You may be able to find the most effective team building exercises but still fail to get your team to work together. In this chapter, we look at the tips that can help make the team building successful.
You can’t just decide to go for team building without considering a number of factors .This isn’t something that you embark on blindly.
Team building exercises will not work if at all the team has not set the goals and objectives that they want to meet. Without a clear vision, the whole exercise will be futile and you will not be able to achieving anything. You have to clearly define the goals of the team.
These goals should not necessarily be the organizational goals only. You can incorporate your own team’s organization. For instance, if you are a sales department team, you may decide to have goals for your sales team. Maybe you can set new targets or aim to reach new markets. This is what will keep all members of the team focused.
A team building consultant will take the time to examine how the team works before suggesting the best team building exercises. However, for the exercises to be very effective, the team has to do their own self examination.
Examine the past successes and failures of the team. Find what needs to be worked on or simply improved and use this as a guideline. You can also have members of the team anonymously writing down issues that they may be having within the team. This will help keep the team building more focused.
Before embarking on team building, there should be commitment from the team members. Most teams normally go out of town or to other locations so as to concentrate on the exercises. During this time, they need to be focused only on the task at hand and not on any other issues.
The team members should commit their time and effort. They should be willing to participate in team building. This isn’t something that a team leader can push people to do. Commitment is very vital for the success of the exercises.
To be able to build any successful teams, there should be communication. You should let your team members know exactly what is planned. This shouldn’t be an ambush of some sort. Getting the team involved is very important in making the exercises effective.
You should also take the time and educate the team on the importance of the exercises. This will help them be more serious and committed. Point out the importance of team work and that can be achieved if the team learnt how to work together. Don’t assume that everyone knows this. There are so many people who may strongly be pro individualism.
Every team needs to have a charter. This should clearly provide a guideline on the behaviors and code of conduct for every team members. Don’t even attempt to embark on team building if you don’t have this charter. This is what sets the whole basis for team work and is therefore very important.
Everyone should lay out their expectations for the exercise. You can also involve the team members in clearly defining this. It’s not enough to have goals for the team. It is also good that you have short term goals for the team building exercises. This will help you focus. It will also help in evaluating just how effective the whole program is. The expectations can also act as a guideline for selecting the right team building exercises.
Leadership is very important for any team building to succeed. This is why it is advisable for the leaders to actively participate in all the exercises. The leader should also take the initiative and the role of setting examples for everyone. An absentee leader can actually make the whole exercises flop. It may be perceived as a lack of interest on their part. In addition, the team can’t learn effectively.
The team leader has to be involved in the team especially during the team building exercises.
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