Planning a Team Building

Team building is typically thought of as an activity that companies do to be more productive, but it can also boost employee morale and motivation. Companies that actively participate in team-building exercises are seen to have happier employees who work together more closely.

It’s easy to forget that workplace relationships are a major factor in how well your company functions, and what kind of culture it cultivates. When people don’t like each other's guts, trust is non-existent, and everyone is too busy trying to prove their own competence instead of helping others achieve theirs -- that doesn’t create a healthy environment.

That said, while most professional teams need not include individuals with whom someone has to share an office or bathroom line, there are ways you can build camaraderie among colleagues at your place of employment.

Team building activities are a great way to do this. They're usually cost-effective (or even free!), require little–if any – resources, and can be adapted and implemented at any time.

Find a theme for the team building

As mentioned before, creating an environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves is one of the most important things for teamwork. A productive work space encourages creativity and expression, while also promoting trust.

Facilities such as cafés with free coffee or private meeting rooms can help facilitate this. Having your own room or space in which you can meet and discuss ideas helps promote collaboration.

The size of the team should matter little when it comes to choosing a location – some say that teams are more efficient if they meet outside the office, whereas others claim the opposite. What matters is that everyone feels like they have resources and support at home when they leave the workplace.

Team-building activities need not cost a lot either. Some suggestions include having a picnic, going for a walk or swimming session together, hosting an open party, or even just staying in and watching TV or listening to music!

Whatever activity you choose, make sure it’s something that all members of the team will enjoy and give them chance to connect.

Decide if you want to rent a space or own a space

If you decide to be an owner, that is the next step in determining your investment strategy. There are two main types of spaces ownership: Renting and buying. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, but either one can easily run you very large sums of money!

As with anything related to investing, owning a restaurant is not for everyone. It requires significant up-front costs as well as ongoing maintenance and repairs. Also, most major food establishments already have a company that helps them grow and expand, which makes it more likely that they would choose to stay there instead of offering other brands.

For these reasons, I recommend staying away from the expensive option unless you feel confident that you will always work at this business, and know what changes need to be made. This way, you’re less likely to invest money and find yourself without a job later.

Pick a location

A team building activity that is often overlooked is picking a destination to spend your time together as a group. This can be for an afternoon, or even overnight.

It’s important to pick a place that is not too expensive but also isn’t free either. Somewhere that you have to pay for is the best option since it costs money!

Some other things to consider are whether there are facilities like gyms, pools, or restaurants close by, how easy it will be to get back home, and if there is anything in particular you would like to do while at the location.

If you don’t like what they have then your plan has gone down the drain so think very hard before agreeing to go here! 😉

Planning ahead of time will help prevent this from happening – and hopefully give you more ideas if you run out during the event.

Plan the team building

When planning for your group activity, make sure to include enough time for preparation as well as execution. You do not want people to show up unprepared or empty-headed because they did not have time to put in some effort before the event.

Some of the more popular activities are actually designed into the workplace. For example, most companies have an annual retreat where staff can come together and re-energize their work relationships and spirits. This is typically a weekend away with snacks and lunch on your own.

You could also hold an open house at your company to showcase what you do and how you operate. This would be appropriate if you wanted to know more about someone’s job role, and/or if you were looking to recruit new employees.

Activity ideas such as these require little to no preparation other than picking a date and time that works for everyone, but overall should take one to two hours to execute.

Write down what you should do as a team building

Teambuilding is always an interesting topic to discuss. What makes a great team, how to develop teamwork, and what are some fun ways to build your group’s trust all make for fascinating conversations.

Teambuilding can be done at any time or anywhere, and it does not require too much preparation other than knowing what to do!

There are many types of teambuilding activities that can be done during a meeting, include doing something together, sharing stories with each other, having contests, etc.

Some groups like to have games to play while others prefer to talk about things. No matter which one is chosen, everyone must agree before starting the activity.

It is important to know what kind of environment this will create so that you can prepare accordingly. For example, if the theme is related to work, then people need to be prepared to speak about topics such as responsibilities and leadership.

If the setting is more casual, then maybe talking about personal lives is appropriate. Doing anything that is culturally insensitive or biased will hurt the team’s bond even further.

Tell your team about the team building

As mentioned before, one of the most important things in business is developing strong internal relationships. These are not just for yourself, but also for your colleagues, superiors, and even customers!

Running an organization includes managing people, which can be difficult at times. A lot of time, employers make false assumptions when it comes to understanding how work colleagues interact with each other.

It’s common to hear stories of ‘the boss who doesn’t get along with his/her colleague,’ or ‘people never seem to talk to each other around here,’ but what happens behind closed doors is often less known.

In fact, a whopping 70% of employees say they’ve been offended by something said in the workplace that was meant as a joke. One reason why this happens is because many don’t know how to take a joke seriously — especially if it’s coming from someone higher up the food chain.

If you’re ever faced with such a situation, try to determine whether their comment was intended as a joke first. If it wasn’t, then try to evaluate whether their tone was appropriate given the circumstances.

Be realistic about how to improve your team

A few years ago, I was in a meeting where one of my colleagues announced that their team needed to work on its communication skills.

I laughed out loud.

Why? Because we’d just finished a week of meetings where everyone argued over what should be done next with our project.

Everyone had different ideas and there was no clear consensus — which is often the case when people disagree.

So instead of solving the problem, we shifted it onto another group who would have to deal with the same confusion. It was like putting off doing something you want to do until the day after tomorrow.

And then Wednesday comes and goes without anyone doing anything.

This isn’t an isolated incident. I see this happening all the time at Work. People are so focused on protecting their own turf or egoistically seeking credit for past achievements that they forget that others around them don’t share their success formula.

They don’t understand why things haven’t changed and it puts the rest of us, who HAVE tried to change things before, under a lot of pressure.

Enforce collaboration

As mentioned before, team building is not about having fun in a place or doing activities as an excuse to meet people. It’s actually all about creating strong relationships that last.

A lot of teams seem to get stuck on the having fun part. People spend time together outside of work, so why don’t they just hang out after hours? Or what about when one person does try to make connections beyond the workplace?

The problem with this line of thinking is it ignores the fact that teamwork isn’t something you have once and then you’re done with. You are always working on team-building because groups of individuals depend on each other for success.

Research has shown that 95% of successful collaborations occur more than two months. That means there’s a good chance that these “afterwork” interactions will determine whether or not your colleagues keep up morale and effort during times when they aren’t needed most.

This can be difficult at times if people don’t relate to each other well. There may even be someone who feels like he’s stepping into his job while others feel that their position has been taken over by them.

These types of situations can easily create tension and hurt feelings which only end in bad things. This is why it is important to promote trust among coworkers.