Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Successful Team Building

By Bart Icles

These days, it is not unusual for organizations to have work teams and to have these work teams go on team building activities. One can find lots of resources on different team building methods and techniques but there are still those who end up failing in their objectives. It is most sensible for organizations to develop or take on a structure approach for a team building activity to be successful.

There are some key points that managers should remember in developing team building programs. The development of such a program should involve a lot of thorough and structure planning. Plans need to be drawn up, reviewed, and approved before they can be implemented. It is also important that all the people who will be involved in the team building activity must have copies of the plans to ensure that all of them understand the different objectives and how to get there. The progress of the activity must then be monitored against what is included in the plan. Having a well-defined and well-understand plan guarantees that lessons can be learned along the way.

It is also important that participants understand that team building is more than just fun. There is a significant difference between team building and team bonding. Taking a team for a day off from the office and letting them engage in a group activity like paint ball is what we refer to as team bonding - which is not team building. One can claim that this kind of activity can help participants develop as a team. In true team building activities, you will realize that while the group gets closer together, it tends to become less effective.

If you are planning to build team and not to merely bond individuals closer together, then you will definitely need to follow a structured process. You will need to review where you are now, what improvements you would want to achieve, and what developments can the team realistically accomplish. You will then need to decide how long you it will take before you can realize such results.

If you simply desire to get the team closer together, then a team bonding activity remains as the best solution. However, if you have higher expectations than merely a group of individuals who interact closely together, then you definitely need a more structured team building activity. Remember, there is more to making a team than merely just having fun.

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