Successful Team Building Factors

Successful team building methods have been used for many years to bring individuals together so that they could motivate each other to achieving their goals.  We look at team development as an extended process that includes assessing and diagnosing the team, facilitating workshops that provide additional training, enhancing leadership on the team through coaching, and helping team members remain accountable to each other and to the organization.  If team development is a process, then team building is about developing specific skills within the team through a variety of training activities.  Here are some additional thoughts about team building:

Team building doesn't have to take up a significant amount of time.  
Successful team building programs may only be one or two days in length.  These "workshops" usually focus on skill building in the areas of managing conflict, respecting diversity, defining roles and expectations, setting clear goals, making effective decisions, and developing an open leadership model that promotes a positive atmosphere.  Team building is only a part of our Team Development Model. 

Team building will be beneficial to a team if it is designed to achieve specific performance results.
Team building can be successful, but it needs to have a specific, achievable goal.  Team building must focus on developing workshops that meet the need of the team.  Ropes courses and outdoor activities can be a great deal of fun, but are only as successful when the entire team endorses them.    

The Executive Team must be committed to the team building process.  
Teams must feel that the results of team building will be respected and endorsed by the leadership of the organization.  Team building programs that lack support from above are less effective because team members believe that they cannot  implement new ideas and thoughts.  This is true for the entire team development process.

The team leader and members must commit to the team building process.  
It is important that every member on the team commit to the team building training/activities and to the overall development of the team.

Team building is most effective when lead by an external expert, rather than a team leader.  
While there are many very effective team leaders that can provide the training and coaching necessary to help their team move forward, we believe that an outside expert in team building can bring in experience and objectivity to the team development process. 

Would you like to know more about our approach to Team Development?