If you are a manager, a coach, or someone who is responsible for any group of individuals, you will undoubtedly have heard people tell you that you should use team building to make your team achieve greater results. Obviously having better results is a great reason for using team building, but it is not the only one.
Although better results might be considered the ultimate goal of team building, it usually happens due to the many other benefits that team building can offer. These benefits to your team help them to work better together and that invariably leads to greater success. So let us look at 5 of the top benefits that team building can produce.
Knowing Each Other Better
It is a sad truth that there will be employees within a workforce who will have been there for years and yet they barely know much about their colleagues. We are not talking about them knowing every gory detail about each other’s private life, but rather knowing what motivates them, what skills and talents they have, and most importantly, what, and how they contribute to the team.
If every member of a team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the others within that team it means they can adjust their input accordingly to compensate for others where necessary or defer to those who are better at certain tasks or skills. Also, bear in mind being ‘lonely’ within a team is not desirable so creating an atmosphere where everyone knows and respects each other is what you should be striving for.
Inspiring Ideas
If your team trusts each other, and you have created an atmosphere where everyone’s opinion is valued then it creates an environment where bringing new ideas to the table is encouraged. Having several people all sharing, discussing, and working on ideas is a much more positive way to make improvements than relying on individuals doing so.
Within a team that has collective mutual respect, it is much easier for individuals within that team to discuss, and if necessary, confront any issues which may arise. However, instead of it descending into a bitter argument and ongoing resentment, which often happens when there is no team spirit, it can be debated forcefully and respectfully, and ideally resolved within the team, without the need to refer it elsewhere.
Improved Communication
Any group of individuals who have received team building training and are working well as a team should find no difficulty in communicating with each other. Whether it is with regards to a dispute, as just discussed, or any other every day back and forth communication that businesses, teams, and organisations have, the quality of communication should be greater and have more energy and engagement.
Each Team Member Feels Valued
Some would argue that this is one of the greatest benefits of team building, and it is hard to argue against that given that if we are leading a team we would presumably want every single individual within that team to feel valued. This is not just for the noble idea of wanting the best for our team members, which is nonetheless important, but also for the fact that if someone feels valued they are a greater asset.
By asset, we mean that someone who feels valued is likely to work harder, feel a greater sense of team spirit and thus want them to succeed even more, and ultimately they are going to want to support their teammates through any difficulties which may arise.