Corporate Team Building

"The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team." - Lewis B. Ergen

The feeling of unity, the urge to strive towards a common goal and the principles of collaborative effort and cooperation are determinants of a good team. Team building is about the development of a team that works towards the realization of a common objective. It forms an integral part of the human resource management in the corporate sector. It is critical to organizational success. Effective corporate team building is about involving the participation of all the team members towards the accomplishment of company goals. It is about promoting the personal and professional growth of every team member and directing the team towards success.

Why is Corporate Team Building Important?

Team building games and activities serve as an effective means to bring together, individuals from different educational and social backgrounds and orient them to a common goal. Team building exercises serve as an excellent means to help the people adapt to the working environment and to encourage them to communicate and collaborate. The success of an organization depends largely, on the mutual trust between the employees and also their teamwork. Corporate team building activities help in developing and strengthening the professional relationships between company employees. These activities and exercises assist in the development of a healthy working culture and environment conducive to employee productivity. Team building exercises help in boosting the morale and confidence of the employees and in making them comfortable to the working atmosphere.

Team building is a process that helps the employees assess themselves and also understand their team members. It helps in the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the team members, thus enabling the management to promote their strengths and train them to overcome their weaknesses. Team building exercises give the management, an opportunity to assess the employees, so that the employee expertise can be effectively utilized for the growth of the organization. Team building activities help in the development of planning, problem solving, decision-making and leadership skills, time management and a competitive team spirit in the employees.

Corporate Team Building Activities

Icebreakers: Be it a training session or a team meeting, icebreakers make the best beginnings! Meetings and conferences are worth the time and preparation they take, only if they involve maximum participation from all the team members. Corporate meetings can be best started by means of icebreaker activities. You can organize fun games or interesting introduction sessions with the participants to help them open up and express themselves. You can device some funny conversation starters to break the ice.

Team Games and Sports: Outdoor games and activities are excellent team builders for company picnics and outings. If you are in charge of organizing your next team-event, make sure you supplement it with fun games and activities. Sport activities help in fostering the team spirit while encouraging everyone to participate in the fun. If you have different teams working on different projects, you can plan inter-team games. You can also depute cheerleaders and have the non-participants cheer their fellow team members. Work can become monotonous, if not complemented with fun games. Yes, we all need a break from work; a breather to start afresh! Games to play at work can serve the purpose.

Group Activities: This category includes all the good-old fun games and activities such as passing the parcel, musical chairs, memory games and riddles. You need to split the team into groups of 5 or more depending on the kind of group activity planned. You can organize group discussions on work-related issues or other social concerns. You can add to the fun-element of the team event, by having each group organize a stage performance. Yes, encouraging the hidden talents in the team members is an important part of corporate team building. You may have some good singers, some cool dancers or a few good mimics in your team. It is nice to bring out their talents during team building activities. Having each of the groups present a skit or a stage performance is indeed a good means of building your team.

Remember, the primary purpose of corporate team building is to balance the proportion of 'I's' and 'We's', by increasing the number of 'we's' in comparison to that of 'I's'. Yes, the team members need to be taught to think and act in unison. They need to prioritize company growth over individual benefit and work in coherence and coordination towards the betterment of their organization.