Teambuilding - what are you looking for?

Teambuilding comes in all shapes and sizes.  In our view the two most important aims are to improve connection and understanding within the team.  Only once that process is done are you in a position for people to receive any kind of meaningful information or education.

So how can better connection and understanding be achieved at a teambuilding event?  Well, it is not impossible to develop the beginnings of connection online.   Before doing an in person event (particularly for people who have not previously met), I would suggest creating a WhatsApp or Facebook group to enable "virtual introductions" and build some excitement about meeting up.

If you are going Off-Site, consider first whether you wish to build teambuilding events around indoor or outdoor activities. Both can be fun and different people will have different views on this.  One thing I would say is that an Off-Site is a time where a little bit of discomfort in the beginning leads to a huge sense of satisfaction (as problems and difficulties are overcome) in the end - We have definitely found that when teams join us for a two day event staying at our Yurt Village.

One thing to remember is always to ensure that activities are fun and contain an element of improving communication and trust within the team.

Setting problem solving exercises, where people have to work together to achieve their objectives is always good.  Perhaps they could be relevant to your work - or maybe not.  Either way, the satisfaction of solving the problem and overcoming the frustrations on the journey is always worthwhile.
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Looking at how different personalities work together and helping people to gain an understanding of the language around personality is also good.  One of my favourite personality profile tools is DISC, which looks at whether a person is task or people orientated in a certain situation. And whether they are extroverted or introverted.  

In very simple terms, somebody who is task orientated and extrovert can come across as quite arrogant or be overly demanding.  Whereas someone who is people orientated and introvert will often be very inclusive and caring.  Both types of personality are useful in different situations and the more flexibility you have around understanding and being the different types, the easier you will find it to navigate through life.

How often should you do something different together as a team?   There are no real rules around this however it is often good at times of change - perhaps when a new member has joined the team or two departments are merging - Or you have a specific team issue that you wish to unravel - Or, quite simply, you might decide that it is just time to have a bit of fun together.