Effective Team Building

How to build effective team?

Team building is crucial in improving the collective performance of a group or organization and it is a powerful tools for a leader to use to increase the chances of success for himself or his group.

Although team building is often talked about and believed to be practiced, it can often be ineffective for several reasons: there is a lack of commitment in the group to a shared common goal; the team building activities practiced are too generic to add any lasting value and there is a lack of proper assessment of the team.

The Foundation of Team Building:

The most important factor to successful team building is a commitment to shared common objective or goal with their team. This is the foundation that all good team building is built upon without it; a lot of energy can be expended with very little result.

Remember that, most people are committed to their own objectives over and above everything else therefore, it is important that they see the collective group objective as important as their own, otherwise they will not invest time and energy in team building activities.

Group vs. Team?

Many people make the mistake of assuming that a group of people automatically forms a team. In fact, a group is simply a set of people who happen to share a workplace or be a part of the same organization unit. The people within the group will all have individual objectives which may converge and is the same as the group objective, but may also be distinctly different and even competitive.

By contrast, a team is a group made up of individuals who have committed to working towards a single, common objective. Naturally, they will still have their different, individual objectives but these will contribute towards a higher collective one.

For example: In a marketing team, one person may responsible for direct mail campaign, another person responsible for client liaison and another for sponsorship-but they are all united in the overall objective of improving brand awareness and image and therefore, not judged solely on their individual objectives.

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Team Building Strategic

There are various kinds of team building strategies which can be employed to enhance relationships between members of a group, as well as improving the collective performance of the group. These can be divided into:

- Individual strategies: this involves the development of individual skills and gaining familiarity with the shared process.

- Relationship strategies: this involves creating a sense of common purpose and commitment and improving the unconscious dynamics within the group

- Between Group Strategies: this involves tackling the barriers between different groups and organizational units

- Cultural strategies: this focuses on creating a teamwork ethos within the organization.

Shared Commitment:

Regardless of the strategy chosen, it must be focused ultimately in establishing a shared commitment to common goals. Without this foundation for good team work, any kind of team building strategy will only have limited impact and influence. So before rushing a group into any kind of team building activity or looking at relationships within a team, it is important to first establish this foundation of shared commitment.

Shared commitment can be encouraged by clarifying the team goals and identifying any issues which may inhibit the team from reaching these goals. Building ownership of these goals across the team is also vital, as well as putting team processes in place which have the correct sequence to help the team make progress along the “ladder of achievements”

Teambuilding: 

Can help eliminate these negative actions by fostering respect among employees. Teams should be created that give team member s the responsibility and power to solve problem, plan, and make decisions.

Solving problem makes member feel like they are needed, while planning help member learn techniques to employment various solution. The power to make decisions help employee realize their importance to the company.

This feeling is importance increases morale. It also improves attendance rate because this feeling of importance make the employee feel like the company really needs their presence. In order for teambuilding to work properly, the teams must be lead by someone with a facilitating nature.

Facilitating leaders help team members feel empowered, think things through thoroughly, and utilize their individual talents. Team members with these skills will work well together and feel as though they are part of an important whole. People working together in a team also needed. Feeling needed promotes a sense of responsibility, and people who feel needed tend to have better attendance rates.

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