Why team-building exercises won’t make your staff more productive
Common sense tells us that happy, collaborative teams are productive teams.
Research backs it up, too.
But when leaders or managers utter the words “team-building,” most people want to run for the nearest exit. Visions of cheesy bonding exercises and trust-building games can induce a collective bout of nausea.
Twelve years after launching JotForm, I’ve learned to take a different approach.
Instead of worrying about how to optimize our teams, I want to nurture them.
What do they need in order to thrive?
How can we help them to grow?
In essence, I think of our multi-functional teams as living, breathing beings.
Yes, they are a collection of diverse and talented individuals. But at their best, they also operate like a single body. And just like plants, animals and people, teams have several basic needs.
Some team-building exercises can be useful but they won’t make your team more productive unless you nurture these five basics:
1. Nourishment
Developers often joke about running on pizza and coffee, but creative teams ultimately…
