departments can mix, teams from different sites or floors who only ever speak on the phone can meet face to face- even colleagues that work in close physical proximity might find they’ve barely spoken with each other recently despite being just a bank of desks away. Employees from all levels can meet on an even playing field, as humans!
Hidden Abilities
All this change brings about the opportunity for true colours to shine through and for relationship re-sets to happen; all for the good of the business. In the course of carefully selected team-building activities, quiet types can display surprising bravery and confident team members could become shy- you might find that the last person you expect comes out on top during competitive games or that collaboration comes easy to those you would have expected to pull apart.
These hidden strengths and limitations should be noted. They provide a rounder picture of the people you employ and work with and could offer valuable clues as to why they behave the way they do in certain settings, and therefore what you can do to better support them.
Getting Personal
Team events gift your employees with the opportunity to flesh out their ideas of each other. We can only get to know each other so much within the work environment; conversations are short, people are busy and intentional or unintentional hierarchical barriers can stop people from getting to know each other beyond where they’re from and what they’ve studied.
To get to know your colleagues beyond the facts you can find on their CVs, you need to make space and time for connection. Encouraging your team to get to know each other on a more personal level leads to a better understanding of personalities, quirks and traits which can only lead to improved teamwork back at the office.
Which Team-Building Activities Achieve the Best Results?
Exercises and activities that focus on a common purpose, communication, connection, collaboration and celebration of the team are likely to produce the best results:
- Common Purpose: Identifying team goals and objectives and what collective team strengths contribute to success.
- Connection: What actions keep teams connected, who keeps teams connected, and how to build and nurture team relationships.
- Communication: The effectiveness, accuracy, speed and strategy of communication.
- Collaboration: How your team builds and nurtures relationships, works together, makes decisions and appreciates everyone’s talents and strengths.
- Celebration: Focus on your team’s recent successes and how you celebrated those successes. Think about what motivates your team and how you publicise their success.
The Effects of Great Team Events
“Team building has many benefits for businesses. It improves productivity, increases employee motivation, encourages collaboration and builds trust and respect among employees.”
Investing time and money into enjoyable, rewarding and challenging time away from desks makes your employees feel valued. Happy, valued people work harder and smarter- that’s just a fact.
Employees that better understand each other and themselves are more prepared for effective collaboration- even more so if CliftonStrengths (previously known as Gallup StrengthsFinder) techniques are used as part of your team-building activities. CliftonStrengths provides a common language for the team to use when discussing personal traits, skills and limitations which removes a huge barrier to successful negotiation and decision-making.
“When predicting both engagement and performance, a team’s awareness of their strengths is more important than the specific composition of those strengths. In other words — just knowing your strengths, as well as the strengths of your partners, leads to higher engagement and performance.”
– Gallup
CliftonStrengths also supply the following statistics based on their extensive research:
Employees who receive strengths-based development have:
- 7% – 23% higher employee engagement
- 8% – 18% increased performance
- 20% – 73% lower attrition
Higher levels of engagement affect business outcomes such as:
- 41% lower absenteeism
- 24% lower turnover
- 17% higher productivity
- 21% higher profitability
MadeYou is always happy to help if you need guidance around improving your team’s growth and productivity. Fill in the form below to get started!
