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Team Building Articles
2. How to Guarantee the Success of Your Team Event! Logistics
3. The Characteristics of Great Teams
4. The Benefits of Team Building
Astute managers know that time for team fun leads to greater engagement and happier teams. Teams that have fun with each other focus their energy positively and have better rapport with mounting evidence of higher productivity too. Low morale in a workplace is characterized by sabotaging behaviours (eg gossiping, time stealing) that spread amongst bored, unsettled or disengaged teams. Our advice: If your team gets in a negativity rut you need to devote some time to personal connections and fun.
So, all teams benefit from team fun, how can you add fun within the time and budget constraints of modern workplaces? Here are some no or low budget suggestions for busy managers:
1. Have a “You Tube” Film Festival
This is very simple, everyone just has to find their favourite you tube clip and forward the link to an organiser. Most will be funny, but some may surprise by being touching or just cute. You could combine your You Tube film festival with a morning tea or paper bag lunch. Perhaps offer a prize (or just a round of applause) to whomever entered the best clip.
2. Word of the Day
Popular in creative workplaces, each morning (or just on Friday mornings if you prefer) a word of the day is announced including its meaning. The goal is then to use this word through the day in “natural” conversation. Points are earned for how early in the day you manage it, with bonus points for using it in a client meeting. To get your word a group could get together and brainstorm a long list of words or you can sign up for Dictionary.com’s word of the day.
Today’s word on Dictionary.com is “Tarry” meaning to remain or stay or a sojourn – this would be a doddle to get into a sentence by 9.30am.
3. Friday “Beer O Clock” Games
How about calling a halt to proceedings at 4.30pm some Fridays to play some games? This can be quite spontaneous or structured. Some groups even create some permanent teams to compete together and keep a master score sheet over a few months or even the year.
There are lots of games that are really easy to run; such as Spelling Bees, Tongue Twisters, 5 question Pop Quiz’s (in topics such as sport, celebrities, music, movies, TV etc), Chinese Mimes (passing a mime along the line – a mime of an emotion works very well!), Foil Planes and Celebrity Head. Email Cate for more ideas if you’d like to try this, we also have a DVD called “Games for Teams” for this purpose.
If you don’t want to make it competitive try games like Celebrity Head, 2 lies and 1 truth, “Who Would You Do” (fun in categories like “tennis players, newsreaders, politicians etc”).
Another variation of “Who Would You Do” is where people are forced to choose only
one person from a pair -
4. Create a “Wall of Infamy” Pinboard
Sharing experiences -
Examples of things you can pin up are “stupid customer” stories / complaints, great typos, dumb ideas from your advertising agency*, references to boring presentations that you all had to sit through, photos of team members pulling ugly faces or coming in sick or injured (or hungover), pictures of people pulling an all nighter, parking tickets etc. Whilst unorthodox to “rah rah” team builders a wall of infamy pinboard actually celebrates some of the lower moments a team experiences and therefore has a rare authenticity and true story telling value.
* I worked for a major bank in the late 90’s and our agency brought us a concept that involved a queue of people at the ATM, which was supposed to alleviate queues inside the branch!
5. Theme Lunches
Split your team into groups of about 6 people and put each small group in charge of creating one theme lunch during the year (tip: book them in the diary during January). The trick is to keep this simple with a low budget and simple themes such as Italian, Indian, Asian, Mexican etc. Make sure you don’t get too gourmet or teams will be too daunted and so keep the menu simple and make sure cooking duties are equally shared.
If you do get into the rhythm of sitting down together for a casual shared lunch it can also be fun to structure the conversation with a really good question for everyone to answer. Questions can be light, allowing for story telling (eg, naughtiest thing you did as a child, best party you ever went to, most famous person you’ve ever met) or have a bit more depth so you get more revealing stories. Example conversation starters might be “what was the best day of your life so far” or “what do you find really inspiring” or “what would you do if you only had a year to live”.
6. All Team Guessing Competitions
A lot of teams have probably tried baby photo guessing competitions, but there are other types of guessing competitions that can be fun to run. Start by choosing an obscure question or fact about everyone in the team; such as such as the first prize they ever won in childhood, one thing they are really good at that nobody at work knows or their maternal grandmother’s maiden name – then create a board that lists all the “facts” and the corresponding names. This is one competition that it is worth getting a decent prize for!
2. How to Guarantee the Success of Your Team Event!
By Cate Richards, director of
Team Bonding
At Team Bonding, we've worked with hundreds of teams and observed some key success factors that create brilliant events plus will ensure lasting positive impacts from your investment.
What are the goals of the event?
- What do you want to achieve?
- Pure fun or reward after a period of hard work
- A mental or physical break from day to day routine and / or a desire to see team members in another light
- A perceived need for challenge or to motivate competition
- Team getting established and need to get to know each other better
- Need to enhance communication and / or teamwork
- Specific themes, messages or behaviour to embed
What is your team likely to enjoy?
If it is your role to choose a team building event, think about the following:
- Who are your people? (Particularly age, gender and physical capability)
- What do they like to do outside of work? What represents fun for your team?
- Are they oriented towards competing or working harmoniously?
- How well do they know each other?
- Will they enjoy getting outdoors? (Think about possible hot / cold or wet weather)
- What is the size of the group (many events align better with large or small groups)
- Do you want to do a day or evening event?
- Inside or outside of work hours?
- Finally, what is your budget?
We’ve constructed a simple “tick box” decision matrix (shown above) that will helps you consider these criteria against our bestselling events.
Once you’ve identified the perfect event, there are simple approaches that will improve the chances of success, these are the “best practices” we’ve identified:
1.Highly involved team leader/s
By far the most effective leadership approach is “immersion” -
Some managers decide to watch rather than participate -
2. Build Anticipation
Many clients choose to disguise the specifics of the activity from participants,
but do use intrigue in the invitation. For our competitive events the sub groups
are often pre-
3.Have Fun with the Prize Announcement
For our competitive events the winning team announcement provides an opportunity for team leaders to build suspense, have a laugh, embed a message or share experiences. The best approach we’ve seen was by Carl Dennis of WHK in Melbourne (City Amazing Race) who asked each team to relate their funniest experiences – thanks Carl, we now suggest your approach to other team leaders.
4.Create a Visual Reminder Back at Work
Team Bonding sends most clients pictures after their event. These can be uploaded to an intranet or displayed in a collage as a constant reminder of a fun day. Our “Artworks!” event creates a permanent legacy of a message via an artwork that can be displayed.
Using our decision matrix and using these approaches is likely to guarantee success for your team building event.
___________________________________________________________________
3. The Characteristics of Great Teams
Everyone wants to be a winner and be part of the team that delivers something or makes a difference. Sometimes it is in times of crisis or real struggle that we see the best from teams. So what are some common characteristics of great teams?
Genuinely care for each other
What sets teams apart from individuals is the desire to think about each other and genuinely care for each other. In a world where much of our success is judged on what we do by ourselves, it can sometimes be a challenge to create that genuine bond. Socialising out of work or working on a project in the community can often help to create that genuine care for each other.
They can sort out what matters
There will always be plenty of things that could be done but that does not mean that they are necessarily what needs to be done. Great teams have the ability to sort out what matters to the success of the project. Emergency relief teams set up after major disasters are great role models in terms of sorting out what really matters.
Good channels of communication
In team situations, it is all too easy to find that efforts are being duplicated or things are falling down a crack and getting missed. The key to minimising this is communication. That means getting messages across simply and clearly and being willing to listen to others.
Have a good fit
It is always going to be difficult to get the best from a team if there is not a good fit between team members. It becomes even more vital to be aware of fit within a team when a change to the team is needed or when recruiting a new team member.
Focus on team performance
Great teams have individuals who are willing to put their own personal egos and personal agendas aside and focus on team performance. Sounds really simple in theory but is often really difficult in practice.
Teams have backup
Just like a sports team, business teams need people who can step up and fill the shoes of their boss when needed. To do this requires investment in people who might be required to take the reins and fill the shoes of someone else.
The Bottom Line
Great team performance does not happen by chance. So where do you need to focus attention to get better team results?
Now I invite you to sign up for my free Weekly Leadership and Management Success Tips at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/?pid=26
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with accountants, health professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.
With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com The Characteristics of Great Teams
4. The Benefits of Team Building
In order for a company to be successful and profitable it must have a good, strong, hardworking team behind it who believes in the company and the work they do. A team that doesn't work together will make it exceedingly difficult for the company to work at its best and produce high quality work in a timely manner. This highlights the importance of team building exercises and explains why so many companies have made this an integral part of their company setup.
Firstly team building can be beneficial to companies of all sizes. Within a small company, each person is usually responsible for more than one task and the ability for them to be able to communicate well with someone else to share the work is essential to increase the productivity of the team. Within a much larger company it is more important to ensure teams of people can work seamlessly together and feel comfortable within that team to produce the best possible outcome.
The actual event can enhance a staff member's ability to adapt to a new environment and helps them to learn how to adjust to an unfamiliar situation. Whilst each individual works together to achieve something, they are developing key skills which will help them to later achieve something on their own. By introducing this task in a supportive environment, it helps by making it less daunting and intimidating. Therefore when they experience a new challenge in the work place they will have the skills developed to accomplish it individually.
Organising a bespoke team building day teaches people exactly how to work together, implement individuals strengths regarding leadership, overcome barriers, complete any set objectives and achieve the final goal. It provides a friendlier, less stressful environment for staff to voice their opinions and discuss or dispute their ideas. Once they have worked out the issues in this environment, it is easier for them to deal with conflicting ideas in the workplace.
Team building activities are designed to motivate your staff, eliminate any political or personal barriers and help them learn to work together. This is then replicated in the office environment so helps the team become more productive and work to each other's strengths and talents. It is also a great way to discover any hidden talents within the team which may be beneficial to the company. It is essential in helping to establish valuable working relationships. Team exercises should be carried out away from the office environment and can be used as a reward or incentive for hard work.
There are several types of team building, from simple team exercises, full days out or even outdoor team building weekends. The most important thing to remember is make your own bespoke team bonding programme integrating exercises which will be highly specific for your company. There are dedicated companies which can help you put together a team building programme and organise it all for you making your life even easier.
About Cumulus: Cumulus are experts in creating bespoke outdoor team building programmes for any sized company. With a range of exercises available, we are able to create a bespoke team building day to cater for all you needs and organise everything for you so all you have to do is turn up. Contact us today to find out how we can help your company.
Article Source: EzineArticles.comThe Benefits of Team Building
By Marty Lasker
Unless you are a hermit, you have likely worked with others in a cooperative way at some point in your life. Working with others toward a common goal is usually the purpose of a team. The larger and more complex the organization the more likely it is that different people come together for form a team and often it is a different constellation of people.
When people do the same things over and over again, they usually get pretty good at it. If that is true then why aren't we more successful in teams? Why is it that each project taken on by a team looks like people have never worked with another person before?
The answer is that each project and its team are unique and most members have not learned the essential skills and characteristics required to be successful. Sometimes the members of the team have "just clicked" and at other times there is a total breakdown with virtual open warfare.
There are some skills, knowledge and attitudes which can dramatically affect the success or failure of a team and when understood and mastered have a dramatic impact on the success of a team effort. The first and likely the most important characteristic of a successful team is that they agree on their purpose and the outcome desired. As fundamental as it appears, it is all too often ignored.
Successful teams also understand the strengths, weaknesses, preferences, avoidances, and stressors of one another. This doesn't mean that all team members have to have a psychological profile that is shown to the team, rather there is an introductory period where the most likely behaviours one can expect are revealed, often though the use of one of the many profiles available (DISC, SDI, MB, etc.)
Open communication is important as is the ability to value differences. One of the reasons for addressing a project or task as a team is to bring together different perspectives and skills. Interestingly, these differences are often treated with disdain or so much noise that different ideas are not heard.
Among the other characteristics of successful teams is making a commitment to the team. If it is just another burden to be carried and tolerated, it shows and affects other team members. The same is true if there is not an agreed upon set of rules or norms. Each team has its own culture and that can include a culture of chaos. Establish the culture or it norms and rules early on, it will save lots of time and energy as well as provide grease for the wheels of progress and decision making.
The last critical item is follow-
Marty Lasker is an experienced corporate trainer specializing in the use of simulations to drive learning within organizations. His client list is extensive and includes many Fortune 500 companies as well as schools and not for profit organizations. Included among the subject areas he addresses are finance, change, leadership, diversity, and team building. He can be reached directly at hlclci@aol.com or through his company's web site at http://www.hlcinc.com
Article Source: EzineArticles.com Successful Teams
