What does the phrase "team building" mean to you personally? Quad-biking? Abseiling? Propping up the bar with your operate colleagues? Allow me to disagree.
Let's look at the word "build" and see where that leads us. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "build" as "Establish, make or accumulate gradually". This kind of definition implies a sense of period passing and growth. This kind of, in turn, implies a modicum of care and focus on maximise the growth - or even at the very least monitor the development.
So which kind of process works best to turn the team building session into something that improves team effectiveness back again where it matters?
It isn't uncommon for trainers as well as facilitators to like the sound of their own voice. Yet we all know that it is far more powerful if folks can learn something for themselves rather than be told it. Individuals turn off very quickly even after a very enjoyable team activity if the next thing they hear will be the facilitator telling them his or her look at their performance.
I'll go additional - the tried and trusted technique of "What did you excel? What could you have done better?" isn't much better. All too often you can hear people leaving team building events sessions saying "every time perform one of these Chicago White Sox #56 Buehrle Green Strip Jersey, we fail on the same old things" closely followed by "we'd happen to be better off talking about the real problems at work". If you are lucky Okaland Raiders #75 Howie Long White M&N Jersey, they may add "I enjoyed it though". So this is the dilemma. If you leave it down to the participants themselves to generate the improvements Jacksonville Jaguars #81 Torry Holt Jersey, their blinkers stop them from seeing the well-known development opportunities that the activity unveils to those observing. However if the observers tell them whatever they see, the participants will not listen - or worse, become defensive.
I can listen to you thinking "but a truly competent facilitator will lead them to the learning without them realising it". Don't you believe it. Only the most naive with the group will fail to spot a facilitator guiding these people somewhere they don't really want to go. And that taints the learning - or otherwise the chances of it being applied.
So if the participants can't see the learning and won't listen if someone else tells them New York Jets #87 Laveranues Coles Green Jersey, is a team building session doomed to mediocrity prior to it starts? No : there is a third option.
A team building debriefing guide New York Jets #21 Tomlinson Camo Jersey, tailored to the action and (ideally) to the person group, is a superb mechanism to steer the learning while not interfering in the process. Just what exactly are the key characteristics in which such a guide should have? My personal experience suggests the following seven elements are all key elements:
1) It should be tailored to the exercise and focus on those aspects that have one or more direct resemblances in the group's real working surroundings.
2) It should provide an opportunity for people to reflect before any debate within the team on the points it makes.
3) It should be constructed so that the input of every an affiliate the team is necessary to complete the procedure.
4) It should not make value actions in the way in which it describes specific aspects of the activity that might go well or less properly for the team. Rather it should pressure discussion and encourage shift back to the workplace.
5) It should provide places for individuals to seize their own learning and for the crew to capture the group learning.
6) It should be useable purely by the participants themselves after quick instruction.
7) It should offer a framework for the team to invite viewer input so that any "external" surveys are requested by them instead of forced upon them.
Achieve these and you will have a superb base to develop team improvements upon. Which feels like what the Oxford Concise Uk Dictionary is getting at.
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