How To Teambuild Properly

Teambuilding is an integral part of any successful organization. Whether it’s for professional reasons like improving team communication or organizational effectiveness, or if you just want to have fun, group activities are great tools.

Team building can be done at any level — from bringing employees together for a conference or retreat, to organizing an activity with your coworkers, or even asking colleagues to work together on an assignment.

It’s definitely not something that should be limited to only working hours, though. For some people, spending time outside of the workplace is more important than within.

Either way, planning ahead and doing things as early in the day as possible usually helps avoid too much confusion. Fortunately, we have tips here for you to help make that happen! Read on for our top 10 tips.

Have a clear process

Teambuilding is not an easy thing to do, but there are ways to make it easier. Before you even think about having team meetings or activities, you must have a clear process that leads up to them.

You can start by asking yourself what types of events you want to host and how many people there will be. Then, determine if this event requires outside vendors or resources so that appropriate planning is done ahead of time.

Next, decide where the meeting should take place and whether it needs to be interactive like a conference room with microphones and speakers or if it is just one speaker talking from behind a podium.

Once those things are determined, pick your timing! There are several good tools available for free or very inexpensively to use as a timer. You can also use Google Calendar to know when the next meeting is and what the topic should be.

And last, choose your format! Some examples include a question-and-answer session, a keynote address, or a potpourri of different topics.

Make it clear what is expected of team members

As mentioned earlier, being able to work effectively with others is a key factor in success. This can be tricky when people don’t seem to want to help each other out or are constantly arguing about things.

It is important to make sure that everyone understands their role and what they need to do to contribute to the project. This way, people will feel more motivated to put in extra effort because they know there is someone watching over them.

Surprisingly enough, sometimes this doesn’t happen naturally. Sometimes, people get stuck in habit and keep doing things the way they have always done them.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it needs to be changed.

Communicate consistently

Teambuilding is very much an interactive process that requires continuous communication. As such, it can be difficult to know what actions need to be taken next until you have discussed your plan with someone else.
As leader, you will need to make sure that everyone understands their part in the teambuilding event, how they should prepare for it, and what time frame is expected to complete certain tasks.

This also goes for when things go wrong or people get stuck. You must communicate clearly about what needs to be done and who is responsible for what!

Make use of all the tools available to you – group chats, video calls, and internal messaging systems are great ways to keep connected. This removes the barrier of having to talk in person to connect with others.

Team members will feel more comfortable performing their job if they believe that you care about them as individuals and the work they do.

Make it clear who is responsible for what

As you create your group, make sure to include good team members! Team leadership will depend on each position’s responsibility within the group.

It can be tough creating groups with no one assigned as “leader.” This may not work if someone feels they are always being asked to do too much or take too many things away from them.

Make sure that everyone knows their job so there are no surprises or resentment towards other people. Also, know who is willing to help out in the group and ask if they would like to lead once everything is set up.

We recommend having an open conversation about what roles individuals want to play in the group before asking them to contribute.

Hold team members accountable

As a leader, you need to hold your team members accountable for their jobs. Make sure that they know what tasks are important and what isn’t. They should be aware of what others on the team are doing so they can keep up or even take over if necessary.

If someone is not performing their job properly, give them a chance to fix it before asking anyone else to help them. Sometimes, people feel overwhelmed and don’t want to deal with an issue that seems too big for them. If this happens, tell them how much responsibility they have and ask who they could get to do the job instead.

By holding your teammates responsible, they will appreciate the fact that you take care of your responsibilities and make things clear to those under you. This will create a strong work environment where everyone feels like they are being supported and believed in.

Provide support when needed

Teambuilding is not just for teams of people, it can be done with or without others present as well. While some may consider these types of events fun opportunities, there are other ways to achieve this goal too.

Running an event like a team building day requires adequate preparation. This includes gathering necessary supplies, organizing transportation, advertising the event, finding facilities, confirming attendance, and more.

While most of these things seem obvious, many people forget about them until right before the event. This could hurt your turnout or even prevent you from holding the event completely!

Make sure to check out my article on how to organize a group activity before hosting one yourself.

Be a good mentor

Being a great leader is more than just giving orders and motivating people to follow you. It means being an inspiration or motivational leader for others. You can be someone who inspires through your actions, behaviors, and spirit.

As a leadership coach I work with individuals and teams across various industries. One of my favorite things to do as a consultant is to help team members find their motivation in order to achieve their goals.

I have found that most people don’t know what they want from their life so they don’t focus on it. They keep themselves distracted by unnecessary activities that take away time and energy that could be invested in something more meaningful.

This is why there are so many people in this world without true happiness. They pursue unimportant things because they think they should until one day they realize “why not?”

They feel empty and unprepared when they decide to put effort into achieving their dreams due to lack of motivation. This is what keeps them from having success and quitting before they start moving forward.

Communicate the vision of the team

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest reasons why teams break down is because of internal conflict or lack of collaboration.

In professional sports leagues, one player can often make or break a game for their team. The players on each side of an argument will probably have different strengths and weaknesses, but they’re all working towards a common goal — to win games.

That doesn’t always happen in the workplace, though. In fact, it seems like more often than not, there are constant arguments about what should be done next.

There may even be fights over who gets credit for an idea that eventually wins the day. All too frequently, people go into the workday with bad feelings, which trickles down from the top and has a negative effect on everyone else.

It’s tough being part of a winning team, especially when you feel like your teammates don’t share your passion for the job.

If you find yourself in this situation, here are some tips for how to teambuild.