A GUIDE TO TEAM BUILDING IN THE WORKPLACE

WHAT IS TEAM BUILDING? 

Team-building encompasses a range of different activities that encourage employees to work together towards a common goal. These activities often take the form of challenges that team members need to overcome, requiring the use of a range of different soft skills to achieve specific goals. 

WHY IS TEAM BUILDING IMPORTANT? 

Many companies overlook team-building as a social activity that isn’t required for successful working relationships. However, it is essential for employees to work together efficiently and productively – and team-building activities provide the foundations necessary to meet this objective.

BENEFITS OF TEAM BUILDING

There are numerous benefits to introducing team-building activities to your company. Some of the key advantages include: 

Strengthens Cross-Team Collaboration 

The responsibilities and even the physical location of different teams can result in less familiarity between employees that may need to work across departments. Team-building days offer an ideal solution for less-familiar employees to work together, building relationships that make collaboration a much easier task. 

Improves Employee Engagement 

Providing your employees with enjoyable breaks from their working days can help to restore their interest in their work and their engagement with your company. Teams that feel appreciated and have the opportunity to bond outside of their typical roles are more likely to succeed in the workplace and go the extra mile.

Helps Employee Retention

Improved retention of employees is an effective way to keep talented people within your business by helping them develop stronger bonds with their coworkers and the company as a whole. Employees that feel valued and part of the team are more likely to stay in your company longer, reducing turnover and preventing the loss of vital skills for your business.

Enhances Communication

Employees that are friendlier with each other will communicate more freely, preventing information and processes from being siloed. Developing these relationships among staff breaks down the barriers of communication, particularly between management and team members, to improve efficiency and enhance productivity.

Supports Problem-Solving Skills 

Team-building days are more than just social events. These events offer the opportunity to develop important skills that are beneficial in the workplace. Problem-solving skills are one of the key areas that a team-building activity can target. Encouraging individuals to work together helps them to achieve the best possible outcome collectively, a skill that carries over into many aspects of work.

Increases Productivity 

Employees that can work together as a team and communicate actively inside and outside their departments are more productive in their day-to-day tasks. By reducing bottlenecks and creating relationships that foster communication, you can improve efficiency in the workplace that is frequently caused by communication issues. 

BUSINESS CHALLENGES TEAM BUILDING CAN ADDRESS

Remote and Hybrid Working Barriers 

With many businesses embracing remote and hybrid working environments, it’s important to put extra effort into engaging and building relationships between employees. Team-building activities, whether online or in person, offer the opportunity for staff to put faces to names and develop positive relationships despite the distance.

Low Morale 

Low morale has a direct impact on the productivity and work quality of employees. There can be many causes of poor morale, but no connection with coworkers or engagement with your organisation is a key factor. Team-building provides a way for staff to build rapport, improving morale by making them part of a team rather than an individual worker.

Misaligned Goals and Priorities 

Misaligned goals and differences in priorities can cause friction in the workplace, with employees facing changing goalposts or difficulty in following contrasting instructions. Team-building can provide employees with the means to communicate these problems effectively, ensuring the workplace runs smoothly and everyone works towards the same goal.

Communication Breakdown

Communication breakdowns are a significant issue in the workplace, causing delays in work being completed and in some cases resulting in a hostile working environment. Team-building activities provide a fresh space away from typical work stresses to rebuild relationships and open new lines of communication. 

KEY ELEMENTS TO TEAM BUILDING 

Clear Objectives 

A clear objective allows all employees to work together to achieve a specific goal. By defining exactly what you need your team to achieve, they have the information necessary to use their creativity, communication and other soft skills to meet that objective. 

Leadership Involvement 

Involving management and leadership in team-building is just as important as building relationships amongst peers. Relationships between staff and management can be a serious bottleneck. By including leadership, you can build a stronger team as a whole and encourage engagement and communication within your business.

Inclusive and Accessible Activities 

Choosing activities that are accessible to every employee is essential to achieve your primary goal of a more connected team. Team-building days that exclude specific team members can make them feel isolated and further increase their discord when communicating with the rest of your business.

TYPES OF TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES 

There is a wide range of unique team-building activities you could consider when planning your next team day out. These could include:

• Problem-solving activities, such as escape rooms, that rely on working together to solve puzzles.
• Communication activities, such as building or drawing something blindfolded with instruction from your team.
• Trust-building activities, such as relying on other employees to create a bridge or guide others through an obstacle course.
• Social activities, such as yoga sessions, volunteering days or bake-off classes.

If you have a remote or hybrid team, it’s important to know how to do online team-building activities in a way that’s engaging for all employees, such as online quizzes or virtual escape rooms. 

TEAM BUILDING CONSIDERATIONS 

Team Size 

The size of the team can affect which kind of team-building activity you choose. For example, smaller teams can work together on a single task, while larger teams may exceed capacity and require division between multiple different activities.

Business Goals

Defining the outcome you want to achieve from team-building can enable you to choose the right activity. Consider whether your goal is to improve interpersonal relationships, improve employee engagement or build vital soft skills in your team.

Account for Remote and Hybrid Workers 

Teams with a mixture of remote and hybrid workers should consider activities that are suitable for all employees. For example, if you plan an in-person day, you should choose a central location and offer transportation and accommodation, or you could organise an online event that employees can join from anywhere.

Balance Fun and Professional Development 

For team-building to be successful, your employees should enjoy themselves and actively want to work towards goals and objectives. Engagement in your business and a sense of value are as important as developing core skills that benefit productivity, giving employees motivation and improving retention in your organisation.

MEASURING THE IMPACT OF TEAM BUILDING

Building positive relationships within your business is highly beneficial for morale and productivity but can be tricky to measure and identify how your organisation has improved through typical metrics. Some of the ways you can monitor the success of team-building days include:

• Looking at improvements in productivity in and between teams.
• Asking staff to complete surveys about their experience.
• Reviewing the number of complaints or communications difficulties reported by managers.
• Keeping track of turnover rates within your business.
• Checking for an increase in interaction and communication in digital tools like Slack or Teams.
• Examining whether typical delays caused by communications bottlenecks are still present in future cross-department projects.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT WITH CLOVER HR

If you are considering implementing team-building and employee engagement activities, Clover HR can help. We help you to boost morale, reduce turnover and improve communication in your teams. Contact us on 0330 175 6601 or email us at info@cloverhr.co.uk to discuss your requirements.