The Importance of Team Building: 9 Ways It Benefits the Workplace
If you’re a manager, then you want your team to run like a well-oiled machine. When combative personalities get in the way, it decreases productivity, morale and makes the working environment difficult.
The importance of team building cannot be overstated. It helps bring your employees together and develop trust and admiration. They learn about each other and develop close bonds that extend beyond simple professional courtesy.
When your team respects each other, they work better together and that’s good for the bottom line. Don’t let distrust and unfamiliarity ruin your chances for a cohesive group. We’ll discuss several reasons why team building is a must-have aspect of your business.
1. The Importance of Team Building in Communication
If a team is to work together and beat deadlines, they need to communicate effectively. There are always wallflowers and introverts who have a difficult time communicating with people they don’t know.
Team building helps build those communication skills in a fun way. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ropes course or an escape room. Your team learns to communicate with each other to achieve the best outcome. They take those new skills and use them in the workplace.
2. They Learn to Trust Their Coworkers
It’s difficult to earn trust, especially in a corporate environment. It’s almost assumed that everyone is out for themselves and would throw everyone else under the bus. This isn’t always the case.
The cutthroat corporate atmosphere of the 80s and 90s is gone. Team building helps teams learn to trust each other through thick and thin. They face their fears and come out stronger than before.
Trust must be earned and that’s difficult when stuck in an office all day. Team building brings them out of their comfort zone and forces them to trust each other in order to advance.
3. Team Building Improves Group Morale
When a group is forced to work tirelessly under stressful deadlines, it’s bound to impact their morale. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and defeated when you’re doing the same things every day and there’s no end in sight. Deadlines loom and it’s hard to focus on the job.
Team building improves morale by making them work together in a fun and entertaining environment. They’re out of the office and spending the day learning about their coworkers and how to best work together.
Never underestimate the power of a good time, so get them out of the office for a little rest and recreation.
4. Stimulate Your Teams Creativity
When you’re stuck in an office all day under fluorescent lights and tight deadlines, it can be easy for creativity to stagnate. Exhaustion and negativity can stifle the creative process and thus decrease your team’s efficiency. The ability to think outside of the box is paramount to solving problems.
Team building boosts creativity by causing them to provide high-paced and fun decisions to get out of problems. They’ll take these traits back to the office and use them to solve the seemingly impossible problems of the project.
5. Team Building Create a Supportive Environment
Did you know what most people suffer in silence? They don’t want to show weakness in front of coworkers or have it used against them. So, they sit in silence while worry and self-doubt tear them up from the inside.
This causes them to make mistakes or develop a negative outlook. Team building brings people together and shows everyone at their most vulnerable. If someone has problems, they’re not afraid to bring them up to the team. The team members are supportive and help them change their teammate’s attitude and outlook.
6. Attracts New Talent to the Company
Today’s employers understand the value of a good employee. If prospective applicants see how you encourage collaboration through team building, it’s an incentive for people to work there.
The days of the solitary employee working endless hours at a cubicle are over. Companies know that teamwork and collaboration are what drive the innovations of today’s society. The innovators of tomorrow want this and will wait for the perfect opportunity.
Your company can attract them by showing how much you value their input and the success of the team.
7. Customer Service Improves Through Team Building
When employees are unhappy and they have to deal with customers, it’s never a good combination. They tend to lose their temper easily and provide unsatisfactory customer service. You could end up losing customers and get horrible online reviews because of unhappy employees.
Team building activities can turn a negative employee into a positive go-getter. They’ll become a brand ambassador for your company and deliver the best customer service possible. It’s positive for the employee and your customers too.
8. Learn About Themselves and Team Members
When a team has only a work relationship, then they tend not to work together well. It’s a group of strangers solving problems without knowing anything about each other. Team building brings them together and they learn much about each other through a fun team building activity.
Team members can have the same hobbies and interests, but until they begin team building, they’ll never know. A close team that can talk and have fun with each other will be more productive. You’ll notice deadlines being met and the overall atmosphere of the office lighten.
9. Team Building Showcases Unexpected Talents
People tend to have two different personalities. One they have at work and one they have outside of work. If you have someone that’s shy or purposely doesn’t interact, you may find they have natural leadership abilities through team building.
You may notice an employee’s ability to juggle many things at one time or be cool under pressure. You’ll be able to reallocate them into roles that fit their true personalities and talents. You would never have seen it without team building.
Team Building Is a Necessity
Many businesses see team building as an unnecessary expense and don’t understand the importance of team building. It’s an investment in your employees and your company. They’ll work harder, faster and better when they feel comfortable with their team and job roles.
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