In the latter part of the 20th century, "Team Building" became recognised by many companies as an important factor in providing a quality service and remaining competitive. Yet as we stride into the 21st century, the term "team building" can still sometimes seem rather nebulous - people often know that they need it, but aren't quite sure what it is. As a result, team building is used in all sorts of contexts, even when it is not appropriate.

Some people define a team as being "the whole is greater than the sum of its' parts". But this isn't the right definition; it is a feature of good teams. 'Whole > sum' shows that they are working well together - but there are some teams whose collective performance falls short of what you might expect given the quality of individuals. The Apollo Syndrome is a good example of this - where highly intelligent people often performs worse than teams made of up 'less-able' members.

Some people define a team as being the people who report to the same boss. This can be misleading. In a well-designed organisational structure, people reporting to one boss do often form 'teams'. But when designing organisational hierarchies there are often compromises made because of pay structures or the need to have traditional reporting lines.

Whislt a team is a group of people, a group is not necessarily a team. Rather, a team is a group of people working together towards a common goal. .

Groups

If a team is a group of people working towards a common goal, 'team building' is the process of enabling that group of people to reach their goal. It is therefore a management issue, and the most effective form of team building is that undertaken as a form of management consultancy, rather than as pure training (though there is a role for training within an overall programme).

In its simplest terms, the stages involved in team building are:

• To clarify the collective goals

• To identify those inhibitors that prevent them from reaching their goals and remove them

• To put in place enablers that assist them

• To measure and monitor progress, to ensure the goals are achieved

Traditional techniques often address the inhibitors to collective performance: relationships, communication, etc.. However, if a group is only a group, then the benefits of such techniques may be limited. At best, there may be no need to resolve relationship problems; at worst it can be a waste of time and detract the people involved from achieving their individual goals.

Relationship problems

If there are problems between people working in a group, then this can have a negative impact on their individual performance. However, traditional techniques are not the solution.
The stress in a relationship between two people is governed by the formula:
(proximity of the two people) x (importance they succeed together)
-------------------------------------------------------------
(compatibility of their personalities)
In a group, the 'importance' is low. However, traditional techniques implicitly try make the importance score higher than it need be. This makes the stress score worse, because you are forcing people to work well together when they don't need to.

Also, traditional techniques sometimes tries to address the incompatibilities of the personalities involved, eg: on a personality workshop. Whilst this can be done, it is hard work and needs both parties to be committed to it. In a working group, the motivation for such difficult work is unlikely to be there - though, if they are willing to do it for personal reasons, then a personality workshop can have some effect.

However, to reduce relationship stress in a group, it is better to focus on the factor that is easiest to change: proximity. If they are only a group, then putting some distance between them (physically or by managing the boundaries between their work) will achieve a satisfactory result, without having to invest a lot of time.

Summary

• A team is a group of people working towards a common goal

• Team building is a process of enabling them to achieve that goal

• If they are only a group, then traditional techniques can be a waste of time/money or even counter-productive

• There may be better ways to resolve problems in groups: eg: putting distance between people who don't get on or, if they are both willing, building some understanding of personality differences.
  
  

Introduction

As you will have read above, Team building can be a lengthy and costly process. However, there are team building exercises that you may wish to consider when discussing your event with us such as ice breaking activities and team activities. In the event that you would like to pursue a detailed team building program we are able to present a plan to you. However, if it is just a teambuilding activity that you wish to provide fun and build on team dynamics we are able to offer you something a little more instant then the events below.

Team Building Events

With all corporate events, it is important to be clear about the objectives. These objectives should tie in to corporate goals, and the type of event you have will be strongly influenced by the outcome you are trying to achieve.

The objectives are often psychological, such as to reward staff for a good year or to overcome internal barriers between departments. A key choice is whether your aim is a positive or negative one. That is, are you trying to build on success and reinforce much of the good that is being done already. In that case, you should be considering rewarding staff with a morale-boosting time away from the workshop. Or are you trying to overcome psychological barriers that hinder communication. This requires a very different approach, where you try to establish relationships between people who don't normally interact.

Planning
Once you have defined your goals, and decided on a general approach, the 'psychology' of a corporate event needs as much planning and coordination as the logistics of transport, accommodation, activities, break times and meals.

For example, suppose you are wanting to build better relationships between management and staff. You can do this by mixing them in groups and/or at tables during mealtimes. However, left to their own devices they might naturally sit with their colleagues and friends, so you need to ensure they mix, without it appearing too contrived. You can do this using methods such as:

• Briefing everyone beforehand to encourage them to mix

• Producing a formal seating plan

• Dividing people onto tables using random criteria such as date birth

• Asking every other person to swap tables or seats between courses

There may be other ideas that are more appropriate for your group. Whatever you decide to do, the important point is that you need to plan the psychology of the event as much as the logistics.

Follow up
The 'psychological planning' you need to do not only includes the corporate event itself, but also what happens afterwards.

A major problem with corporate events is that they can achieve a great deal on the day, but as soon as people go back to the workplace, the environmental cues invoke all the old behaviours and things quickly return to the way they were. You might need to consider doings things such as:

• identifying and removing, where possible, boundaries and markers in the working environment that permanently divide people into groups: eg: desk arrangements, different dress codes

• creating ongoing working parties or cross-organisational process teams (with real objectives) to maintain the initiative and break down the barriers between team islands

• ensuring that the appreciation shown to staff (and to spouses for their support) is maintained throughout the year, with reward and recognition schemes, social events and celebrations for key achievements as they happen.