Do Team Building Activities Really Benefit Teams?

The question of whether team building activities really work is a constantly asked one. How can going out for lunch or just playing some games together lead to better team productivity? This may be a question in your head too, if you’re an entrepreneur looking to build a good team that works together and works better.

If you’re an entrepreneur, then you understand that building a good team starts with recruiting the right people for your team and organisation. But how do you get these recruits to work together and make a strong team that works together towards a common goal?

Here are some of the ways to help you understand better how exactly does a team building activity benefit your team and build a better team.

1. Familiarity

One of the most important aspects of getting your team to work together and work better is to make them familiar with each other. Each team member should be familiar with and get to know each other. Team building activities make this possible. Colleagues get to socialise, network and get to know each other better during team building games and exercises. A non-work environment is required for longer conversations and socialising so that the team members can become friends. This leads to increased work productivity because once the team members know each other, they are most compatible when it comes to working together and are able to help one another out during assignments and projects.

2. Strengths and Weaknesses

Team building exercises help bring out and identify the strengths and weaknesses of team members. This helps team members work better, together when they are faced with professional challenges where they might need help and guidance from fellow team members.

3. Open and Better Communication

Comfortable and open communication is the key to working together, towards a common goal and succeeding in it. Team building activities make it possible for the team members to have fun, talk freely and communicate in a non-stressful environment, which will make the work environment fun and friendly, leading to a better team. The benefits of better and open communication among team members is one of the biggest reasons why managers conduct team building activities, along with other reasons.

4. Creativity

When the creativity of the mind is stimulated through team building activities, it comes out in work as well. Team building games and activities bring out the creative side in team members and make them think outside the box to solve situations and play games. This stimulation leads to the development and growth of creative problem solving skills which come in handy when teams are working together.

5. Motivation

When team members realise that their organisation wants them to work better and is making efforts to get the team to bond better, they feel taken care of and motivated to do their job better. After bonding with the team members over some team building games or corporate events, team members will share a feeling of unity and hence feel motivated to do better at their job. When teams get together to win a game or task during a team building activity, they will bring the same motivation to work to win more. So when team building activities bring out the desire to win, they also bring out the feeling of being motivated.

6. Confidence Building

While working, many team members may just be bent down on their laptops, drowning in work, deprived of a platform to build other skills or maybe show off their hidden talents. Team building allows team members to showcase their hidden talents and also build their confidence when it comes to games and activities. This will lead to team members being more confident at work and taking the lead in projects.

Conclusion

Team building activities are mostly beneficial. Every team needs to bond at the surface level, apart from the professional hierarchy at work, and team building exercises provide exactly that. They are the semi-professional means of getting the team to bond together so that this bonding can reflect in the workplace and play a role in the team working towards a common goal.