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Why Team Building?

Some teams, within businesses or organisations, may just want to have some fun, to celebrate the work that their team has put into a team project, team task, or upon reaching an important milestone.

Other teams have simply lost their ability to work together, and as a result teamwork suffers, as does their company. They may be beset workplace conflict - which will show us as by any, or all of, the following:-

  • Negativity and Arguing
  • Bullying
  • Personality Conflicts
  • Cross-cultural Clashes
  • Incessant Workplace Gossiping and Back stabbing
  • Silly Time-wasting Workplace Disputes
  • Misunderstandings and Miscommunications
  • Racism and Prejudice
  • Inability to communicate with diverse clients/ team members

This results in these challenges:

  • Poor Team work
  • Low Productivity
  • A lack of Professionalism and Accountability
  • Excessive Absenteeism
  • Frustrating time spent in Dispute Mediation
  • Silly Time-wasting Workplace Disputes
  • Unnecessary Labour Lawyers' fees

Organisations, companies or teams that detect these signs, and are experiencing these challenges, are in desperate need of a diversity intervention that transforms relationships, or a transformational team building programme.

The following article defines the difference between traditional team building and transformational team building. Celebrating Humanity International© - with over 20 years experience in the consulting, facilitation and training arenas - is a tried and tested exponent of the latter.

Traditional Team Building

Team Building is often seen to be a day of fun and/ or physical tests, for a group of people. Fun is a critical component when building teams, although fear is often used for building teamwork. Thus the processes could be anything from building Lego castles - to jumping off cliffs. These activities often have the effect of getting people to know each other, on a personal level.

The challenge, of the more physical team building, may be that a percentage of your team may not have fun at all. They are often dragged to the team building - kicking and screaming, and are often deeply embarrassed by their fears, or inability to perform certain tasks.

Although your more sporty and fearless team members will be delighted, this form of team building could cause long term divisions within your team.

Transformational Team Building

Celebrating Humanity International transformational team building programmes has the ability to unite your team, to build team work and to remove workplace conflict on a long term and sustainable basis.

This form of team building tests your team at a far deeper level. It is non-threatening, inclusive, participative and fun. Your team members will benefit tremendously through life-long learning. A well-run and sustained transformational team building programme will develop long term respect, responsibility, ownership and accountability.

Participating team members develop emotional intelligence, meaningful understanding of themselves, their team mates, and their roles within their team and the company. Their new skills will extend into their families and into their social lives.

Some of the many exciting and powerful aspects of the Celebrating Humanity© programmes follow.

Transforming ourselves, our teams and our lives

In order to develop ourselves and our team at work we need to develop an understanding of our dependency, independency and inter-dependency. Once we understand that we need each other to survive and succeed we will observe that our actions, positive or negative, impact ourselves, our teams and our dependents.

It is true that the quality of life that we lead, the clothes that we wear, the humanity that we exude, the food on our table, the education of our family depends on the quality of our relationships within and outside of the workplace.

When seen in this context we begin to understand that there is a vital need for teamwork for us all to succeed. And the more diverse the team, the more we win. The challenge is that teams will only win through respect, tolerance and understanding and that is our starting point.

Accountability for who we are...

The first steps would be to develop an understanding of our intra-personal uniqueness and the ability to assess the uniqueness in other people in terms of their personality types and learning/ communication styles. These simple skills will develop interpersonal understanding and communication skills.

When we take responsibility for our attitudes, our communication and our behaviour we can create a safe environment for ourselves, our families and other people. To further develop a nurturing environment develop problem-solving and solution-finding skills and learn to handle reactions to external stimuli. Often we act out of historical programming when a short time for thought will break the cycle of anger.

When we use the feeling of anger as a signal for thought, Why am I feeling this anger? or Is this person saying this to hurt me?, we have an opportunity to respond rather than react. This can saves lives, families, sales and relationships!

As these processes unfold we will begin to identify and break down old prejudicial paradigms.

Accountability for how we behave

At the level of respect all people are equal.

Most companies and organisations send down a list of management-decided values. Very few people subscribe to the values, especially management, and they are only paraded at disciplinary hearings. In order for our individual change to be perpetuated within our team it is critical that the environment is kept safe by a team-decided and managed set of interpersonal values.

This people-centred guidance system, if properly designed and implemented, will develop an ethic of praising and honouring the praiseworthy. Regular meeting time must be committed to developing understanding and to offer guidance to those who break their self-chosen values.

Those who have personal challenges will often need professional support and those who continuously break the rules must be disciplined. Support, guidance and discipline in a proper system will be managed and supported by the greater team. In this way we will have developed accountability and responsibility for our actions, within our team and an ongoing values structures to maintain respect and teamwork at the level of human interaction.

A good leadership team will be part of the development and ongoing implementation of such a programme and will be subject to the decisions of the structure.

Through Transformational Team-building© programmes such Celebrating Humanity©, your people will come to understand their amazing relevance as individuals, team members and members of their organisation. And what we bring to the world.