Teamwork and team building are essentially co-related. In this chapter, you learn more about how team building is used to encourage teamwork.

• A good team needs to have shared goals. This is what encourages teamwork. In addition, the only way to people can work together is if they are in agreement.
• How does team building help in fostering team spirit, participation, and also sharing of ideas?
• How can teammates learn how to support and motivate one another?
• What benefits does team building have not just for the team but for the organization?

Once you realize the benefits of team building, you will definitely see why this is very important for the success of any team.

1. Shared Goals. One of the most important benefits of team building is coming up with shared goals. If a team manages to establish some common objectives, they are more likely to succeed. This is also reflected in the overall performance of the organization as a whole.
2. Agreement. When people work in agreement, they generally tend to be more focused and productive. This fosters trust among the team members which helps them work together much better.
3. Ideas and team participation. When a team starts working together, they become more effective. Different people start to share ideas and opinions. Every participating member of the team brings something different to the table. This is what makes team building such a successful strategy in an organization.
4. Nurturing team spirit. Team building helps in nurturing team spirit. There are so many experienced and well-educated individuals who can manage to work very well on their own. Although they do make a good contribution to the organization, they can make a better contribution by working as a team.
5. Motivation and support. Team building enables different people to support and motivate each other while working towards the same goals. There are so many employees in different organizations that have so much potential but they lack the motivation to make the best out of it. Team members can help and encourage each other to properly demonstrate their capabilities by working together. In addition, team building normally creates the right atmosphere for team spirit. This helps in giving a push to people who need it in order to get the job done.
6. Organizational. Benefits Team building normally helps the organization as a whole. When employees work as a team, they tend to be generally more productive. Such employees also tend to focus on the goals and objectives of the organization rather than their own individual gratification.
7. Rapport. Team building helps in creating a good rapport between the employees. They learn to relate to each other in a personal and professional relationship. This enables them to work with each other better. This ultimately creates a good working environment conducive to high productivity. Corporate retreats and team-building exercises play a vital role in encouraging teamwork. They help team members to learn how to relate to one another so as to work in unity.

Effective team-building exercise

Teamwork entails a lot of activities. There is decision-making, problem-solving, communication, and a number of other activities. In this chapter, we look at the team-building exercises that tackle different aspects of teamwork.

• What are the different exercises that a team can participate in?
• What do these exercises entail and how are they important?

Relationships can’t be forced; people need to work on different things to make them work. This is the same thing with teamwork. People will not just automatically learn to communicate and trust each other. They have to practice these skills.

Communication Exercises

Needless to say, communication is a vital part of any given relationship. Two people can’t live and work together unless they can communicate with each other. The same theory applies to a team, for a group to work together they must be able to effectively communicate with each other. Communication goes beyond sharing a common language.

Two people may be English speakers but even without the language barrier, they may not be able to communicate with each other. There are so many fundamental principles that go into effective communication. This is why this type of exercise is normally vital in any given team. There are many types of communication exercises all geared to help team members communicate with each other effectively.

One such exercise is the “blind man and guide”. In this exercise, two teammates are forced to work with each other. They need to retrieve a certain object within the vicinity. However, one teammate has to do the retrieval while blindfolded. The other teammate will then give directions to help them make the retrieval. The only way they can do this is by working together and communicating. If the guide becomes frustrated and starts yelling at the “blind man” this will bring about confusion and hinder their progress.

On the other hand,” the blind man” will not succeed if he decides not to listen to the “guide”. There are also communication exercises that involve interaction with all team members. You are supposed to mingle and bond with members and get to know them well. After this, you will be asked for details about the team members. This normally tests listening skills and memory.

Trust and interdependence exercises

According to research, this is one of the most difficult exercises to administer. Naturally, people take time to build trust. Trying to get the team members to trust each other may be a hard task but still achievable. Trusting each other cement the relationship between the team. This helps them to work with each other well. It also makes an individual gain some sense of responsibility.

There are different exercises that can be used to build trust and interdependence. For instance, there is one exercise whereby the team players line up in two rows. The people in the first row normally have their backs to the others in the second row. Now without turning back, they are required to fall back letting their guard down. They should be able to trust that the team member standing behind them with catching them.

Excerpted from the book Team Builder Bible.

This excerpt has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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