Good team building is no longer just about organising fun outings or the familiar Friday afternoon drinks. Although that is enjoyable and good for team spirit, it doesn't necessarily contribute to an organisation's success. The secret of good team building lies in other things. In this article, you will read which ones.
Team building through more engagement
It is no secret that an organisation owes much of its success to engaged employees. In a large meta-analysis, Gallup compared the teams with the highest and the lowest engagement. The most engaged teams were 23% more profitable, 18% more productive in sales and had 81% less absenteeism. Gallup Read more in tips for employee engagement.
Team building is a good way to increase that engagement. That is why more and more organisations focus their team building on culture. Think of gatherings centred on the organisation's story, inspiration sessions and moments when successes are celebrated together. This creates a kind of family feeling, in which employees are proud to belong to the organisation. Employees who are proud like to talk about it, too, and so become the best advertisement for your organisation.
Team building by truly getting to know each other
More and more people work in teams in which they depend on each other to reach the team's goals. Yet most people don't know each other well at all, even if they have worked together for years. Superficially, yes: where you live, what you studied and whether you have children. But not really: what gives someone energy, what drives them, or what your colleague is struggling with. To function well as a team in turbulent times, it is important to know where your team members' qualities lie and how someone reacts under pressure. That is why more and more time is spent getting to know each other 'below the iceberg'.
It pays off. Google studied 180 of its own teams to find out what makes a team effective. The most important factor turned out to be psychological safety: the feeling that you can take risks in your team and show yourself, without fear of negative reactions. Google re:Work Read more about it in more effective teams through psychological safety.
You may also be interested in: how do you motivate your employees? 5 useful tips.
The two-pizza rule
Another trend is working in smaller teams. In large teams, there is more noise in communication, there are (too) many different opinions and some people get snowed under. In smaller teams, every team member is needed to succeed. People are more engaged, because the tasks are clear and they feel more responsible. A well-known example is the 'two-pizza rule' of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: a team should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas. Amazon organised itself into small, independent teams like this to keep innovating quickly. AWS
Gamification
A simple team outing is no longer enough for many organisations. It has to be new, and preferably you learn something from it too. More and more organisations do this with gamification: using game elements to increase enjoyment and engagement in reaching goals, in an environment that has nothing to do with games. Think of competitions for sales teams with fun rewards, rewarding achievements with badges, letting colleagues show appreciation for each other via an app, or learning new skills through play. In this way, organisations encourage the behaviour they want. You can also use the competitive element between departments. Do bear in mind that not everyone appreciates this equally.
The secret
So the secret of good team building lies in getting people enthusiastic, appreciating them for good performance, creating a strong bond between them and building a family feeling with a strong culture. That makes your employees more creative and productive, and they stay with your organisation longer. Have you got this well sorted already?
Also read how do you recognise a good team player?
