Team building is a term that has a bad reputation in workplaces. Whenever a supervisor says ‘We’re going to do some team building activities today,’ you can see the resentment on the faces of the employees. Even though it has a bad reputation, team building is one of the most important investments you can make for your people.
It doesn’t matter if you have a great product or the most innovating idea. If your employees aren’t behind it, it would not be able to produce expected results. One should keep in mind that employees are the heart of every company. Investing in team-building exercises would only improve their productivity and encourage them to work together.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a small business or a big one where ten employees work or one where thousands do. Team building is essential for all companies regardless of their size and structure. This is especially true if you have noticed that your employees have made specific teams in which they don’t allow other employees to come in.
Here are some of the reasons why team building should be practiced in all kinds of businesses:
Employees Work Better Together.
The first reason should not come as a surprise. Co-workers who work together and are happy, tend to be more productive. This is not some baseless statement. A study conducted by Warwick University in the UK found out that employees work harder when they are happy.
One of the leaders of the study, Professor Andrew Oswald, said that there are a lot of companies who have started invested in employee support. Google is one of them. As a result, employee satisfaction increased by 37%. Co-workers that form relationships within team-building exercises perform better for future projects in the company.
Employees Get To Know Each Other.
There are a lot of people in this world who spend more time in their offices than they do in their homes. People sit next to employees for 40 hours a week, yet still have no idea how they are like. The feeling of connecting to other human beings is a natural phenomenon. If everything works out properly between employees, co-workers can be the thing that people like most about their jobs.
The work may get rough and hard, but as long as you have supportive people around you, it may not feel that exhausting. But all of this is impossible if you only talk about work. If you want your employees to get to know and be friendly towards each other, then you have to conduct team building activities.
Employees Display Their Hidden Skills And Talent.
Not everyone makes an instant connection with other people. For some people, it may take months before they properly start talking to other employees. They might have some incredibly useful skills or talent in them, but since they do not talk much, it remains undiscovered. But when you ask employees to participate in different types of challenges, they often display their new talents.
For example, you might find out that your finance manager is a talented artist. Your software developer is a skilled musician. And your marketing manager can think critically. While some of these skills might be useful in benefiting the company; some grant us insights into the kind of a person your employee may be. Thus, you will be able to connect better with him.
Take Employees For A Picnic With The Perfect Cooler.
Team building should not be just confined within the walls of the office. There are a lot of other fun activities one can conduct for their employees so they can take a break from their monotonous work routine. For example, you can decide on a day where no one would be working, and instead, they would be taken for a picnic. If it’s within your budget, you can arrange snacks and drinks for them, and if not, then you can ask everyone to bring something from their homes.
You wouldn’t even have to worry about keeping the food fresh or the drinks cold when you use the right cooler. This cooler has a food-grade rubber gasket maintains in this cooler maintains the seal of the cooler. This would keep your food fresh for days. Moreover, this cooler is also able to retain ice for up to 10 days. You can leave a great impression on your employees with the help of this cooler.
Morale And Engagement Of Employees Would Be Improved.
While one might think that all the reasons behind team building are to get employees to work productively, that is not true. While yes, that is one part of conducting team building activities, the other side is to allow them to have fun. Instead of keeping their eyes glued to the screen, they would have a chance to learn a new skill, explore somewhere new or play their favorite sports.
When employees see that their organization is a place where having fun isn’t prohibited, they are more likely to engage. This especially applies to the modern workplace. With so many employees working in an organization, it can be hard to connect with each other without the help of technology. But team building brings everyone together, even those employees who feel like they don’t belong in a team.
Employees Would Build Trust.
Trust can be tricky. Instead of merely giving it, you have to earn it. Sometimes, it might take a long time before an employee can trust his colleague. But if employees do not communicate with one another at all, building trust can be arduous. That is where team building comes in. Instead of having prolonged interactions to build trust, team building activities divide it into a few hours of intensive, trust-building activities.
This can prove beneficial to a lot of teams including the ones which were recently formed, cross-functional teams or remote teams who work at different places within an office. Remember, team members, do not always like each other. They do not have to force friendships to succeed, but they must do what’s best for the company.
Employees Are Able To Handle Conflicts.
It is almost impossible for employees not to have any conflicts when they are forming a team. Since people from different background are working together for the first time, everyone thinks they would be better suited for any particular job. While having conflicts is entirely reasonable, what people do next is crucial in determining how their team is going to work in the future.
But one thing is for sure: if team building is in place, how employees approach conflicts can be certainly improved. When employees do not trust other employees, they do not have a positive image of them in their minds. But when there is a friendly and honest relationship between employees, solving conflicts would be much more satisfying.
Hopefully, you might have understood that team building is a win-win situation. It does not only foster collaboration amongst employees but also contributes to their mental health. When employees feel like they are a part of an organization, they can perform better. And that can only be achieved with the help of team building activities.
