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Whatever your personal thoughts are about corporate team building events, it looks like they are here to stay, as more and more companies are utilizing these activities as a means of helping improve growth. You’ll find any number of team building options, from the mundane to the scary and dangerous. Infact, along with conferences and business expos, team building exercises are now part and parcel of the work place environment. But in spite of their apparent popularity among the management, many employees are still wondering what’s the point?
Those of you who are team building averse, will quickly point to the idea that team building is usually a band-aid for bad management practices, whereby those incharge find it easier to “blame” underling employees for the ills of the company. And of course, offering the solution within the same breathe. It’s a means by which bosses can avoid facing any real problems, by simply suggesting that a couple of afternoons every few months will sort everything out, when in fact the problems emanate from the top.
On the other hand, you'll find plenty of those who genuinely believe that team building is a tonic for troubled times, and turns results for practical reasons.
If you’re not a fan of team building events, then you’re probably wondering how on earth these new-founded ideas gained mainstream business traction. Well, for that you can thank a certain Elton Mayo. He was an organizational theorist, and it’s thanks to his experiments that we have the understanding we see today, of office-based productivity and teamwork. Probably one of his most famous works, and very relevant to today’s topic, was the Hawthorne Works Factory experiments, which produced the “Hawthorne Effect.”
The experiment was as follows: a group of workers was split into two groups. The first group had their office lights so that they were brighter, offering more illumination. The second group’s office flights were relatively dim. Mayo found that the productivity was higher with the former group. But what was of greater interest was what happened when the first group had their bright lights dimmed. Did it reduce their productivity? Nope, they remained as productive as they had been with stronger lighting. The conclusion Mayo reached was that the changes made later had little effect on the previous behaviour. He discovered that the underlying reason for the remaining high productivity was that the employees felt that the boss was concerned as to their well-being, and was trying to help them be more productive. If we take this lesson back to the subject of team building, it means that any effort on the part of management to improve and boost morale, will show up with greater results and increased productivity.And, in many ways, the actual team building exercise itself is almost secondary, ust as long as the boss shows a real interest.
It could well be argued that instead of specific team building events, that just be paying more attention to training and overseeing employees, then the work teams could develop perfectly well on their own. Though there is a lot of truth in this approach, we still believe that team building as a separate activity does offer some considerable benefits. Probably the biggest difference between work-based activities and those of an external team building exercise is the level of informality. The very fact that all the members of a work team can relax and enjoy themselves will really make a massive difference in the results. You may well have a professional and hard working group of employees, but without an injection of fun once in a while, no one is going to enjoy their jobs. You’ll find a significant increase in both productivity and work satisfaction if workers can let their hair down once in a while.
Don't ever underestimate the importance of morale boosting. For many employees, making some sort of work-life balance is almost impossible. This means that many days are going to be a struggle, both mentally and physically. Helping someone feel better about themselves with some simple morale boosting is going to work wonders. Everyone needs to be recognised and respected. Team building can help achieve these important factors, and in so doing, increase productivity.
Team building, due to its more relaxed approach can allow certain employees to try out new approaches to tasks, as well as trying out new roles, as there’s no pressure or financial consequences to their actions. This means that management can see just how well certain individuals do in new positions or under pressure. In fact, we would suggest that this approach allows for training of employees, as there’s no pressure and it's all taking place in a non threatening environment.
You may well find that part of the pushback against team building events, particularly if it's coming from management, is down to cost. In many ways, having a team building is all well and good, but without the metrics to measure it’s actual usefulness, many bosses will dismiss the whole exercise as a waste of time, money and effort. They cannot see where the return on investment occurs. Personally, we can only put this down to willful ignorance. A quick Google search will bring up study after study showing the real tangible benefits of team building on a workforce. Even common sense would tell you that by taking notice of those around you, you can help make the working day better for everyone. We suggest that all bosses should consider putting company money into team building events, and on a regular basis.
Though they were performed decades ago, the experiments of Elton Mayo resonate louder today than at any time. No matter how you spin the numbers, the truth is that by paying attention to your workforce, all bosses stand to benefit. Spending some time boosting morale as well as looking for ways that your teams can work better together is a sure-fire means to creating a great working environment. We all have to work. So making the day to day as bearable as possible and by lifting your employees up, will help the business thrive as well as ensure you get the best from everyone.
