Home: Tag : teambuilding

Developing effective teams in today’s workplace is difficult but when you add the complexity of people from diverse cultures, it becomes a challenge beyond the abilities of most managers.

Outclass Teams thrive, flourish and prosper in an outclass culture. This culture in produced neither overnight nor a result of an accident. Outclass teams give their heart and soul in building a culture that supports peak team performance. From my own experience of teams, I have been able to identify a set of seven hidden beliefs which seem to repeatedly sustain outclass teams.

Occasionally, organizational leaders ask me a very straightforward question: “We agree with you on the idea of empowering teams for long-term sustenance. But we have witnessed that even empowered teams become severely ineffectual and don’t remain sustained for long. How would you explain this?”

Before you think teamwork is the answer and spend large sums of money on “team-building” exercises, maybe you should consider whether your place of business needs teams at all. Perhaps more would get done by leaving your people alone to do what they already excel at. Forcing people to join teams simply for the sake of “inclusion” is a bad idea.

Hundreds of companies waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue every year on "Team Building" programs that do not produce the desired results. The programs fail to develop a team atmosphere within their organizations. The term "Team Building" has itself become a bit confusing. So much is being offered today at the name of team building that the client gets perplexed.

If you too recognize the need for team development, and are planning some activities for that purpose, you should have some idea of the pitfalls of team building, and how to go about it. It doesn’t matter whether you hire a consultant to help, or you lead the process yourself, if you know what must be avoided, there are good chances of your success.

Bringing a high performing team back on track is critical for leaders. A range of tools are available to help leaders achieve this objective. The most effective approach has been to sensitize leaders about certain behaviors that cause teams to slip. The process encourages teams (including leaders) to make a strong commitment to ‘SAY NO’ to different behaviors, attitudes and actions damaging the overall productivity and performance of the team.

Many organizations may still have doubt whether investment in team building will pay off? Investment in a structured program with well thought-out goals and outcomes can actually give you a many fold advantage. A team-building event at a certain level gives you a lot more than just a fun day out. It really can make a significant business difference.