Back in the olden days, the thing to do was to have a job for life. It meant security, two weeks paid vacation, a retirement party and maybe a gold watch after forty years. WOW! According to Statistics Canada Baby Boomers entered their 50’s in jobs they held for at least 12 years and 50% worked in the same organization for an average of 20 years.
How times have changed. Nowadays, Millennials are moving jobs every 2 ½ to 3 years thus creating major problems for many corporations. Their bottom line is endangered seriously. You have inexperienced people training inexperienced people who in turn pay for mistakes made by inexperienced people. Employers need to sit back and understand why this might be happening in their organization. Perhaps boredom, disillusionment, cutbacks and a general feeling of being unappreciated is the underlying cause.
So how does a company get around this? Very simply! Team Building is the way to go. According to Tower Perrin engaged and happy employees improve the bottom line by as much as 19%.
For instance, if your company had sales of five million would an additional $950,000.00 net profit not be worth it to budget for some serious team building concepts to make your staff feel engaged? Let me give you some ideas why team building is important.
1. Team Building Activities Encourage Productivity
There are so many benefits of team building activities especially for improving productivity. Let’s take for example communications. Quite often there can be many communication barriers which in turn create problems.
The team building objective here is to open up the lines of communication and be totally transparent in what the outcome should be. A great team building game to show how communication gets lost in the translation is “Broken Telephone”
2. The Benefits of Team Building Can Successfully Improve Motivation
Here is an important objective which can be used successfully when it comes to discussing the purpose of team building. Let’s face it. Who would be motivated to do anything when they are feeling unappreciated by management? Motivation is so important especially to get staff excited and engaged in their jobs.
Think about the advantages of team building out of the office environment. Even something simple such as a bowling outing goes a long way. This works exceptionally well when staff and management play on the same team.
3. The Team Building Concept is Crucial for Collaboration
Why is team building important? Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common goal. This is called collaboration. There is a phrase that is often quoted…”United we stand divided we fall”. There is so much truth to this. We all have different mindsets, egos, ideas and skills.
The benefits of team building mean we bring all of these attributes together to create new and innovative ideas thus enhancing productivity. Competition is a thing of the past. Collaboration is the future.
4. Why Team Building is Important in the Process of Creativity
When we think of creativity the first thing that comes to mind is art. Right? Wrong! Think about some of the ads that you see on TV. Some of them are extremely entertaining, informative, funny and thought-provoking. These ads are produced by creative teamwork.
This is why the purpose of team building is so important. The team building concept brings people together to share knowledge and ideas. Team building allows us to bounce ideas off of each other and come up with creative new ideas that will make their organization more competitive, provide better customer experience, build customer loyalty and improve the financial status of the company.
5. The Benefits of Team Building in the Workplace Leads to Positive Reinforcement
Let’s face it. We all need a pat on the back every so often no matter how high up in the company you are. “You did an amazing job on that project” goes a long way. Great managers know how to build great teams and understand the advantages of team building. Positive reinforcement is the backbone of the team building concept.
The whole idea is to thank your team immediately for a job well done. Recognition of a successful campaign can be rewarded by a simple team building fun afternoon out of the office.
The remarkable power of positive reinforcement will drive profitability because you will have positive employee engagement.
6. One of the Purposes of Team Building is to Problem Solve
One of the advantages of team building is working together with your staff to solve a problem. Believe it or not my colleagues and I got together to discuss the benefits of team building activities and what sort of team building concept we would like to pursue.
We agreed on a dinner/theatre night within walking distance of our office. The venue that we thought about had a minimum of 25 people but we were only 19 people. We brainstormed and figured out that even if we paid for 25 it would still be more cost effective than going to a venue where we would meet the minimum but it would have cost more in transportation.
So there you go, the benefits of team building in action!
7. The Reason that Team Building is so Important is to Establish Trust
One of the team building objectives is to build trust between individuals. Without trust people jockey for position, keep important information to themselves and talk about others rather than talk to each other.
Trust is not only a foundation in our personal lives but also in our work lives. Many years ago I had a manager with whom I shared an innovative way of increasing sales. I trusted him to help me present this idea to head office. Nothing ever came of it.
However, several years after leaving the company I discovered my idea had been implemented. This was a clear case of betrayal. I do not believe that today with our new philosophy of the team building concept that this would have happened.
Had he been a team player, together we could have got this idea out in the marketplace within a month rather than waiting for several years. Without trust in the workplace confidence erodes and people become withdrawn and disengaged.
8. The Advantages of Team Building is to Help Teach Respect
We all know the wonderful song by Aretha Franklin…R.E.S.P.E.C.T. We might ask what has the team building benefits in the workplace got to do with respect.
This includes self-respect as well. When we have self-respect we do not have to be better than the next person.
Rather it allows us to work within a team without the expectation of being singled out as the best. We learn to appreciate and respect other points of view. It helps us to open our minds and develop new angles and new solutions to problems through mindful listening to our teammates.
When a manager understands the benefits of team building and encourages his staff to partake in team building exercises then you have a strong team who respect themselves and others which lead to increased company morale and therefore increases in productivity.
9. The Benefits of Team Building Activities Results in Increased Confidence
One of the major team building objectives is to build confidence. Many of us are afraid to step out of our comfort zones for fear that we may appear foolish or stupid.
Team building benefits the workplace by encouraging employees to step out of that zone in a safe and non-judgemental environment. Seeing a teammate struggling with an obstacle and then overcoming it increases other teammates confidence.
This increase in confidence translates into more cooperation in the workplace as well as more productivity and more profits!
10. One of the Major Purposes of Team Building is to Mitigate Conflict
Why would team building be important in the case of conflict in the workplace? First of all, we must understand that there are many different cultures working together and every culture comes with built-in idiosyncrasies, ideas and ways of speaking. Egos are involved as well as lots of drama.
This may seem insurmountable but with the proper tools, a good manager can diffuse the situation in various ways. The best way to minimize conflict is by letting team members address their concerns and frustrations in a safe environment such as team building games.
These games teach your employees how to work and create solutions together in a fun and non-threatening atmosphere. When you hear a lot of laughter and when you see a lot of twitters then you can be assured that the benefits of team building are working.
Please feel free to like this article and share with others who would like to know more about the team building concept.
For other great ideas on team building please click on this link https://popevents.ca/5-minute-team-building-activities/.
And don’t forget that your favourite Party Planner is waiting for your call to assist you with your next team building event!