Tips for Effective Team Building in the Workplace

If you want to guide your team through success and ensure successful project management, below are eleven tips for effective team building for you. In a team-oriented workplace, everybody must contribute to the overall success of the organization. To achieve good results, everyone who included in an organization should work well with each other. Even if a person has a specific job function and belongs to a specific department, it is necessary to work in cooperation with other members to accomplish the targets.

Table of Contents

However, leaders do not often clearly define the teams they want to form. Sometimes they consider that seminars, meetings, activities related to team building as redundant and unsuccessful. A number of people are not aware of the differences between developing an overall sense of teamwork and building a well-organized and focused team.

Tips For Successful Team Building

People who included in teams as executives, managers, and organization staff members should look for ways to improve business results and profitability.

Team-based, horizontal, organizational structures, considered as the best design for involving all employees while creating business success, by many.

Whatever you call your team-based improvement effort (whether it’s continuous improvement, total quality, lean project management, or a self-managed work team), your target should be to strive and improve results for the customers. But, only a few organizations are satisfied with the results of their team development efforts.

Revamp your team’s perspective and improve productivity by holding an unforgettable team building activity. Even despite the current pandemic situation, you shouldn’t postpone your team building plans. You can initiate a virtual team building or an online hybrid event to catch up with your remote team. Learn more about how you can go about holding a virtual team building here and in other platforms and digital sources.

If your team development efforts are not meeting your expectations, we recommend you to read the following 12 tips and create a checklist with the help of questions asked for each item.

1. Expectations For Team Need to be Clear

Your team building’s goal should be clear right from the start to get everyone on the same page and avoid unrealistic expectations. In this way, you can focus on improving the experience of your employees aligned with your company’s goals. Hence, your team building activity can benefit both your business and your workforce.

Ask the following questions yourself and try to give answers.

Did the leader clearly explain his expectations from the team?

How strong is the relationship between the leader and the team members?

Does the team members aware of why the team exists?

2. The Context for the Team

The context of a team-building activity in the workplace lays the ground for the activities you’ll initiate to ensure your employees will enjoy the overall experience. In addition, you want your team to realize their fullest potential in helping the company attain its target goals.

The following questions will help you to understand the context for the team.

Do the members aware of why they are included in the team?

Do the members know and aware of how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business goals?

Can the members explain their team’s importance to the achievement of corporate aims?

Does the team get to know where its work fits in the term of the organization’s aims, basis, vision, and values?

3. Commonality of the Team

It’s imperative to determine the similarities and even the differences of your employees. If you want to realize the goals of your team building activity, you should have this in mind when planning for the activities.

What do the members think about the mission of the team, do they consider it as important?

Do they want to be included in it?

Are they determined to accomplish the team mission and expected results?

Do team members expect their skills to grow and develop in the team?

Do team members consider their division and jobs as valuable to their career and their organization?

Do team members expect their contributions to be appreciated?

Do team members feel excited about what they will experience, such as the opportunities and challenges they can achieve?

4. Balancing

While you are building a new team, you need to bear in mind the balancing. As in every setting, there must be a balance in group work. For example, a balance must be struck between discipline and comfort. Time periods for working and resting of group members should be corrected at the right rate.

Leaders’ attitude towards members should also be balanced.

5. Charter of the Team

Promoting collaboration and teamwork starts with identifying each team member’s goals and the showing of support by other members.

Have the team members made a division of labor and organized their strategies and missions according to the division of labor?

Have the members talked about their aims and stated them?

Does the leadership team or other coordinating group support what the team has pointed out?

6. Team Control

Are all feedbacks from members being confirmed?

Have the team members clearly got their limits?

Are the team and the organization is consistently aligned with both direction and purpose?

Is the feedback from the process consistent within the team?

Have constraints (eg, financial and time resources) been defined at the start of the project before the team encounters hurdles and rework?

7. Team Collaboration

Are responsibilities and group process understood by team members?

Does the teamwork progress effectively?

How is the harmony between the members?

Has the division of labor in the team done?

When a problem arises, how is the approach to this problem, are the members solution-oriented?

Are meetings arranged at a suitable time for everyone?

8. Team Communication

Do the members know their priority and are they clear about it?

Has feedback been given for any performance?

What do members know about the context?

How is the communication between members is it clear and honest?

Can the members express themselves comfortably?

9. Creativity Of The team

What is the team’s perspective on changes?

How do they approach different perspectives and new ideas within the team?

So do new ideas contribute to the organization?

10. Team Consequences

How do members feel about the achievements of the team? responsible? accountable?

Does the team have a reward system?

Are the members appreciated enough?

Are reasonable risks taken?

When faced with a problem, do the members try to solve the problem or blame each other?

11.Coordination of the Team

Do leadership coordinate the team that assists the groups to obtain what they need for success?

Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments?

Is it being understood the concept of the organization by the team?

# Bonus Tip for Team Building: Team Culture Change

Is the organization aware that the organizational culture of the future is different from the traditional, hierarchical organization that is team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling?

Does the organization plan or is in the process of changing the way it rewards, evaluates, recruit, develop, motivate and manage its employees?

Does the organization accept that the more it changes its climate to support teams, the more reimbursement the teams will receive for their work?

If you think about all these eleven tips for effective team building, you will indeed encourage teamwork and guide your team through success. We highly recommend you to create your own checklist by using the questions asked for each item. Please share your insights while you are managing your team through the comments box below.