“No man is an island” and increasingly organisations use teams for a variety of different reasons; to work together to achieve a particular objective, as well as ongoing teams who work together to achieve a common purpose.
Individuals naturally adopt different roles within a team and at the outset team building can be a great tool to help the team understand their role, targets, objectives, and of course facilitate team development. This will ensure that a culture of value is created so that all team members work effectively together, learning from each other and making sure that they have an appreciation of each others roles.
How do I go about creating a team?
Great teams need inspirational leaders. The key to successful teams are that they have worthwhile aims, know what's to be achieved, have time to develop as a unit and are clear about their roles.
What do I do about a team that is not working very well?
Developing a strong team takes time. If there are problems that just won't go away then review the people in the team, look at their personality types, do they have the right skills? Don't be afraid of developing or refocusing people's roles and bringing in new people. Look at the relationships, do you have too many chiefs and not enough Indians, or vice versa? Are the people working together too similar in the way they like to do things? Is everyone working to his or her individual strengths?
Remember: "A train only needs one ticket collector, one guard and one driver!"
What's the difference between team working and team building?
Team working is about processes not goals, and whilst team working encourages a successful team, on its own it does not make that team successful. Team building is used to create new teams or help existing teams bond and develop better understanding or each others personalities and preferred working styles.
When should I be team building?
Team building is about bringing people together in the work environment, they may have different or similar roles but work together to reach a team goal. A good example of when team building could really benefit a business is after a programme of redundancies when the remaining staff need time to come to terms with the loss of their colleagues and build new working relationships. Team building helps managers get their teams back into full working order.
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