Not everyone knows the best way to team build

Team building as a concept has a bit of a reputation problem. Many people go straight to thinking about trust falls and other similarly uninspiring exercises, and the words alone can quickly make teams disinterested and look for ways out.  

It absolutely doesn’t have to be this way, though, and if done properly, these kinds of practices can have a truly transformative effect on your company. If you’re looking for ways to modernise your approach, then read on for a few tips. 

Avoid passivity 

A lot of companies still choose relatively passive experiences in their attempt to have a team-building day out. Whether that’s watching a show or going to a cooking class, more passive experiences like these rarely have the desired effect when it comes to actually building a tighter-knit, more communicative team.  

Instead, make sure that whatever you do requires extensive communication and interaction. It doesn’t really matter what that is, so long as it’s interesting enough for people to actually engage in the activity and with each other. 

Focus on a real problem 

While a team-building day shouldn’t really be in a work environment, you can use it to focus on a real problem. That could be something like inter-departmental communication, remote team members not quite fully integrating with the rest of the company, or a period of stress or uncertainty that’s having negative effects on your business.  

If you’re using an external provider, make sure that you communicate all of this beforehand. It will allow them to think about how to integrate these kinds of things into the experience ahead of time, and make it more genuinely relevant than it might be otherwise. 

Differentiate from a company holiday 

Some companies like to take their teams away on trips, for something more closely resembling a holiday, and these can also be incredibly useful tools to help with morale and social cohesion more generally.  

Still, it can be a good idea to clearly differentiate between these different kinds of experiences. You may choose to integrate the two into the same time frame, but make sure that people know when they’re just there to relax and when they’re expected to participate more directly.  

Make it fun 

Lastly, you really need to make sure that the team-building exercise is something that people can look forward to, rather than a chore that might even be slightly dreaded.  

Companies like Bricks McGee can be a great option here. This provider in particular focuses on using LEGO-based team building workshops, structuring them around creative challenges that really make teams interact with each other in fun, often genuinely enjoyable formats.  

What’s more, having the experience revolve around something that few people are likely to be experts in already, and that’s almost definitely quite different to their regular work responsibilities, is a great way to level the playing field and create a more productive, engaging experience. 

If you haven’t already done so, modernising your approach to team building should be a priority. Done well, it can have a genuinely transformative effect on the way your organisation operates internally, and shouldn’t be something that’s left on the back burner.