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Team Building Of What Benefit Is It?

Guest post by: Jennifer Loftus

Article Overview: Just how important is it really for an organization to acquire a team-building environment? Are you an HR representative or leader that has wondered if you should look into introducing such a program to your organization? In this issue of Astronology, we give you a smorgasbord of information in regards to team building; the importance of it and how you can introduce the culture of team building to your organization.

Team Building Of What Benefit Is It?

Just how important is it really for an organization to acquire a team-building environment? Are you an HR representative or leader that has wondered if you should look into introducing such a program to your organization? In this issue of Astronology, we give you a smorgasbord of information in regards to team building; the importance of it and how you can introduce the culture of team building to your organization.





Why Bother with Team Building?

As one article explained the, "Quality of a product or service is directly proportional to the quality of resources used." Likewise, in order to provide quality output your organization must acquire quality resources, not only in the physical objects, but also the quality of the members in the organization, and how well they work together as a team. The main goal of team building truly is to improve productivity and motivation. In particular, team building is used to build positive communication, leadership skills, and the ability to work interchangeably amongst each other. Such skills become vital in a growing organization seeking to "home grow" its own future leaders.

Team building can become a delicate matter because individuals within a group have diverse backgrounds. While this variety is excellent for brainstorming and ingenuity, it can also become a source of unwanted personality clashes. A human resource representative would want to make sure team members work cohesively, and not develop a groupthink mentality. A team that is absorbed in a groupthink possesses a strong sense of belonging. This feeling of belonging is so strong; that instead of working to successfully complete the team goal the team's objective shifts to protect its' unison views. This will lead the group to reject any suggestions...suggestions that could have lead to innovative solutions. Ultimately, groupthink becomes dangerous to an organization's success because the organization's goal slowly disappears as the groupthink mentality takes over the entire organization.

Promoting Team Building in Workshops

There are many ways to promote a team-building environment. One affordable way to do so is through organization-run workshops created bi-weekly, monthly or yearly. Some elements to include in such a workshop would be:

* Clear Communication of Expectations:

How clear are the expectations for the team? Each member of the organization should understand their role in the organization, how their input helps others as well as their effect of the overall success of the organization.





* Assurance of Commitment:

Do your employees demonstrate that they are fully committed to the organization's goals? Do they feel that their individual and group goals are important in fulfilling the organization's goals?

* Secure Knowledge of Collaboration:

As mentioned earlier, groupthink is not wanted. In order to ensure that such an element does not become prevalent within work groups members should be able to understand team and group processes, roles within the group, and how to successfully resolve group conflict.

Other organizations find it beneficial to invest in sending select members to team building retreats. While many of these retreats are fun, and can definitely open many members' eyes to the importance of teamwork, several have questioned whether just sending employees to a voluntary retreat once a year is enough.





Are Team Building Retreats Enough?

While many may view team building retreats as a once-a-year getaway, the point of these retreats are to build camaraderie and to learn how to work together as a team. All too often however, after the fun has been had at these retreats, some employees return and forget the crucial lessons learned. More has to be done to reinforce what has been taught at these retreats. Susan M. Heathfield a human resource expert suggests that team building can be something that is promoted everyday versus once a year. She suggests doing so by encouraging a teamwork culture within the organization itself. Tips in doing so include:

* Clear Communication:

Transparent communication can come in many forms, whether scheduling department meetings to discuss project management or overall growth of the organization

* Include Fun Activities in the Yearly Work Schedule:

Company picnics and potluck lunches are some suggestions of fun activities to include on the corporate schedule to help employees see the unity within the team and the organization.

* Express Happiness in Organizational Success with Acknowledgement of its' Members:

Creatively telling your employees thank you for their contribution to the success of the organization can do well for individual and team morale. Employees are able to see that they matter, and that their input does impact the entire organization's growth.

In summation, team building exercises, workshops and retreats are beneficial for organizations looking to train members for skills in critical problem solving, and conflict resolution. Teamwork culture benefits the organization by motivating employee and group morale, reaffirm the organization's goals for success and also increase productivity. While there are many different methods used to promote team building the long-term results of such efforts are well worth the time, and energy spent!

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Article Tags: astronology, brainstorming, communication leadership, delicate matter, groupthink, hr representative, human resource representative, ingenuity, innovative solutions, leadership skills, main goal, mentality, personality clashes, quality output, quality resources, smorgasbord, team building, team goal, team members, unison



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