The Importance of Team Building

We all know that a team that works well together achieves more, but getting such a team doesn’t happen automatically and takes hard work. Our Cowboy Ranch just outside Pretoria, offers a great selection of Teambuilding Activities, that are designed to bond your team and help them to work and achieve as a unit.

Examples of a poor team’s performance

• Underperformance
• Poor communication
• De-motivated and un-rewarded staff
• Declining sales
• Low employee retention

The Characteristics of a Healthy Team

Any healthy team is a strong, highly motivated, cohesive unit, sharing values that help the team, the individuals, and the organisation as a whole. A healthy team is able to work in a collaborative environment, with good communication skills and sensitivities to cultural diversity. This leads to an increase in productivity, well-being of the individuals and the company, as well as an increase in sales.

Reasons for Teambuilding

• Teambuilding is an important incentive to retain top talent.
• Company events are excellent for celebrating success when goals are reached.
• It is also a great way to connect new employees to the rest of the team and to teach them the values and goals of the company. Through Teambuilding this is achieved a lot more easily and effectively than giving them a heavy book on company policies and values to read.
• Invest in your assets – the people working at your company. Great leaders know that if you want a return on anything, you have to invest in it first.
• Help your team to connect to your company, your company’s culture and your values.
  Inspire your team to buy into your vision and mission.

What are the benefits of Teambuilding

• It brings out the best in team members for continuous growth and creates a shared vision.
• Through activities the team demonstrates their good or bad communication and collaboration, so issues rise to the surface. Thus encouraging positive and open communication, that builds rapport and trust.
• Teambuilding helps develop leadership potential.
• Creating a fun and enjoyable atmosphere brings teams together and increases team motivation.
• Teambuilding can align the team in a new synergistic way with a sense of unity and purpose. This also brings the team on the same page with goal setting and achievement.
  Completing tasks together effectively, increases team spirit, productivity and builds teams.
  Identify strengths and weaknesses of your Team, getting to know themselves and each other better.

Important things to keep in mind for successful Teambuilding

• Values need to be created off and on the playing field. You can’t rely on building values only at Teambuilding events.
• The facilitator/leader needs to be clear on the Teambuilding goals, whether it is to motivate the staff, as an incentive, etc.
• The activities need to be outcome-based. Are you looking to improve communication skills, problem solving, etc?
• The team members need to be clear on objectives of activities.
• Any Teambuilding needs to form part of a wider organisational goal/holistic approach and not happen in isolation.
• Pre and post planning is vital for the success of Teambuilding. Make sure that there is follow through on strategies and goals that are put in place. This also needs to form part of the organisational development and individual development program.
• Be strategic in planning dates for your Teambuilding events. Instead of doing it when you’ve always done it.
• Be strategic and maybe plan it just before a big push to give the team that extra motivation.
• Teambuilding on its own will not solve the problems of a dysfunctional team. Find the source of the problem in your organisation and start working from there.