Your Ultimate Guide to the Benefits of Team Building!

The benefits of a well-planned, well-executed team building activity are numerous. From developing those all-important soft skills to building better relationships with teammates and colleagues.  Team building activities can have a huge positive impact on individuals, teams, and entire organisations.

Picture of a group having just finished a team building activity - the benefits of team building

It is important to have a clear set of goals and desired outcomes for your event. In turn, this will help you to find an activity or programme of activities that will help you meet your objectives and deliver genuine benefits to you, your team, and ultimately your business.

22 ways team building can be used to benefit your team and your business!

Hone Problem Solving Skills

Most people will be required to solve problems on a daily basis in one way or another. These could be simple or complex, individual, team or company specific. The ability to effectively identify and solve problems in the workplace is a crucial skill regardless of whether you are a team member, manager, or senior leader.

Team building activities are a great way to proactively practice different problem solving processes and techniques in a safe and supportive environment. They provide an excellent opportunity for employees to learn different approaches and solve creative problems both individually and in teams.

Encourage Creativity

Creativity has so many benefits in business. From being able to find creative solutions to an issue or problem to create a new product. Creativity is the seed of innovation and should be encouraged in both individuals and teams.  Lach Ravelo from Creativity Mesh rightly points out in her ‘9 Surprising Advantages of Creativity in Business‘ post that “creativity can be a key differentiator, giving your business a competitive edge and helping you to attract and retain top talent.”

There are lots of team building options that will encourage employees to think outside the box and be creative with their solutions. There are also lots of choices for more literal creative team activities which will really get the creative juices flowing!

Develop Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is all about being able to assess a given situation, analyse the data, consider the available options, and make a sound and considered decision-based upon these factors. When it comes to critical thinking, it’s important not to let emotions sway your decision or impact your opinion.

This video below explains what critical thinking is really well – take a look!

Team building activities are a great way to develop critical thinking in employees. By their very nature, they present individuals and teams with problems that are outside of their comfort zone which they must analyse and solve using critical thinking skills.

Increase Resourcefulness

The ability to be resourceful in a professional environment is a real advantage and will enable employees to be more effective. Resourcefulness can mean many different things to different people. iDoGrants describes it as having the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties which I think is pretty good.

Check out their list of 50 ways to be more resourceful at work for some top tips.

The Importance of Time Management

Time management is important in day-to-day life, not just business. Whether it’s making sure you are at a meeting on time, ensuring your pitch runs exactly to schedule, or delivering a project on the agreed date – it’s all about time management.

Team building events can easily be used to reinforce the importance of time management in several ways such as imposing time limits on certain tasks or challenges, or penalising teams for missed deadlines for example.

Improve Communication

Being able to communicate effectively with colleagues and peers is a fundamental skill.  It was listed as the most in-demand ‘soft skill’ by LinkedIn and is often one of the key benefits of team building.

Communication isn’t just about being able to explain yourself clearly.  It’s also about listening actively and also tailoring your communication to your audience. Your body language matters too and will have an impact on how you are received.

By choosing a team building activity that highlights the importance of communication between teams and participants, participants will gain a greater understanding of how people communicate in different ways and how important effective communication is.

Improve Teamwork

Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of team building is improved teamwork. A study by Patrick Laughlin into Group Problem Solving found that teams made up of 3, 4, or 5 people working together outperformed the best individuals.  Teams of 2 people performed at the same level as the best individual when faced with complex problems.

It’s easy to see why effective teamwork is so beneficial in the workplace.  Team building activities are a great way to encourage and develop teamwork amongst employees.

Reinforce the Benefits of Collaboration

Collaboration and teamwork are often confused or considered to be the same thing. They are, however, different. The Civil Service College explains:

“Both teamwork and collaboration involve a group of people working together to complete a shared goal. The key difference between collaboration and teamwork is that whilst teamwork combines the individual efforts of all team members to achieve a goal, people working collaboratively complete a project collectively.”

A group of people ina rowing boat.

Collaborative team building activities require all the teams and participants to work together in order to achieve a common goal. Effective collaboration will be instrumental to their success and will provide delegates with a better understanding of how their colleagues and teamwork.

Encourage Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to acknowledge, understand, and control your emotions and feelings, as well as the emotions and feelings of others. Being emotionally intelligent in the workplace has many advantages. It can help to improve teamwork, resolve conflict, embrace change, build professional relationships, and accept feedback from your peers.

Provide Networking Opportunities

Team building activities provide the perfect opportunity to network with colleagues in a relaxed environment. Team events provide a chance for employees to build and develop relationships with people they may not typically work with. This can really help them to feel part of the company rather than just their team.

Strengthen Relationships

Team building is a great way for individuals and teams to strengthen existing relationships and develop new ones. They provide a great opportunity to network with colleagues away from the normal working environment.

Build and Maintain Trust

Trust within the workplace is vital and has been linked to employee turnover, commitment, company loyalty and staff morale. Team building activities are a very effective way of building and maintaining trust between employees through a shared experience.

People climbing a mountain and being helped by one another

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. Some people may excel when it comes to solving logical problems but may struggle with creative tasks. Others may be in their element when it comes to creative challenges but struggle elsewhere…

Team building activities are a great way to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a team so that they are able to better utilise their assets back in the workplace.

Reinforce a Key Message

Team building activities are a great way to reinforce a key message or particular theme. The key to success in this regard is to select an activity carefully and ensure it is going to be suitable and deliver exactly what you require.

Reward Staff

Team building activities are a great way to reward staff for a job well done and to say thank you for all their hard work. Ensure the activity you choose is fun and (if possible) away from the workplace.

Create a Shared Experience

Shared experiences are a fantastic way to help team members bond and get to know each other. They provide individuals and teams with an experience that enables them to identify with one another.  According to an article by Simplicable, they are the basis for the formation of culture.

Shared experiences can come in many shapes and forms, from humour and competition to supporting the same sports team or speaking the same language. Team building activities can also provide a shared experience for employees.

Promote Friendly Competition

Team building activities are a great way of encouraging friendly competition between employees and teams in a non-threatening environment.

Two children racing in go karts crossing the finishing line.

The benefits of friendly competition in the workplace include increased employee engagement, increased productivity, higher employee retention, and better team bonding. In addition, according to StringCan, competition is a big driver of motivation, accountability, performance, and innovation.

Integrate New Team Members

Team building activities are a great way to integrate new members to your team away from the office. They give new team members an opportunity to get to know their new colleagues in a more informal environment where they can collaborate on a variety of non-work-related tasks.

Increase Motivation

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!” One of the key benefits of team building activities is increasing motivation amongst staff. A little time away from the office doing something fun goes a long way! Good team building activities are worth their weight in gold when it comes to motivating staff!

Person with outstretched arms and the words 'Lets Do This' imposed over the top

Research has shown that companies considered by their workforce to be “good places to work” consistently outperform the rest of the market. Of course, team building.

Communicate a message

If you want to communicate a specific message or reinforce an important subject. Team building activities can be a fantastic and highly effective way of doing so.

The most important thing when it comes to communicating or reinforcing a message is to choose the correct team building activity. Ensuring that the event delivers exactly what you want it to is critical. A good team building company will be able to advise you on the most suitable activities.

Increase Morale

If we define morale as the level of confidence, enthusiasm, and satisfaction that is felt or displayed by an individual or team, then it’s easy to see how having a high level of employee morale can impact a business.

The benefits of good employee morale are numerous. As well as helping to create a great working environment, teams and individuals with high morale will be more productive, happier, have a lower absentee rate, and boast higher retention levels.

A carefully selected team building activity that meets the objectives of your team can be a great tool to help increase employee morale.

Increase Employee Engagement

LumApps describe Employee engagement as a state of functioning in an organization, in which employees are motivated to contribute to the company’s success. They give their best and make additional efforts to accomplish essential tasks to reach objectives.

We hope you have found this article useful.  Please share your thoughts and comments with us below.  Let us know if we have missed any benefits of team building from the list so that we can add them.

 

 

 

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