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Team Building Rubbish

Written by: Michael Licenblat

Article Overview: Taking your staff out to play mini golf, go-carting, to see a movie, or doing some obscure & embarrassing in-house training games is NOT going to create lasting team work, or a resilient work culture. Sure, these activities can be fun and help people to get to know each other, but they won't build a productive and stress-resilient business team. So, what will? ...

Team Building Rubbish

Taking your staff out to play mini golf, go-carting, to see a movie, or doing some obscure & embarrassing in-house training games is NOT going to create lasting team work, or a resilient work culture.

Sure, these activities can be fun and help people to get to know each other, but they won't build a productive and stress-resilient business team.

So, what will?

Think about this for moment...'what do your team want and need to keep them happy, committed and ambitious?

What are their goals?
What makes them happy?
What are their values?
What motivates them long term? short term?
What de-motivates them?

Do you know?....I mean, do you REALLY know? Probably not!

Chances are, you have either assumed you know (and are most likely to be wrong), or haven't taken the time to find out because everyone is 'too busy'.

So, you just did what you THOUGHT was going to 'bring the team closer together'.

Your doctor wouldn't prescribe medication without first doing a diagnosis.
Your Dentist wouldn't extract a tooth without first assessing the heath of your teeth.
...and you shouldn't invest in team building activities until you first assess what the individual team members really want.

For example:
A single mother of two children may not want to spend half a day go-carting, but would rather have flexi-time hours so she can pick up her children from school.

A 22 year old male may rather have an open bar for him and some friends for a night as a reward for reaching his sales targets, or be given a late start one day.

A 42 year old married father of 3 may prefer a family holiday or long weekend away or reduced working hours.

...but you will never know if you don't ask.

World famous psychologist, Abraham Maslow, found that people had a process of motivation that once our basic needs for food, shelter and security were met, we naturally sourced higher levels of need, such as love & belonging, self esteem, and ultimately, self actualization (reaching our greater potential) [1]

In a recent interview I conducted with employee engagement expert, James Adonis, from www.jamesadonis.com , James explained that:

"...different people have different needs. Gen. X and Gen. Y have different motivations, different values and different goals to the Baby Boomers, or next wave Boomers, and hence you need specific ways to motivate and work with them."

(to hear the full interview with James, visit: http://www.bouncebackfast.com/PP/shi.html )

Stop wasting time and money in team building activities that don't actually 'build the team'.


FIVE Tips to building a resilient and loyal team:



1. ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT
Don't assume you know what people want - make the time and have the courage to ask them directly.

Sit privately with each team member and ask them:'What can the company do to help them maximize their productivity and motivation?' 'What can the company do to help them maximize their work enjoyment? 'What can the company do to help them maximize their work-life balance'
Document their answers then act on them right away.


2. INSIDE / OUTSIDE
Imagine you are standing inside a house looking out of a window. What is your view of the outside world? Now imagine you are standing outside of the house looking into the house from that same window. What is your view of the 'inside world'?

In the same sense, ask for people's feedback from their perspective (inside) on how to improve team work and motivation. Then ask them to stand in your shoes (management) and ask them how to apply that from an (outside) management perspective.

Give staff the benefit of double perspective so they can play a more active role in turning their needs into a culture reality


3. SELF S.W.O.T.
Sit with each staff member and perform a self assessment (in the same sense that a business would perform a S.W.O.T.- assessing their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
Have each staff member contemplate the personal and professional areas they are competent in, and those they need to work on. Provide (or outsource) coaching programs to help staff members bridge these gaps.

Job satisfaction is more than getting the company to bend - great satisfaction is found in personal growth and achievement.


4. CONSISTENT CULTURE
Be true to your promises.Make the changes you say you will. Put the suggestions into action immediately. Have a measurement system that benchmarks the success of the action plan. Review every 1,2 or 3 months. Check in with each team member to discuss if the changes are giving them what they want.


5. GET EXTERNAL HELP
You may not have the time or expertise to do all this yourself. Get external help from people who do this professionally and get it done right.



REFERENCES:
[1] page 359, 'Psychology, an Introduction', J. Summers, R. Borkland, M. Walker, Australia, 1989, John Wiley & Sons.

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Article Tags: business team, dentist, diagnosis, family holiday, famous psychologist, food shelter, half a day, heath, individual team, mini golf, process of motivation, psychologist abraham maslow, sales targets, self esteem, single mother, team building activities, team members, time hours, training games, work culture



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