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Recreational Team Building Vs Team Development

Written by on February 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment

From time to time, I meet clients who have taken part in some activity that was billed as ‘Team Building.’  The experiences they share can vary widely.  Some found their team building experience “extremely beneficial” while others though it was “a complete waste of time”  Many have commented that team building is nothing more than a pleasant distraction.  The efficacy of a team building endeavor is dependent on a number of things, not the least of which is the skill of the facilitator and the length of the program.

Building an effective team requires commitment.

This statement sums up the bulk of the challenge faced by CEOs, managers, and anyone who is looking for a team development program.  I get dozens of calls a month from organizations who are looking for a team building program, but only have “a half-day” to spend on this endeavor.  Although I am a pretty good facilitator, I can’t deliver lasting and significant change to your team with only 4 hours of time.  These programs will give you a fun, challenging experience that might open lines of communication between people, will increase short term trust and commitment between team members, and might jump-start dialogue around issues that need change within your organization.  A one day team building experience is like opening the door just a crack.  You unlock potential – but need more time to see real results.  An organization needs to commit more to achieve more.

A better option is for a team to engage in team building activities for 4 hours one day, and then come back for 4-8 hours the next day.  This back-to-back team building – with an overnight in between – gives team members a chance to learn new techniques on the first session, and then have a brief incubation time before coming back and building on the lessons learned.  The incubation period is a crucial component in the team development process, as it gives people an opportunity to “contemplate, recreate, and marinate” before coming back into the learning environment.  The growth seen in teams who engage in this “day-and-a-half” type of team building program is exponential, and the results are typically longer lasting and more beneficial in the long run.

An even better option is to meet for a half-day, return the next day, and meet again for a half-day (Friday through Sunday).  With two incubation periods, and plenty of practice and discussion in the new team development skills groups are likely to come away with complete buy-in from their members around their leaders, their mission, and their work groups.  Teams who engage in ‘the long weekend’ program are more likely to take the gains made over their weekend retreat and institute these new behaviors back in their work environment.  It won’t be “business as usual” when these teams return to the office on Monday – but rather “business is unusual.”

We cannot stress enough the importance of commitment with regards to team building and team development.  The more you put in, the more you get out.  If you are truly seeking improvement in your work teams or your organization, then you should be willing to commit more than a day for your team building endeavors.  Incubate = ‘contemplate, recreate, marinate’ for exponential and lasting results.

For more information about NEXTeams Team Development programs, please contact Eriq Powers – (240) 603-4150 or email:  eriq@nexteams.com

We look forward to serving you and facilitating your team development!

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Adventure Challenge on The National Mall

Written by on June 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Last week we had the good fortune to run an Adventure Challenge – a self-led, rotational-style of team building event – for a DC not-for-profit.  The Charles G Koch Foundation (a charitable foundation whose mission is international development through societal prosperity initiatives) asked us to provide a recreational team building event that would create unity, enhance communication, and improve interactions between the new and older members of their staff.  This event has become a yearly tradition, and the group always has a good time.

Although we normally run their program at Rock Creek Park, this year, the client asked us to come down to the National Mall and set things up.  And, with the backdrop of the Washington Monument in the distance, this event turned out to be a great success!

cgkadventurechallenge1 Adventure Challenge on The National Mall

The Final Challenge - Spot Traverse Relay

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Let’s Not Call It Team Building

Written by on April 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment

As a provider of team building, retreat facilitation, and experiential training for organizational improvement, I make a point of researching the trends in my industry.  With no shortage of information available on the internet, I am painfully aware of the confusion and the negative feedback that surrounds the ideas and the execution of activities under the umbrella of “team building”.

There are many companies that promote themselves as team building service providers.  Here are just a few I found when I did a search for ‘corporate team building’:

  • cooking
  • murder mystery
  • scavenger hunts
  • board breaking
  • bowling
  • paintball
  • fire walking
  • sailing
  • gym climbing
  • ropes courses
  • wacky olympics
  • bike building
  • pinewood derby racing
  • white water rafting

    and the list goes on…

Now, I’m a big fan of using a novel experience as part of a team building program, but I am skeptical about the level of facilitation and actual team development that goes on during these events.  If I was a client looking for a team building activity, here is what I would want to know:

What type of facilitation is going on during the ‘event?’  Do the facilitators know anything about group dynamics and team development, or are they simply experts at taking the group through the activity or experience?

How do the facilitators transfer whatever is learned during the off-site back to the real-world of the workplace?  Without some sort of debrief and discussion with regard to the group experience and the work experience, participants might as well be calling it recreation rather than team building.  Without a well facilitated discussion, the ‘team’ is not building anything!

Once you have taken part in this experience, what do you do for the follow up?  The number one complaint about even a well facilitated team building event is that while participants may have had fun and learned something about how to work more effectively as a team, as soon as they returned to the office on Monday, it was back to business as usual.  Without a proper follow-up, there is no long-term value.

Too many of these companies that offer experiences without facilitation are giving team building a bad name.  The only way a company off-site can hold any long-term value is if the experience is more than just bonding and fun.  Real value comes with building trust between the members of the group, learning how to communicate more effectively, working through conflict, and creating an environment where members are committed to the mission of the team.  When these goals are met, the team is ready to perform at its peak.

Let’s not lump together every activity that is offered for your company off-site and call it team building.  If an organizer knows the right questions to ask, they can usually differentiate between the experiences that will have lasting value and the ones that will be short-lived memories.  Although, I do have to admit – walking through fire sounds pretty cool…

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Teams Benefit from Slowing Economy

Written by on March 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

A Slow Economy is Time for Business Process Improvement

You’re probably thinking “How could anyone benefit from a slowing economy?”

Well, this statement certainly needs clarification.  Not every team will benefit from economic hardship.  In fact, many teams will shrink (labor statistics are a blatant example of this sad reality) and many benefits will be cut.  Managers and business owners are ‘tightening their belts.’

For some teams, however, the slowing economy is an opportunity to test their resilience, ingenuity and team performance.  Successful organizational teams use the conflict created by the ‘recession’ to streamline their processes, create new products and move forward with renewed enthusiasm.  Rather than fearing the next year, a high performance team will see this as an opportunity.

Here are a few things teams can do to weather the economic storm:

  • brainstorming sessions to identify emerging trends
  • improve business communication with clients and customers
  • business process improvement – streamlining the way businesses perform their daily tasks
  • planning for the future – vision for the short-term and long-term
  • training and development in techniques for meeting facilitation and team building
  • innovation training to learn how to be more creative
  • focus on teamwork and collaboration – utilize and celebrate the many talents of your staff

Out of conflict comes opportunity, and taking the time to reflect on what is working and what processes need improvement will go a long way towards dealing with a tumultuous economy.

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Making the Case for Team Building

Written by on January 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment
gmv mouse trap challenge250 Making the Case for Team Building

Mouse Trap Trust Exercise

Over the years I have had the good fortune of working with groups from a wide variety of fields and populations – from youth camps, schools and Scouts to NGO’s, small businesses and government agencies.  The individuals who contact me to secure a team building program usually have a general idea of team building and often have a general goal of getting to know each other, enhancing interpersonal communication and building trust between the members of the group.  They may have previously participated in an activity that was billed as a team building event, but they generally have mixed feelings about the efficacy of the actual team building component, as opposed to the obvious recreational aspect.  So, this begs the question:  What is team building and why should we do it?

From my perspective, a ‘team’ can be as simple as an assembly of individuals whose purpose is to work together on a project or towards a common goal.  In order to be an effective team, there needs to be a level of trust, good communication, and shared responsibility.  The team will generally face multiple conflicts such as challenges to leadership or lack of group commitment.  Overcoming these challenges allows the team to grow and evolve, and taking part in a well presented team building program gives teams an arena in which to make this evolution.

The tools and techniques used by team building providers are not as important as the facilitator’s ability to lead a team in identifying its strengths and opportunities for growth.  NEXTeams uses a combination of experience-based activities and traditional meeting-style techniques, but the true value of its facilitation comes through the conversations that organically emerge during the process.  These spontaneous and often passionate discussions are where the change in the group dynamics takes place.

Team building, if done well, can be the catalyst to change within an organization.  The only way that this change can be significant or lasting, however, is through effective and timely follow-up.  The follow-up process helps the team to take the lessons learned during the team building activities and build upon them during the day-to-day interactions within their organization.  Follow-up enables the transference of the gains made during the actual team building event.

See Our Team Building Program Options…

For More Information Contact Eriq Powers

Eriq Powers
GO-NEXTeams
(240) 603-4150
info@nexteams.com
www.nexteams.com

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