We have often been asked these three questions. No matter where
we work, be it in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Australasia or
North-America…the same three questions come up:
• Why teambuilding?
• What is it?
• How does it work?
They emerge in the minds and on the tips of the tongues of nearly
every new, and even existing leader we meet. The truth of the matter is that we are all part of a team; in fact we are part of many teams.
Just think about it…we are part of a team from the very moment we arrive on this planet. We discover that in our quest to survive, we need to interact with others. It’s not that easy on your own, is it? You need a team to survive well.
So what is a team? Well at its simplest level, a team is a minimum of
two people who hopefully have a common goal or purpose, are in communication with one another and have a plan they both work on to achieve that goal or purpose together.
We are part of many teams. Families, classes, schools, lift pools, dinner parties, project networks, church associations, companies, fan clubs, countries and even Facebook are just a few to mention. Within each of these teams we have a choice in terms of how we
choose to survive….and that is really where teambuilding begins.
Effective teambuilding tips the scale of survival from a less optimum existence to a more optimum and fulfilling experience. Whilst some individuals would say, “I survive just fine on my own”, they might not have looked at the picture from a long term or big enough view.
Teambuilding is our only answer to making this world a better place, for us and for our children.
So we realise that if indeed we have a basic purpose to survive as mankind, that teambuilding is not just a short term instant gratification objective, but rather a long term strategy in building a sustainable future for yourself and others.
This is something that is not always confronted by the average team member, leader, partner or mentor. This is particularly true in the West, where we seem obsessed with quick fixes and managing the singular chapters in our careers.
Let’s compare short term survival versus working together for the long term vision as a team or group or nation. Team China and Team India. They are obviously aligning their goals in a far more successful way in terms of “What do I want for myself?”, “What do I want for my teams?”What do I want for my industry?” and “What do I want for my
country?”
Alright, let’s bring this back to our day to day existence. Where does teambuilding fit in, what is needed to build an effective team and how do we make it work?
Teambuilding (team member ability and application) relates to a scale of effectiveness that we all should have, that we should be “fit” or proficient in.
At the base of the scale is Personal Effectiveness, the ability to address problems as an individual and be in excellent communication with your environment. Just above this is Team Member Effectiveness, the ability to confront, communicate and comfortably solve problems together with others in pursuit of a common goal. This is followed by Supervisory, Leadership, Mentorship and Organisational effectiveness.
There are many forms of teambuilding and this is for good reason…there are many different types and combinations of needs that emerge for teams in terms of this scale.
Progressing up the scale we see that by raising the Personal Effectiveness of the members of the team, their team ability is directly improved. This is true at a supervisory or leadership level too.
Effective teambuilding is about creating better cultures and futures for your people.
