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If a company or organization is considering investing in a team building
program, the first question that needs to be asked is, “Is my group
interdependent?” – meaning does the success of each member of the group depend
primarily on the success of the other members of the group? For instance, the
success of the operations department might depend heavily on the success of the
sales department which might depend heavily on the success of the marketing
department. Conducting a team building program among the managers or employees
of these departments at the same time might be beneficial. However, the success
of each individual sales person will probably not depend primarily on the
success of the other sales people. So, a sales manager spending money on a team
building program for his/her sales people would probably be wasting time and
money. If your group is interdependent, then the next question to ask is “What
kind of things are happening within this group that lets me know they are not
acting efficiently as a team?” or “What areas can we improve in?” You might ask
more specific questions to determine individual areas for improvement such as
the following: Are there areas of miscommunication that slow down processes or
cause rework? Are there conflicts which bring down morale? Do departments focus
on their own success at the expense of other departments? Is it tough for new
employees to fit in with the experienced team members? Are changes in policy
resisted by team members? Do team members feel as though they have no say in
policy?
The answers to any of these questions can help a team leader determine what
types of team building programs might be most effective for a group. If you find
it difficult to determine the individual areas that would have the most dramatic
impact on the performance of your group, realize that most professional trainers
have low-cost or free assessments that can be conducted to determine these areas
for a group.
The next step in determining the right program for your group is to determine
which programs on the market will give your team improvement in the most areas
that you have identified, and which will give your team long-term improvement so
that you will not have to continually repeat the training process over time.
Once you have done the previous steps, this last step is pretty simple. You
can do a standard internet search for training in the areas you’ve identified,
and then check a number of references for each proposal you receive.
One quick thing you can do to save time is to look only at organizations and
trainers who specialize in training or team building. People and companies who
can make a living specializing in this type of work will probably do pretty
well, but a company specializing in the fitness industry (outdoor adventures,
ropes courses,) selling beach chairs (Beach Olympics,) or driving race cars or
flying airplanes probably won’t create a long-term behaviour change in your
team.
Camaraderie may be built and lost in an afternoon, but a team atmosphere can
last for generations.
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