Why team building is important?
"A strong team performs better, solves better, and grows better," says Sara, the sales manager at a leading manufacturing company. Twice every year, she organizes team building activities for her team, where they all create something together. Sara feels this helps her team learn to adapt, connect, and build rapport. Sara highlights, "These team building activities foster creative thinking and emotional intelligence."
Teamwork is the most critical asset of an organization. Like Sam Walton said, "Individuals don't win, teams do." Team cohesion encourages individuals to work collaboratively and focus more on the entire team's success and not just their individual gains.
Between the opportunities to strengthen the team bonding and to inject fun and play into the rather stressful workdays, it's a great way to recognize and appreciate the diversity of other personalities.
Probably you are aware of the widely highlighted benefits of team building activities – improved team bonding, enhanced communication, increased motivation, and improved productivity. But how much do you recognize the growing importance of team building activities in today's volatile business environment? HR is at the helm of developing a 'thriving workforce' that is agile, adaptive, and achievement-oriented.
As organizations focus on unlocking their employees' full potential, we highlight the three most significant workplace realities that make team-building activities more relevant than ever.
Bridge multigenerational teams
In many companies, employees from four different generations, Millennials, Generations X, Y, and Z, are working together. Each generation has its own working styles, perspectives, and work ethics. A simple example is a difference in the preferred communication methods. While Millennials send text messages and tweets, older generations still like to call or email. Then, there is the issue of prevailing negative generational stereotypes. The more senior employees label Millennials as spoiled, lazy, and entitled, Millennials call Gen Xers as 'bleak and cynical.'
Team building activities breakdown pre-existing barriers and bring the participants closer. When employees from different generations come together as a team to create something new, they recognize and appreciate what they and others have to offer. Employees experience a sense of synergy based on mutual trust that binds them beyond a one-day team-building activity.
During the team building activities, employees share their ideas and feedback. They ask questions to understand others' perspectives and give explanations to clarify their own point of view. They realize their own potential biases that make them blind to the strengths of the other generations. As they become more objective to achieve the team building activity's outcome, they tailor their communication styles to match that of their teammate.
Build agile teams
In this age of business disruption, organizations need to continuously align with the changing climate. HR leaders' key responsibility is to build an 'agile workforce' that swiftly adapts to the changing needs of the business. The ability and speed to adapt come from a growth mindset. Employees with a growth mindset welcome challenges and see failures as a way to improve. They don't view feedback as a personal attack but view it as a tool to fuel their performance.
Team building activities that create a space where learning matters more than the outcome help build agile teams. These offer a chance for employees to step outside their comfort zone. Creative team building activities like art and craft, soap-making, and terrarium-making celebrate learning, as they introduce team members to iterative development. Team members are required to change their course of action several times before they get the end product. They make a decision, pause and reflect, share their learning with others, and refine their approach on their path to completion.
As team members work diligently to solve a problem, seek help from peers, share their knowledge, and give team members credit for their contributions, they realize failure while learning is acceptable. In this way, focused team building activities prove useful for employees to overcome their fear of failure, resistance to change, and adapt quickly to move forward.
Connect remote employees
The current pandemic has made virtual working as a new reality. The generally accepted principles of team bonding and collaboration do not automatically translate into the virtual world. Many organizations weren't prepared for this new challenge, and they are grappling with keeping their remote employees together. Apart from the feelings of isolation and disengagement, issues of decline in mental health and emotional wellbeing are surfacing. Even if it's virtual, managers are trying to create a healthy social environment for their teams.
Of course, nothing can beat the goodness of shared in-person experiences, but what to do when that's not an option. In this new normal, virtual team building activities are becoming a rage. Employees feel excited to try something new, channelize their creativity, and share lesser-known aspects of their personalities. They feel a renewed sense of belonging and enthusiasm.
Team building activities that involve creating something with your hands foster a sense of pride and satisfaction. When working remotely, employees spend too much time on technological devices, which hurts their psychological health. Purposeful creative endeavors that get us to make, repair, or create things prove useful for relieving stress and anxiety. Even simple craft activities are profoundly absorbing and foster a sense of flow, bringing instantaneous joy and happiness.
Are you looking for some fun team building activities?
At Kraftlab, we strive to inspire teamwork by fostering meaningful connections. Check out how our unique crafty virtual activities and virtual team building activities are making strides in creating a happier and healthier workforce.
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