Team-building activities play an irreplaceable role in strengthening a team and reinforcing relationships among its individual members. Such activities serve not only to help employees become better acquainted, but also to allow the team to test and verify its organisation, internal processes and communication. Here are some tips on how to organise a team building event and derive maximum benefit from it.
Involve subordinates in the preparation
As stated in an article on The Muse, the fact that you are a team manager doesn't mean you have to organise everything yourself. Involve members of your team in the planning and allow them the opportunity to prepare the event partly based on their own ideas.
Ensure everyone is genuinely involved
Don't allow less active or quieter members of your team to remain passive observers during team activities. Make sure everyone is involved and all team members benefit from the team building.
Define what you want to achieve
It is also necessary to clarify the aim of the team building. Do you want to have fun? Learn something new? Get to know a new colleague better? Or resolve a disagreement within the team? All these questions must be considered when planning an appropriate team building activity.
Prepare backup plans
Especially if the activities depend on the weather or other factors you can't influence, have a back-up plan prepared in case circumstances are not as you originally imagined.
Give employees some space
Don't force team members to follow all procedures and plans exactly as you designed them. So don't be a micromanager: instead, allow people some space to improvise and adjust the schedule partly according to their own needs. Don't adhere rigidly to your predefined plan.
Collect feedback from the team
After the team building has taken place, collect feedback from the participants, determine whether the set goals were achieved and adjust your approach for the future if necessary.
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