When to use team building?

In most organisations, the main focus is on the content and for processes. When team building is useful relates to whether or not there is a focus on the cooperation itself.
Collaboration is rarely discussed in teams with depth. A lot of about spoken... Working together is done for a reason, with a purpose. And sometimes that common purpose is not there enough. Team building helps to with be in conversation with each other on how mutual clarity on goals and priorities help achieve shared goals.
With serious team building you bring up cooperation. It immediately produces more commitment, effort, brainpower and initiative. 

The relative between team members, rapport and working relationship are important. Team building sessions make the level of cooperation visible. It is not the team assignments themselves that make the difference, but the reflections that take place with the team under supervision. This applies to teams where cooperation is in order and requires maintenance, especially well-functioning teams put time and money into good maintenance of their relationships!

But not every team is up to scratch. An answer to the question of when team building is the right start in a team where there are many resistances is best established in a conversation with a facilitator from us in which the resistances are also explored back and forth.

If you already know that cooperation needs to be sorted out first then read on here. You will find our roadmap and to better cooperation; the Scale of Cooperation, with prospects for team growth.

When team building is useful becomes visible with the Scale of Cooperation.

Team building in shapes and sizes

Every person has experience with some form of team building. It has become a collective term where some think of a company outing, others think of sheep herding, escaperooms and still others think of coaching.

NRC sums it up as follows, quoting VU professor Yvonne Burger: "Within team building, it is really about strengthening cooperation. The activity should help a group of people realise their ambitions: what do we want to achieve together and how do we want to do it?"

And so it is at Team4Teams, where fun and substance reinforce each other.
A combination of the four styles of team building distinguished by Burger works best: 

  • Problem-oriented team building, there is work to be done what next? This way of working can become a start if too many problems have been left unresolved for too long. Preferably, however, we prefer to focus on:
  • Solution-oriented team building, start with what is already going well to make room for what can be done better. This way of working is the best choice when a group wants to think ahead. 
    In both problem-oriented team building and solution-oriented team building, we use experiential learning. In a challenging team exercise, the group itself experiences the extent to which it can work together. Talking about this yields a lot.
  • Insight-oriented Team building, a good insight gives new perspective. Team4Teams believes that a combination of problem- and solution-oriented work can only be effective if insights are also shared. Via the coaching and also among themselves. This gives teambuilding substance and depth.
  • Counselling team building, is a good way of working in smaller groups when there is a tangle to untangle. The facilitator supports untangling and helps to untangle.

Five success factors for successful teams

Google conducted research into successful teams. The question was: what actually makes a team successful?

Contrary to expectations ('good leadership makes a difference')
leadership appeared to matter very little.

By looking at successful teams, the researchers found out what is important:

It is the group norms 
that make a team smart and successful.

These are the five points that, according to Project Aristotle from Google 
were present in successful teams:

in conversation about why team building

1. Team members dare to take risks

Psychological safety in the team is key.

Team members dare to say dissenting things.

Team members are convinced that they can take social risks. They dare to ask questions without reservations, ask for help, admit mistakes and be critical of their own performance.

why teambuilding methodology

2. Team members can rely on each other

Team members are there for each other. They cover for each other, complement each other and can hold each other accountable.

All team members deliver good work on time.

team members can rely on each other

3. The team has attractive goals

Team members work with clear, inspiring goals, tasks and action plans that invite enthusiastic contribution.

attractive targets

4. Each team member is personally significant

The work has meaning.
Everyone contributes proportionally.
Everyone's contribution is seen and appreciated.

5. The team believes work matters

The work one does has an impact on the team and the organisation. It is positive for society, now and in the future.

everyone believes that work really matters

When is team building not the best move?

Large-scale European research by PagePersonel finds that team building is not always the best first step. We endorse that. Read an article here about this 2017 survey published in MT.co.uk.

This is not to say that you are therefore better off doing nothing.

Strengthening cooperation has many possibilities, with Our roadmap 'The Scale of Cooperation' becomes a helpful tool for you.

It answers the questions:

  • What kind of collaboration is this anyway?
  • What form of collaboration do I desire for my team?
  • How do I get where I want to be?
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Programmes that improve team cooperation

Turning a team into a top team

The question of the sense and nonsense of team building arises in every organisation where work is done in teams.

Before going into the question of whether team building can be useful, it is important to realise that serious team building has all kinds of levels. Anyone Googling 'logical levels' will discover more about this. Depending on the answer to the question "at what level is team building desirable?", one arrives at different team programmes: where, what, how, why, who and to what provide different and complementary answers.

We list below arguments for and against team building.

NO, team building does not help

  • 2008-2015 was a time of economic uncertainty and many jobseekers. For you ten others. Attention to the team is then not so obvious. In times of recession, assets 'evaporate'. Nothing is left for training and development. Nobody can look ahead, we live in uncertain times, besides, there is a shortage of good employees in many industries. The economy has times of growth and corrections to growth. 
  • Employees are under intense pressure from time to time, both from within (who should leave...) and from outside (which team should we continue with...). One in seven employees experience burnout according to shocking figures from 2019, this is still the reality. In education, even 1 in 4. Recent figures speak of an increase in dropouts. The question of the point of team building is not being asked. The need is so high that team development is not a focus and priority. All hands on deck! Fill in the gaps!

YES, when team building becomes useful:

  • Team building comes into the picture as soon as there is economic growth and labour market tightness. Employees dare to move again. They leave when working conditions no longer energise them or the working atmosphere is under pressure. The best employees usually leave first. They feel secure and welcome to the competition.
  • Research shows that 80% of employees who leave do so because the work atmosphere is too bad and they no longer get energy from their work. It is not a better salary or bigger lease car that makes good employees move, but disbelief that the work atmosphere is improving. People are looking for a safe and appreciative environment, a learning atmosphere with fine colleagues. 
  • This leads management to pay more attention to cooperation in and between teams. Team building with depth helps with this.
  • In times of tension, a team outing is also increasingly adding more content. We don't have much time, but let's merge the enjoyable and insightful aspect of team building is then the thought.

No, we have other priorities...

  • Automation makes entrepreneurs and executives of organisations and certainly involved employees uncertain. Do people have to leave? Is a different level of training needed to take the next step? Will people soon be replaced by AI, robots and computers? Should the budget go towards retraining instead of team development?
  • The pressure this puts on entrepreneurs, managers and employees erodes flexibility. People end up opposing each other.

Yes, because people are our greatest capital

  • There is a lot going on around automation. This requires employees who are willing to move with it. A sense of security increases employees' flexibility to move. Attention to each other, to what colleagues want to develop into, how new tools like AI can be used, can also take place in an environment where employees are valued and committed to growth and cost reduction.
  • Support with change processes then proves valuable. With team building, employees become more creative, more motivated and thus more valuable to the organisation. And that gives the organisation more agility and growth potential. While absenteeism decreases.

No, the manager gets priority

  • Large companies in particular focus on the Anglican model of 'leadership'. Not the team but the manager is supported. He or she has to do it and attends training session after training session.
  • Google researched it and came up with the following essential qualities a manager should possess:
    1. Being a good coach.
    2. Giving trust and not wanting to micromanage.
    3. Being interested and attentive to the success and well-being of employees.
    4. Being results-oriented.
    5. Ability to listen well and share information.
    6. Be helpful in career development of employees.
    7. Have a clear vision and strategy.
    8. Possess crucial technical skills.
  • Plenty to learn. Many a manager is busy. Meanwhile, the likelihood of the team sitting back increases: 'The manager has been at training again...' .

Yes, we prioritise the team

  • The team has to do it in the end, attention to the team is therefore important.
  • Google also thought that leadership makes the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful team. They came up with eight essential traits a leader should have. They are on the right.
  • At Google, they love analysis and after taking another close look Is Google to. Not 'leadership' but 'team play' appears to make the difference.
    Standards and values within a team are the deciding factor: 
    • Is everyone on the team being heard?
    • Do people let each other speak up?
    • Do people speak to each other?
    • Will gossiping be stopped?
    • Do they consider mistakes as learning moments for the whole team?
    • Are successes celebrated?
  • These characteristics appear to be more important than individual intelligence and excellent leadership.
  • Two types of behaviour stand out in all successful teams. All team members are given equal speaking time. And there is a good sense of social relationships: team members intuitively sense and care for each other.

No, team building doesn't help

  • There is such a thing as 'Self-fulfilling prophecy'. But the 'not' also has a reason. Finding out this reason makes the comment or thought functional. The focus is then shifted from what is not virtuous to what is given attention (and what is given attention grows). It takes commitment to improve collaboration. And improving a collaboration requires coming back to it. If this commitment is lacking, (even our) support remains unsuccessful. 

Yes, team building helps

  • People who claim this are also right. The focus is on possibilities and on 'what can I learn from this?' It takes energy in the team to improve, commitment to improve cooperation gives energy. In this, Team4Teams' contribution provides positive impetus and acceleration.

Change management - nothing comes naturally

In a team with poor motivation, it is important to have a 'coalition of the willing' organising whose members can work hard at any level in the organisation to accelerate team development. A culture changes:

  • if there is support in all layers of an organisation,
  • moments of team building, team training or team coaching are organised, for a boost, learning communication skills and discussing nodes.
  • Leaders, management and the team want to persevere.

Then it is also doable, a process that energises you. Of course, this also involves content and process, but don't underestimate the support (or resistance) of a team! Paying attention to the team itself is not such a bad thing.