“To Win The Marketplace, You Must First Win The Workplace” – An Ultimate Team Building Guide

Inevitably, you will have come across the terms scavenger hunt, icebreakers, charades, building trust,  team culture, and egg drop in your search to improve employee retention. Take it from a company that sells team building solutions that there is more to nurturing successful teams than games.

Successful teams require a number of factors. They require a team leader who can instill a sense of purpose for individual team members, team members who are comprised of unique but complementary skills and a lot of team-building ventures to nurture each individual skill. In an ideal world, a perfect team would consist of a passionate leader and goal-driven team members that deliver exceptional results. But the reality of this is different. People communicate differently, leadership issues arise and ideas will clash.

So, how does one manage to get the perfect team together?

With one simple ingredient, team building.

At its core, team building is about understanding people, how they work and managing these interpersonal relationships in a work environment. On a basic level, organizations that are successful at team building use team-focused tools across the entire organization. They build on this by utilizing these tools in individual teams.

The purpose of team building is to establish these relationships through a mix of activities and processes. Through this, the people among these relationships will gain an understanding of how to work effectively as a team. As a result, the quality of work and productivity levels will increase.

Given the broad nature of team building, it is no surprise that many organizations are uncertain about its necessity. The benefits of team building do not result overnight as your team will not start working well straight away. However, despite this, team building is still seen as the core of all well-functioning teams, and has been proven to be one of the most important tools for all teams. The importance of team building can be narrowed down into five reasons.

Facilitates better communication – Communication is key to all successful teams. A lack of open communication results in issues arising in personnel and work. Thus, the better a team is able to communicate with each other, the better quality of work will be produced and higher productivity levels will follow.

Improves teamwork – There is no ‘I’ in Team, therefore being able to work together is crucial. Team-building tools allow team members to understand each other on a better level, and therefore recognize what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are. In turn, they are able to apply this knowledge to projects and group work. 

Builds trust – Trust is essential for every effective team as it provides a safe space for team members to express their ideas and opinions. When trust is present in a team, people tend to work better together more efficiently. Ultimately, trust leads to team development.

Promotes creativity – Creativity inspires employees to work through issues and to build upon ideas. An encouragement of collaboration will lead to greater work being produced by the team.

Identifies roles and responsibilities – Team success depends not only on how its members do something but also what they do. Team building allows team members to recognize their own role and responsibilities and how it fits into the overall team. Having a clear understanding of personal goals and objectives will allow team members to work harder.

We all laugh at Michael Scott’s antics in Ricky Gervais’ The Office but if a workplace such as Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. were to actually exist, it would be safe to say that the workplace environment would be extremely toxic.

Toxic workplaces tend to have high levels of employee turnover. 

The opposite of a toxic workplace is one that has a thriving collaborative culture – this is the gold standard of work environments. Google and Apple are tech companies that are often cited as the ideal workplaces but according to Indeed, Adobe, Facebook, Southwest Airlines, Live Nation and Intuit were the top 5 rated workplaces based on 150 million ratings and reviews. Apple came in 18th position and Google did not make the top 50 list (but United Airlines did).

So, what do all these workplaces have in common? Is it exceptional office decor? Free lunches? Or early mark Fridays? No, it is the team culture that exists. When a group of people work towards a common goal and shared purpose, they become a team. But just because people are working together towards a common goal, does this mean they are working together effectively?

#1 Great teams know where they’re going (and why): Teams that perform poorly tend to lack a shared goal. They’re often fragmented and concern themselves with their individual goals. An effective team often will have a leader who communicates what they’re working towards. Individual team players within a great team have an understanding of what the common goal is and whilst they may not always agree with a particular action, they act in the best interest of the team. This is usually the result of having a team leader who engages and challenges them regularly.

#2 Strong teams embrace conflict: Most people have a tendency to avoid conflict – especially in the workplace. This can lead to small issues festering into larger problems. Leaders within effective groups help team members to navigate through work conflicts so that issues do not become personal and internalized, but rather, provide stepping stones to resolving challenges.

#3 High performing teams have SOPs (standard operating procedures) in place: As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. It is not enough to have a team that actively seeks out problems to solve. Similarly, having a shared goal and a purpose-driven team will not result in a great team. On top of these things, a framework for decision making, conflict resolution, and transparent responsibilities is the navigational tool great teams rely on every single day.

#4 Outstanding teams are accountable: Accountability implies trust and without transparent communication, there can be no trust. Therefore, accountability stems from having a shared vision, leadership, constructive communication and a rules-of-engagement map that is applicable for every single team member. On top of this, accountability can only be effective if people do what they say they will do.

#5 Effective teams have the right people in the right roles: Trust, relationships and collaboration are important but at the core of any organization, individuals carry out the work on a daily basis.  A 2014 TINYpulse survey reported that the biggest factor for a work colleague to go the extra mile at work was due to having the respect of their peers. Great leaders know this and will hire the right person so that the team’s vision may be achieved as one. Under-performing teams often have at least one member who is not in alignment with others and this can be a cause of unresolved tension.

As you can see, no effective team can exist without leadership and when it comes to team building, the foundation of a team comes from the top. That is, management must be equally invested in team building as those on the front line in order for team building to be more than a PR gimmick.

#6 – Great teams have great leaders who can steer a group of people towards a common goal.

Psychological safety is not usually the first thing that most people think about when wanting to nurture a successful team. However, psychological safety is one of the most important assets in a team. Google performed a two-year study on team performance, which revealed that the highest performing teams had one thing in common – psychological safety, the belief that you won’t be punished for making a mistake. 

Psychological safety in the workplace allows for team members and employees to share their opinion, take risks, be creative and speak their mind without fear of negative consequences and being exposed to interpersonal or social threats to their self or identity. Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School describes psychological safety in the workplace as a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves. When the workplace feels threatening, people lack the ability to learn and do quality work. They fail to ask for help, seek feedback, admit errors, try new things or voice their opinions. Ultimately, this leads to an inefficient team and an even more inefficient workplace. 

Whilst there is no definite checklist as to what psychological safety looks like in the workplace, there are a few questions you can ask yourself to see if it exists in your collaborative workspace.

Do people feel safe asking questions about things they do not know or understand or do they stay quiet and try to maintain an image of perfect knowledge?

Do people feel comfortable bringing up difficult issues to your manager or others in higher positions of power?

What happens when mistakes, failures or critical accidents happen? Do people see it as an opportunity of learning or are their reactions fearful?

Are all team members welcome to contribute to conversations and discussions about projects irrespective of their job ranking?

Are all employees valued for their skills and talent at work?

Are people comfortable asking their coworkers for help when they need it?

Do people feel comfortable expressing a different opinion during discussions?

When employees care and when they are engaged, they apply discretionary effort. This can have a significant benefit to a company’s bottom line. For example, Caterpillar saw $8.8 million annual savings from decreased attrition, absenteeism and overtime. Furthermore, one of its manufacturing plants had a 70 percent increase in output in less than 4 months. A separate plant saw an increase of $2 million profit and a 34% increase in highly satisfied customers. All these were achieved through its staff engagement and commitment initiatives.

In a 2009 Kenexa WordTrends Annual Report, the most engaged companies had five times higher total shareholder return than the least engaged companies.

Similarly, according to Gallup, the combination of having a talented and engaged employee would have a 22% increase in revenue per employee. Having a great manager would further add 27 percent more growth in revenue per employee. Another statistic commonly cited is that increasing employee engagement investments by 10 percent can increase profits by $2,400 per employee per year (source: Talent Culture).

Employee engagement is one of the most important factors in any successful business. Engaged employees are those who show up and are invested in their work, not only because they are paid, but because they care about the work they are doing. AON produced a study in 2015 that where companies increased their employee engagement by just 5%, they experienced revenue growth of 3% the following year. The primary driver behind this engagement was team building.

Team building has a direct relationship with employee engagement. When a team has good communication, trust, creativity, defined roles and responsibilities and an overall goal to achieve, the higher employee engagement will be. This is because the more that employees enjoy the work they do, in the location they do, with the people they do it with, the more engaged they will be in their work and the more they enjoy coming to work.

Numerous studies support the concept that team building has a positive impact. For example, Carr & Walton in their 2014 paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that the concept of ‘togetherness’ resulted in significant benefits.

Team building brings people together. It provides an opportunity for team members to bond and share information about themselves to each other. In return, team members get to know each other, recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how each person communicates and overall builds a sense of trust. 

When a team of people have an understanding of this important information, they are able to apply this information to their work, ultimately improving employee performance and the quality of work produced. Ultimately, team building helps a group of people to become united and recognize what values each person has that is best suited to achieve their overall goal.

When most people think of team building, they think about awkward team exercises, boring corporate events, mentorship with the boss, or weekly lunches. There is no right or wrong approach to team building. In fact, it is a mixture of all things above. 

Whether you want to implement team building tools within a small team or a large organization, the approach is broad. Successful team building is a mix of both team building activities such as games, events and weekly lunches and internal approaches such as the development of better communication and internal team strategies.

There are four main different approaches to team building. Depending on the size of your organization and team, one approach may be more appropriate than the other.

Goal setting – The foundation of this approach is to provide a team with a goal to strive for. Setting goals allows a team to see what must be done to achieve success.

Role clarification – Role clarification is an approach designed to help team members understand their purpose in the team and what their role requires from them.

Problem solving – This third approach focuses on helping team members recognize challenges and helping them overcome them by working together. This approach helps team members learn how to collaborate and work effectively as a team.

Interpersonal relationships – Maintaining good interpersonal relationships is essential in every team. This approach is designed to build trust among team members and develop better communication methods. Greater trust and better communication within a team leads to greater quality of work and a stronger unit across the whole organization.

All approaches to team building can be categorized into either active or passive team building.

Active team building is the approach of implementing physical activities to build the team or address its shortcomings. These can include:

• Team building activities;
• Team lunches;
• Weekly meetings;
• Training programs; and 
• Team assessments. 

Active team building is designed to improve an existing or new team, whether they lack good communication, creativity, trust or other issues that prevent them from being the best team they can be.

On the other hand, passive team building is the approach of developing a stronger team culture. Here, tools that are implemented include:

Implementing better communication methods;

• Using project management tools;
• Using internal networks within the team or organization;
• Implementing mentoring and coaching into the organization’s culture; and
• Making communication skills part of all on-boarding processes.

Ultimately, these tools are part of a passive approach to team building as they do not have to be actively carried out. Once these have been adopted, they become a key and continuing part of your organization.

To reap the successes of team building, it is encouraged that you implement both an active and passive approach. Having a mixture of both approaches ensures that you are not only building your team up internally but are also implementing strategies, tools and methods externally to ensure that the effects of team building are being experienced by the organization as a whole.

There is a belief that team building is costly and timely. However, this is not always the case. If you have a small team or organization, or just don’t want to spend a fortune, there are many ways to implement team building into your organization without breaking the bank.

There are inexpensive activities and programs that can be implemented into your workspace. These include:

• Internal organization program
• Implementing a 5 minute daily stand up meeting every morning for your team.
• Develop a code of conduct with your team.
• “Shark Tank” – team up and pitch your idea to investors.
• Outdoor activities
• Half-day activities

Whilst team building can be inexpensive and efficient, it does not mean that spending money on team building is a waste. There are many organizations who invest a significant amount of money into team building due to it’s importance. Some team building activities that are worth investing into include:

• Team retreat
• Scavenger hunt
• Escape rooms
• Trivia night
• Charity auction
• Karaoke
• Painting class

Team building can be both expensive and inexpensive. What you choose to spend on team building will depend on your resources and the size of your team or organization. Importantly, it is not about how much you spend or don’t spend, but how effective your team members, employees and co-workers respond.

There is a belief that team building is costly and timely. However, this is not always the case. If you have a small team or organization, or just don’t want to spend a fortune, there are many ways to implement team building into your organization without breaking the bank.

There are inexpensive activities and programs that can be implemented into your workspace. These include:

• Internal organization program
• Implementing a 5 minute daily stand up meeting every morning for your team.
• Develop a code of conduct with your team.
• “Shark Tank” – team up and pitch your idea to investors.
• Outdoor activities
• Half-day activities

Whilst team building can be inexpensive and efficient, it does not mean that spending money on team building is a waste. There are many organizations who invest a significant amount of money into team building due to it’s importance. Some team building activities that are worth investing into include:

• Team retreat
• Scavenger hunt
• Escape rooms
• Trivia night
• Charity auction
• Karaoke
• Painting class

Team building can be both expensive and inexpensive. What you choose to spend on team building will depend on your resources and the size of your team or organization. Importantly, it is not about how much you spend or don’t spend, but how effective your team members, employees and co-workers respond.

According to a 2018 Gallup report, just over half of employees (53%) are in the ‘not engaged’ category with 34 percent of workers involved in and enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.The percentage of works who have miserable work experiences is at its lowest level (13%).

Employees who are not engaged have a tendency to do the minimum work required and will quickly leave their employer for a slightly better offer. For managers in hospitality, healthcare and the banking/finance industry, you will be aware that voluntary turnover is highest in your fields. What this means is that you will incur significant direct and indirect cost per employee turnover. For example, there is loss of productivity from other employees having to fill in for the vacant position. There’s in-house hiring costs, new staff training costs, termination-associated costs, loss of productivity from the leaving employee as well as the new worker (e.g., exit interview, farewell party).

The cost of employee turnover in 2018 is estimated to be $617 billion.

The loss of a single worker can be visualized by the following formula:

Total cost of employee turnover = total direct costs + total indirect costs – unpaid costs while position is vacant.

Here’s a scenario to drive the point home that Management should invest in team building programs.

Let’s say a national business has 100 employees with 18 percent annualized employee turnover (i.e., 18 resignations per year). Using the United States Census Bureau’s 2017 nominal median income of $31,786 as a baseline of full-time adult salary and factoring 30 percent to this wage for the cost of employee benefits, the estimated turnover cost per employee comes to $41,321.80.

This comes to a total of $743,792.40 per year.

Doesn’t this make the cost of hosting regular team building activities seem relatively cheap?

It is all well and good to implement team-building exercises into your team or organization. However, how do you know they are working? Methods to measure the effectiveness of your team building activities include:

• Creating graphs to show the progress of your team;
• Creating surveys and sending them out to your team/office;
• Asking your team how they feel with the new changes;
• Analyzing absentee rates, productivity levels and ROI; and
• Measuring financial returns.

Importantly, the results of implementing team building activities are not visible overnight. It may take some time for your team or organization to see real positive results.

• Complete a scavenger hunt to encourage teamwork
• Two truths, One lie – for the team to get to know each other
• Human Knot – to practice working together
• Office trivia – to help your team members get to know each other and to test observation skills.
• Celebrity heads – to help your team members become relaxed around each other.

• Play a game of ‘Just Like Me’ to practice empathy
• Host an “anxiety party’ to practice vulnerability
• Do a ‘circle of expectations’ sketch to visualize what the team’s collective values are

• Scavenger hunt: Begin by dividing your group into teams. Give each group a list of activities to do. The list should begin with some simple tasks, with increasingly more difficult activities to follow.
• Sports day: Multiple teams that have to work together and compete in a multitude of sports.
• Office retreat/camping: Team members go camping and work through camping activities, such as building a fire, sharing campfire stories, pitching tents etc.
• Obstacle courses – Multiple teams that have to collaborate and compete in a multitude of obstacle courses, such as tug-a-war, mud run, walk the plank, tyre race.

• Daily stand up meetings: 5 minute daily meetings, explaining what you’re going to be working on that day.
• Creative introductions: Each team member takes turns introducing themselves in a creative way, once a week.
• Memory game: Each team member writes a fact about themselves and each team member has a turn guessing which facts belong to which person.
• Two truths, One lie – each member take turns telling two truths and one lie. The other team members have to guess which is which.

• Human knot: Team of 3 or more hold hands, with arms twisted and have to become untangled without letting go of their hands.
• Memory game: Each team member writes a fact about themselves and each team member has a turn guessing which facts belong to which person.
• Jigsaw puzzle: Teams work together to try and solve a complex jigsaw puzzle on a time limit.
• Blind drawing: Two participants sit back to back. One person should have the drawing materials. The other is handed a picture, and must describe to the other what they are looking at, without describing the action item.
• Jenga: Teams complete in a game of Jenga.

• Sinking boat: Ask your team members “If a boat is sinking, who would you save, and in what order: a doctor, a priest, pregnant women, a child, an elderly man or a teacher
• Find the common thread: Divide your team into groups, then tell them they must find one thing they walk have in common. This can include hobbies, music tastes, favorite food or even the last movie they have seen. 
• Bridge Build: Divide into two different teams. Each must build half of a bridge with the materials provided.

• Office trivia: Make questions about your office, or your team mates, and each team will have to work together to get the answers.
• Painting Class/Cooking Class: This is a good way to get your team members out of their comfort zone and trying something new.
• Internal workshop: Having an internal workshop can be helpful, especially, if your team need help on communication, learning how to brainstorm ideas or working together as a team.
• Go kart racing: This is also a good way to get your team members out of their comfort zone. Pairing someone who is adventurous with someone who is more reserved is a great way to help team members build trust and communication.

• Scavenger hunt: Begin by dividing your group into teams. Give each group a list of to-do activities. The list should begin with some simple tasks, with increasingly more difficult activities. Each team will have to work together to win.
• Board game marathon: For those who are not interested in sports, this is a great alternative that still helps teams come together and become stronger.
• Sports day: multiple teams that have to work together and compete in a multitude of sports.
• Learning day: All team members take the day to participate in any kind of educational activity that interests them. It could be an online course, reading research papers, programming, watching videos or attending class. All team members are required to give a 60 second presentation on what they learned.

• Weekly lunches: to help your team members feel comfortable around each other
• Low-key indoor sports events – e.g. mini golf or bowling. This will help your team members get to know each other and become more comfortable, building trust.
• Group brainstorming events: Team members are encouraged to get together and brainstorm ideas for their project, presentation or upcoming pitch.
• Talks: Helping curate lists of interesting upcoming talks and helping employees attend is a great way to support career engagement and skills development.
• Hackathons. Hackathons are a low-stakes way for teams to push for ideas that may be important but lower priority to the company.

• Sports carnival day: Rather than rewarding individual success, all competitive events are team-based thus requiring individuals to work as one in order to win.
• Paper towel game: Each participant is given a single sheet of paper and told that it’s absolutely necessary that they construct the tallest free-standing structure in just five minutes using no other materials.
• Running Free: This trust building exercise requires nothing more than a few blindfolds and a large, flat area- preferably with grass. The follower must wear a blindfold. The group leader will instruct the leaders in each team to hold the hand of their blindfolded partner and take them on a slow walk around the area for at least 3 minutes, and then jog for 2 minute and run for 1 minute.

• Escape rooms: Each team will have to work together in a limited time to escape the room.
• Scavenger hunt: Begin by dividing your group into teams. Give each group a list of to-do activities. The list should begin with some simple tasks, with increasingly more difficult activities.
• Card mix up: Divide your group into teams of six to eight participants. Give each team two decks of cards randomly mixed together. Tell the group they must sort them out without talking.

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