Team Building: Avengers Assemble
The term “Team Building” has become a trendy expression in recent years and has numerous implications. Some might not enjoy various office activities and may want to quickly wrap up their day so that they don’t have to be a part of the same that are termed as team building activities by the HR officials. You may feel that you need not bother with it. However, for corporate advancement, such exercises are important. It’s not just for the immediate experience of the activities performed by the team, but also for the group skills, communication, and bonding that results as a by-product.
Team building is any activity or technique that brings colleagues together and helps them to work efficiently as a team. When you hear it, you may at first consider exercises that are held within the working environment during celebrations. Be that as it may, there are numerous choices that accomplish similar objectives. Employees are the assets of every organization and success is directly proportional to the hard work every employee puts in.
One doesn’t pick up anything out of clashes. You can’t bear to battle with your colleague who sits alongside you most likely for 9–10 hours, five days a week. We are not machines or battery-worked gadgets, we are individuals and we need individuals to converse with and examine different things. Individuals who can function as pundits and assess the advantages and disadvantages of our ideas. This is where Team Building activities help.
Bringing employees closer in order to make work more fun.
Importance of Team Building
One of the most impressive explanations behind team building is to get results. Through a progression of arranged, carefully crafted occasions that are fun and persuasive, teams assemble skills like communication, planning, problem-solving and conflict resolution. These activities help encourage the long-term feeling of togetherness and oneness through cultivating associations and more profound conversations.
Let’s check some major advantages of team building.
1. To develop Trust
You may be astonished by the absence of trust among employees in the working environment. In spite of the fact that this doesn’t occur deliberately, trust should be earned. On the off chance that employees don’t realize they can believe their companions; it may make them monitored. By having team building activities at your workplace, you will allow yourself to construct trust with your colleagues. At the point when employees feel all the more trusting, they’re bound to ricochet thoughts off one another, and this might build profitability.
2. Breaks the barrier
Team building develops trust with your employees or with top management. Often in corporate settings, there is a lack of connection between the leadership and employees because of the latter sense a very huge gap between the two. Team building activities give the leadership a great opportunity to be looked up as a colleague rather than Mr. Boss, which can prove to be a great boost for employee morale.
3. Problem-solving becomes more efficient
A situation of crisis can happen at any time in public relations. Team building activities allow peers to work as a team and solve problems which can lead to improvement of their ability to think strategically and rationally. Teams that are able to foresee and analyze future risks and problems and have clarity on their plan of action for the same, can then effectively get in action when a real crisis occurs.
4. Motivates Employees and Promotes Ideas
Team building and Team leadership go hand in hand. The more comfortable employees are to express their ideas and opinions, the more confident they will become. This will motivate them to take on new challenges. Taking a team outside of an office setting and exposing them to new experiences will force them to think outside of their normal routine. Working together with other team members can ignite creativity and fresh ideas, which are great qualities to bring back to the office.
Now the question remains what team building activities can be done.
Well, that’s for you to decide. There can be many ways. From brainstorming and fun games in the office to have an open bar party at a club, from having lunch together to outdoor trips, your participation remains the major factor that will enhance team building. Also, the responsibility lies in the bosses and HR officials as well to give the right incentives or prizes to the employees which will enhance employee participation in such activities.
Employer Perception vs Employee Perception
It is quite interesting to notice that employers and employees have a very contrasting perception when it comes to team-building exercises. Major differences of opinions have been noticed on the type of exercises or activities that should be organized.
Employers prefer having activities that are inclusive and can deliver not just an immediate output but also a long term advantage. The majority of the employers expect that these activities should be done inside the office premises so as to increase the familiarity of the employee with the place. The major focus remains to increase interaction between the employees who are less interactive with each other so as to establish better communication between the team. In most cases bosses expect these activities to be fun and at the same time should encourage brainstorming. In this process, the employers should keep in mind that these exercises should not be extremely competitive and must offer some incentive for the employees to participate.
On the other hand, employees have a different opinion with regard to the same. Some just want to wrap up their work and leave so that they don’t have to participate in such activities. Those who want to be a part of it expect a better incentive for the same. It has been observed that employees prefer trips, bar parties over the office games for team building. Somewhere they can have a good time with their colleagues over delicious food and drinks. This idea of team building might be correct up to some extent since people open up more to each other when they are not at their workplace, without having to follow office protocols. However, the only flaw in these types of outings is that employees might only interact with those colleagues whom they consider their friends which again sidelines the reason for which these activities or exercises are done.
Hence it’s important for both employee and employer to come to a common consensus and try to plan these activities and exercises in such a manner that expectations of both the parties get fulfilled. All this will ultimately lead to better communication which would enhance teamwork in any organization.
References
1. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/importance-of-team-building.htm
2. http://www.innovativeteambuilding.co.uk/benefits-of-teambuilding/
3. https://redshoespr.com/5-reasons-why-team-building-is-important/
