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Team building – Adding value or variety?

What, if any, are the organisational benefits of team building?  This was the subject of a recent Masters thesis undertaken by Deb Cresswell. The research involved two, large, well-known New Zealand organisations.  A total of 72 participants took part in team building activities facilitated by Glenn Browne from Pureoutdoors NZ . Overall, the results were overwhelmingly positive.

• 95% of the participants stated they had enjoyed the activities.
• 76% felt the participation in the team building activities had positively impacted on their workplace, in terms of increased/enhanced interpersonal relationships.
• 75% felt better able to communicate with their colleagues as a result of the team building and 82% felt better able to understand their colleagues.
• 100% from the first organisation and 72% from the second organisation felt “more like part of the family” as a result of participating in the team building activities.
• Overall, 80% of the participants from both organisations felt the team building had been beneficial to their respective organisations, with 72% of respondents more likely to talk positively about the organisation’s outside of their workplace.
• Almost 50% of the respondents also reported that they felt more committed to their respective organisations as a result of engaging in the team building activities.

 

The first case study involved fifty-one project managers from ‘Organisation A’ who engaged in team building activities facilitated by Glenn Browne and his team from Pureoutdoors NZ. The team building programme was designed by Glenn specifically to reflect the competitive industry in which the company operates. The activities provided opportunities for the participants to work alongside one another and acknowledge the different perspectives that each individual brings to the organisation. In addition to, reinforcing the importance of team work, embracing the company’s core values, and lastly, including an element of fun. Results showed definitive results pointing to several organisational benefits being accrued, including increased/enhanced interpersonal skills, including communication, trust, understanding and confidence in colleagues.  An overwhelmingly positive response was also noted in the level of organisational commitment.  Over 80% of the participants also noted that they felt the activities had been very beneficial to their organisation, with almost 100% now ‘feeling more like part of the family’ within their organisation.

The second case study involved 21 managers identified as ‘future leaders’ by ‘Organisation B’. ‘Organisation B’ wished to utilise the team building activities to achieve three key objectives; develop individual’s sense of self-awareness, reflect the organisation’s core values and beliefs, and to introduce the company’s new corporate theme. The results, as with ‘Organisation A’, were extremely positive. The manager’s felt that their interpersonal relationships, in terms of communication, trust, confidence, and understanding of colleagues had definitely improved.  The manager’s also reported increased levels of commitment to their organisation and they also felt more motivated to set workplace goals. Finally, the majority of participants felt their ability to identify, implement and resolve solutions to workplace problems had also increased. 100% of the manager’s also reported that they felt ‘more like part of the family’ as a result of engaging in the team building activities.

Finally, the respondents, including the managers responsible for organising the team building agreed that had the activities not been fun, and therefore engaging, the overall results may have been less positive. This was attributed solely to Glenn and his team, and the results speak for themselves.  100% of both organisations’ participants agreed, the activities had inspired a healthy competitive spirit to emerge, had been thoroughly enjoyable, and therefore well received. The importance of a skilled facilitator capable of motivating and encouraging the participants to “choose their attitude”, “make it happen” and “no-one remembers second place” was seen as crucial in ensuring the desired objectives were met, but just as importantly, the participants remained fully engaged. In conclusion, the research showed there definite organisational benefits in utilising team building activities such as those that formed the basis of this research. However, a note of caution; in order to achieve such positive results, team building activities must be well facilitated, be designed specifically to meet the required objectives and as importantly, be creative and enjoyable. In terms of this research, the findings showed definite value for both the participants and the organisations themselves.