Today, many organizations are opting to hire diverse teams and rely on individual member’s contributions to achieve their business objectives. Managers need to minimize conflict among the team members to ensure that the teams are working to their full potential.
Team Building activities are an effective way of bringing team members together and educating them on the different strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of their coworkers. Effective team-building strategies could help employees to work together and make the most out of individual members’ strengths.
There are four main team-building techniques that leaders can use to help their team effectively achieve their goals.
Personality-Based Techniques for Team Building
One great way to learn about teammates and colleagues is to do a personality test. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is a respected psychometric exam used to classify people into one of 16 different personality types, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Understanding that some members of the team are naturally more introverted than others can help managers assign them more creative tasks, while extroverted colleagues may benefit from tasks involving engagement with customers and other people, along with presenting new ideas.
Every personality type has an important role in the organization. Team building strategies that integrate each team member’s type of personality, along with an understanding of how individuals interact with others, can help organizations appreciate everyone’s input much better.
Activity-Based Techniques in Team Building
Activity-based approaches to teambuilding games usually entail team members participating in a series of challenging tasks that are designed to get them off their comfort zones. In a lot of cases, the tasks are completed outdoors, and they may include courses, ropes, rafting, boot camps, or survival events.
Although it might seem irrelevant to take employees out of the office, in reality, it can be incredibly rewarding for the team members that need to learn to work with one another and trust each other. Activity-based approaches can be very effective with younger employees who might be eager to try their hand at something a little different.
Skills-Based Techniques in Team Building
If the management is concerned about activity-based team building not being effective at developing specific job skills, then a skills-based approach might be more suited. This entails team members participating in workshops meant to develop important job skills, like how to give helpful feedback and negotiate effectively. These kinds of skills can be honed in skills-based workshops and immediately work to serve the interests of the organization, and can be beneficial when it comes to boosting team performance.
Problem-Solving-Based Techniques in Team Building
For some teams, it’s best to look specifically at the internal dynamics to identify any problems that may exist within the workplace, such as poor morale, process strategy, or lack of communication.
The problem-solving-based technique for team building is designed to do exactly what it sounds like. The approach often takes place in settings such as a retreat and typically involves an external consultant. The team leader can navigate the team via a series of exercises that will help them narrow in on the different issues and work toward resolving them. When you directly address the issues the group is facing, this approach can remarkably help teams relax and even enhance their interpersonal relationships.
The Need for Team Building
The four main types of team-building techniques discussed above are only a taste of the different approaches that leaders can use to enhance workplace cohesion. Some organizational managers can choose to experiment with techniques like group-building activities if they are manning virtual teams. Social networking tools can come in handy for filling the gaps and bringing distant employees together.
No matter the approach that works best for your organization, team-building exercises can help ensure that your teams are working to their full potential. When team members have fully understood the differences in thinking approaches, communication styles, and other characteristics of their coworkers, they will be more likely to appreciate the value individual team members bring to the organization.
