Team Building
Anyone managing associations knows that when groups of people work more smoothly together, the organization’s results are bound to improve. Everyone agrees that a high-functioning team is a good thing.
The typical response, however, when an association has a team or a staff that does not seem to be performing at its best, is to do some “team building” with the team in question. This often means paying a large sum of money to a trainer or consultant who will bring the team to an interesting location for a one- or two-day off-site meeting where the team can get to know each other better, play some fun games, learn some interesting concepts about trust or communication, and head back to the office refreshed and “built” as a team.
Unfortunately, that is all a lie. While the team will have fun and will learn interesting and useful concepts, it is highly unlikely that the team will be any more “built” than it was before the retreat. How many times have you gone on a team building retreat, and when you get back to the office the team is more effective together for a period of approximately three months before it reverts back to its old, dysfunctional patterns? Teams are “built” only when they can consistently perform better than they were before. It is unlikely you can achieve that after one retreat.
Real team effectiveness is based on deeply rooted patterns of interaction that do not emerge simply because team members “get along” well or have fun together. Building teams is best accomplished by helping teams to actually identify and work through real work-based problems. This may include some skill building or discussion of new concepts, but it must always be done in the very real context of getting work done. Associations need to take team building more seriously by making it a part of ongoing management concerns. Build team performance into management performance reviews. Provide ongoing internal and external resources to support teams in identifying and building more successful work patterns. Allow teams the space to tackle the tougher issues like conflict and accountability, rather than encouraging them to merely get along better.
If you want to bring your senior management team to a resort for a weekend and have them do trust falls with each other, more power to you. But don’t pretend this is teambuilding. It may be a nice reward for the hard work your people have put in”â€they will likely emerge refreshed and relaxed. But keep the teambuilding real and make it an ongoing part of the work of your association.
Tell us more about this “identify and work through real work-based problems”, that appears to be the crux of the issue… and I am pretty much in agreement… but how are you proposing people do that?
/df
As a consultant, I am required to answer, “It depends.” Seriously, I do think there are many ways to do it. If you have a team that needs “building,” then set aside the day for the retreat, but create a process where they spend time talking through real issues they are facing. When I do it, I just interview everyone ahead of time and then summarize the themes from the interviews at the beginning of the retreat in order to create an agenda. They then work through the issues either dealing with them or at least creating a follow-up action plan. It’s not rocket science, but most teams don’t take the time to talk about those issues thoroughly during the workday. You can use other processes, as long as you create an environment where people can openly confront the issues. Again, here the typical “teambuilding” techniques of taking people out of the office and hiring a facilitator can help. But honestly, that is not required. Teams can do this on their own. It really depends on the culture of the organization and the existing communication patterns.
[...] Jamie has some thoughts on Team Building in the weblog We Have Always Done it That way. The idea is that retreats and tricks and games do not have significant impact – unless they are reinforced and supplemented by effective an team management that actively engages in building teamwork. Real team effectiveness is based on deeply rooted patterns of interaction that do not emerge simply because team members “get along” well or have fun together. Building teams is best accomplished by helping teams to actually identify and work through real work-based problems. This may include some skill building or discussion of new concepts, but it must always be done in the very real context of getting work done. Associations need to take team building more seriously by making it a part of ongoing management concerns. Build team performance into management performance reviews. Provide ongoing internal and external resources to support teams in identifying and building more successful work patterns. Allow teams the space to tackle the tougher issues like conflict and accountability, rather than encouraging them to merely get along better. [...]
You have absolutely identified the problem with most corporate team building programs … they fail to give people ways of working through issues. This is difficult. Our egos and our availabilty (to the company) get in the way. I guess at the hiring stage an employer needs to be sure he is recruiting people who will be willing to fit in with others and contribute to the goals and ambitions of the business.