Having an effective workplace team is one of the most significant ways to enhance productivity.
Over the recent years more companies have realized the importance of having a workplace where co operation and collaboration are crucial for success.
With this realization, frequent team building activities have become core in many companies. Some of these activities include problem solving activities, retreats, games among others.
In most cases, the team building activities are viewed as perfect times for breaks, but they play a significant role in helping build effective workplace teams. Here are some of the ways that they help in this process.
1. Enhance overall productivity
Team building activities are geared towards helping teams boost their overall productivity. During the activities, it becomes possible for leaders and the team members to make identification of the most effective ways to improve processes, policies and procedures that affect productivity in the organization.
Employees learn how to collaborate and network as they work in a more effective manner. In addition, they also learn how to minimize duplication of efforts that affect productivity in many workplaces. They learn the best ways to work in a more efficient manner.
2. Boost motivation
Different team building activities help boost motivation of employees in a workplace. During the different activities, teams learn how to undertake and complete a certain activity together successfully.
This helps them feel happy about themselves and at the same time helps in creating momentum. Confidence and abilities among the employees is also enhanced in the process.
They learn that the company is committed and dedicated to invest in them. This gives them the motivation to apply more efforts when they work as a team and also individually.
3. Increase collaboration
A workplace team can never succeed if there is no collaboration. Well planned and organised team building activities help bring in more collaboration between the members.
Effective collaboration involves understanding the different skills that individual employees have, their experience level and help in building trust in them. By coming up with team building activities that employees enjoy and love as a team, employees can build good working relationships.
In addition to this, they can also build strong networks that can help them in their day to day life. These strong networks are not only helpful in the present, but also in the future.
4. Encouraging creativity
Creativity is essential to a workplace team success. To enhance creativity in a team, it is vital to ensure that the members engage in different activities together.
It is worth noting that in a team, you have employees with different perspectives and levels of professionalism. This diversity is crucial in helping bring innovations as members exchange the diverse and fresh ideas among them.
Out of a simple team building activity, employees get an opportunity to apply their imagination to develop highly creative solutions. They learn the importance of being creative and respecting the ideas given by each other.
5. Reinforce positivity in a team
Effective workplace team should be build through positive reinforcement. There is no better way of enhancing this positive reinforcement other than having well planned team building activities.
The activities are used in providing recognition to team members by showcasing the work that individual members do and the behaviors that have warranted them to be recognized.
By integrating the aspect of recognition in the process of team building, you help all the participants understand the organization values and what they mean to the overall success of the company.
6. Enhanced communication
There is no way that a workplace team will achieve its objectives if there is no effective communication. Well organised team building activities help improve overall communication among the employees.
Most of the activities offer fun and joy that helps members understand each other and help break down any form of mistrust among them. They help them focus on what brings them together instead of the differences that exist among them.
With better understanding, it becomes easy for team members to communicate in a more effective and efficient manner.
7. Help cultivate strengths and deal with weaknesses
Team building activities act as the best way that strengths among the individual members can be nurtured. On the other hand, they also help in addressing weaknesses existing among the employees.
During the activities, it becomes easy to recognize these strengths and understand the best ways to nurture them for the good of the entire organization. It is also during the activities that weaknesses among the team members are recognized and best ways to address them developed.
8. Respect for diversity
Members of a workplace team are different. The diversity that exists among the members should never act as a hindrance to the effectiveness running of the team. Team building activities act as great way to help members respect the differences that exist among them.
They learn that the diversity should act as the basis of bringing in more fresh ideas and creativity in the workplace. With this respect, it because very easy for members of a team to work together towards the set goals.
9. Recognize leadership qualities
When members of a team come together during the team building activities, this is when you are able to understand real personalities of the individual employees. It is during this process you will be able to recognize natural leadership qualities among the members.
This is a great opportunity to allow individual with leadership abilities to take control of the activities. It also becomes easy to recognize the different leadership styles demonstrated by individuals, thus helping know where they can fit in the organization.
In addition, leaders get the opportunity to nurture existing leaders to make them better and also mentor new ones in the organization.
Bottom line
The above are just some of the ways that team building activities can help in creation of effective team in a workplace. The most important thing is to ensure that they are well planned and organised in order to get the desired results. Make sure that you create activities that all members will enjoy and have fun in the process.
