A team building event aims to build a stronger group of employees that contribute to business success. So you could say that strong teams are the backbone of any successful business. But strong teams don’t just happen by chance. And getting together a group of highly trained professionals doesn’t automatically result in effective teamwork. Instead, teaching a group of individuals the principles of teamwork is crucial. One way your organization can do this is by organizing regular team building events.
Team building activities refer to actions, events, or methods designed to bring a team together and motivate them to work collaboratively. And the goal of team building exercises is to strengthen an organization’s workforce. Therefore, team building has a direct impact on your business success.
Bizarrely, team building is an activity that most business leaders know its benefits but fail to embrace. Unfortunately, not all businesses engage in regular team-bonding exercises. They may not have time for team building, fail to see tangible results, or think that everyone will feel awkward participating in group activities.
So, you may be asking yourself, how can organizing team building events boost my business success? Are there tangible benefits in investing in exercises to teach teamwork outside the office?
After reading about the key benefits of team building to your business success, the real question is — can you afford not to invest in team building?
Before examining why team building could be a good match for your company, let’s look at how it supports the four fundamentals of a successful business.
How Team Building Builds the Four Cornerstones of Business Success
Business success typically depends on four fundamental aspects — purpose, leadership, skills, and strategies. From these “cornerstones,” leadership is probably the most critical. However, having a strong purpose, developing excellent skills, and business strategies are vital to success. Team building events can address each of those success fundamentals.
Here are brief explanations of how team building exercises can work as the foundation of business success:
- Purpose: Events for team building can help strengthen an organization’s purpose. Team leaders can organize events focused on strengthening core values for the organization. For example, organizing charitable team building events.
- Leadership: Team building events are ideal for training employees to develop skills necessary for leadership. Additionally, some employees demonstrate untapped leadership qualities during events. Find out more about leadership training.
- Better skills: Fun activities for team building are perfect for developing effective communication skills and boosting collaboration. They help employees to learn how to communicate and trust on a new level.
- Strategies: Team building events help to give individual employees and teams focus and the ability to be passionate about working toward common goals.
Team building gives you excellent opportunities to invest in your employees and boost business success. It helps to create a thriving company on many levels and give something back to employees at the same time.
Ten Reasons Business Success Depends on Team Building
Individuals in teams must work together toward a common vision or purpose. The group comprises people with different skill sets, backgrounds, experiences, and personalities. However, it’s vital to teach teamwork, regardless of how experienced team members are. Successful teams create successful organizations.
Here are ten reasons why building a strong team is essential to business success.
1. Team building events build mutual trust
An advantage of team building is that they help develop a culture of trust. Employees who trust each other are less likely to slack off, take advantage of others, or get involved in office politics. Therefore, having trust between team members and individual teams helps to keep the workforce happy and productive.
Trust-building events provide opportunities for interacting outside of the office setting. This helps to remove barriers, allowing everyone to connect on a personal level. Tasks that involve working together in groups are particularly effective because they encourage individuals to cooperate.
When people work together, they tend to become more trusting.
2. Fun team building activities encourage creativity
Team building can boost business success because it promotes creativity. Bringing people together gives them chances to learn new skills, develop new ideas, and explore creative solutions to common problems. These experiences help people grow professionally and personally. They also make teams come up with innovative ideas because members can work together outside of their normal roles.
For example, a study by the University of Illinois found that groups perform better than individuals when solving complex problems. Groups of three to five members were better able to “generate and adopt correct responses, reject erroneous responses, and effectively process information.”
3. Foster strong personal bonds through team building
Team building events can help your organization build strong personal relationships among employees. When participating in events, individuals have a chance to connect and bond over shared experiences. This helps foster loyalty and trust — key ingredients for successful collaboration.
Team leaders find that workers are more excited to go to work and more productive if they have friends in the workplace.
4. Identify strengths and weaknesses with team building events
One of the advantages of team building events is that they help recognize the potential in employees. Fun activities get employees out of their comfort zone. They can challenge individuals, allowing team leaders to identify strengths and weaknesses. You can use this to strengthen core competencies in a team.
5. Build bridges across departments to strengthen your organization
Team building is fundamental to business success because they help strengthen connections between teams. Several departments must work together for an organization to operate efficiently. Therefore strengthening cross-departmental collaboration is crucial. Organizing events that involve several groups helps employees in other departments get to know each other.
For example, planning a team event with the sales, marketing, and logistics departments brings them closer together. The result? The teams no longer work individually but are connected through personal, positive relationships.
6. Virtual team building to connect remote teams
One of the many team building benefits is that it helps create a bond between employees who are working remotely. You can bring together virtual teams by organizing remote team building events. These can help overcome the challenges of having employees split across various locations and countries. In addition, they help to create an effective team by boosting productivity, employee engagement, and morale.
7. Identify leaders during team building activities
Team building games help develop successful businesses because you can identify potential leaders. Team building exercises let you observe people in informal settings. You can see what makes them stand out. For example, you may notice leadership skills like encouraging others, taking charge, and asking questions.
So, during team bonding activities, pay close attention to how everyone communicates and handles conflict.
8. Team building days give employees something to look forward to
Teambuilding events are a great way to build camaraderie among co-workers. They give people a reason to be excited about coming to work, and it’s easier for employees to be motivated at work. As the day of team building approaches, a buzz about the event should start around the office.
However, creating creative, unique, and fun activities is vital to ensure that excitement builds. Usually, cookie-cutter events are just not going to cut it. After all, there are only so many times someone wants to fall backward into the arms of another person. Who wants to keep coming up with two truths and a lie?
If you want to plan an event that will excite everyone, speak to us at FullTilt Team Development. We can devise activities aligned with your company values and goals to give employees something to look forward to.
9. Use a team building program to show appreciation
Team building events are a great way to show employees how much you value them. Unfortunately, it can be too easy to focus on goals, productivity, and problems and forget to celebrate achievements. By making them a priority, you show that there are more important things than work.
10. Team building events positively impact employee mental health
Team bonding activities create a positive work environment which helps address mental health issues. According to an article in Forbes, people are at their best when they have a strong support system. Because team building fosters strong relationships, it promotes positive mental health and well-being.
How to Plan Team Building Events for Business Success
A strong team is a foundation for business success. However, many companies overlook the importance of their greatest asset — their employees. Unfortunately, they often focus too heavily on customer satisfaction meaning the core business can suffer.
Instead of focusing only on the company brand and customer service, incorporate team building activities to create a strong company culture. These activities not only improve employee morale, productivity, and open communications but can also significantly enhance your business’s success and profitability.
How can you successfully plan effective team building activities? The best way is to contact a member at FullTilt. We are ready to provide a free, no-obligation consultation on the best team building strategies for business growth to strengthen the foundations of your business success.