Team building is crucial to any business. But we have all heard the stories about team building exercises that wound up being a huge waste of time. If anything, it drove the team and management further apart.
But there are a few ways in which to focus on team building without it feeling like a waste of employee time. Here are a few of the most effective ways.
Garner Feedback
The first step is to find out about how the current environment is working. Ask team members what they like, what they don’t, what they would change, and more. Getting that feedback can set the foundation for team building.
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is simply enacting change and not taking the team into consideration. This leads to push back, which ultimately leads to wasted time that could have been better used.
Keep it Short
For the most part, team members all have things that they need to get done over the course of a given day. It can feel like a waste of time to pull them out and have them sit around doing team building activities when there is work to do.
Which means keeping activities short and sweet. Focus on building the team over time with short activities. It means less of a chance of the information or experiences being forgotten while also not keeping them from the busy work day.
Keep it Straightforward
Another major mistake that organizations make with team building exercises is that they go for something cheesy thinking it will be fun. In reality, employees roll their eyes at it and everything becomes a huge waste of time.
Keep things simple and straightforward. Don’t create goofy games that take away from the message at hand. Focus on keeping the team members working towards better communication and understanding because that is the important message. Taking the focus away with weird or cheesy games just gives them memories of something that they don’t care for.