Team Building 101
How important is creating comradery and trust within a team? According to Charles H. Green from Trusted Advisor Associates, "the level of trust in business relationships... is a greater determinant of success than anything else". We as leaders and managers of teams inherently know and feel this importance even without the supporting evidence. Trust is the backbone to any relationship. And to build trust, we need to better understand each other and unify as a team. That's why team building exercises have become so vital to successful organizations. To go about fostering and developing strong relationships within an organization, there are many avenues to venture down. Team building can be accelerated with collaborative exercises, 360 peer reviews, pulse checks and feedback loops, dedicated outings and off-sites, etc. In order to know what to try and where to start, it begins with understanding what will resonate within your organization.
Creating Impactful Events
When contemplating team building events, every great leader wants the event to result in an increase of comradery and trust. They want the attendees to be willing and eager participant, both interested and engaged. When planning the type of event, it may be difficult to please everyone based on their interests. The best way to identify interest based events is to to create a survey with a list of potential events and poll the entire population or use a system like PeopleTies to find the commonalities amongst your participants. Here are some quick tips to remember:
- Make sure the event encourages people to cooperate, or at least communicate frequently. A great example of a good event is something like an escape room. People need to work through puzzles together and can be a great way for people to open up and have fun.
- Look for emerging interests. With PeopleTies, we can see what interests are being rapidly added throughout an organization and what interests have reached a critical mass in any given location. Basing an event around "what's hot" will increase the likelihood of willing attendance and excitement.
Following Up is the Key
Having a great team building event shouldn't end with patting yourself on the back and fond memories. Don't let all of the good will, comradery, and new perspectives go to waste. Send a survey after the event and ask attendees what they loved and what they'd change. Ask what they learned and what surprised them. You can also ask if they have ideas for the next event. With an iterative, event-based team building process, your people will continue to better know and trust each other, while having some fun along the way.