Put in a considerable amount of time on organising a team building exercise for your team? But lo and behold, on the day of the event, you are greeted with muffled yawns and eye rolls while you relay the day’s itinerary to your team. Not the response you were expecting, was it? Do you even know why is it happening?
Team building is crucial to an organisation’s success. It gives the employees the much-needed respite from work and offers them an opportunity to forge trust and understanding to build a relationship with their colleagues outside of the workplace.
The benefits of building valuable relationships with your colleagues are manifold. Such a relationship among employees of the same department or different departments will help them understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which will further allow them to coordinate more efficiently at work; encouraging a higher output and increased productivity. Apart from the increment in profits, team building also promotes a positive work environment. Team building, thus, has multifaceted advantages for a business.
While many organisations have realised the importance of a team-building exercise in the last few years, only a few have mastered the art of nailing it and getting the employees excited about the day; the others sadly fail due to lack of creativity and an efficient planning approach.
If you are struggling to get your team excited about a team building event, then the following reasons will help you to understand the situation better:
1. Your meetings lack creativity and vision
Creativity is the key to making any event appealing!
What have you done so far to make your event attractive enough for your employees to look forward to it? The following questions might sound familiar to you:
- Have you failed to take down notes from the last feedback that your employees shared, and planned an event which is as repetitive as it can get?
- Are you still practising the same old trust falls, human chains and other mundane activities to build confidence among your employees?
- Don’t they get boring after a point; other than being least engaging and inefficient?
- Imagine, it’s their day off from work, and instead of entertaining & engaging them, you are keen on making it an uninteresting day. Doesn’t sound right, does it? They seek and expect more from your team building day.
- Your employees will not share any of the concerns mentioned above with you directly, but it is something that you have to realise yourself. Observation is the correct answer! These questions might be present in your mind already, but you are too naive to accept them right away, is that it?
Notice the reactions of your employees, and you will know what the truth about your activities is!
2. Work-life balance, your event must follow the same
Who would like to cancel plans with their loved ones for an office team building event? The answer is quite apparent. Then, why do it anyway? If you are planning a team building exercise after work hours or on the weekend, then an unwilling behaviour from your employees is quite expected because they are trying to maintain a work-life balance by planning their days efficiently, in order to offer the necessary time to both aspects (work and personal life) of their lives.
Moreover, if your event is planned around a holiday, then expect a low attendance because your employees will have plans of their own for the holidays, and honestly, spending their day off in the office is not so appealing anyway.
Try to incorporate the activities during the work hours or plan corporate away days because if they feel that you are considering their personal lives or taking them on a fun-filled trip, then they will be happily obligated to enjoy your event.
3. Your team building exercise is more imposing than welcoming.
Ask these questions:
- Are you making the event mandatory for your employees?
- Are you trying to make them come against their will?
- What do you think will happen if you even think of doing this?
A team building exercise without the will of the team will waste everyone’s time because they will not consider it fun or engaging in any way. It will only be a waste of efforts and resources. Making it mandatory will put them off immediately; undermining the purpose of the team-building exercise entirely.
You can also involve the employees in the planning process to attract them way before the big day. This will seem more welcoming to all of them, and especially, if their colleagues are a part of the event, then they might turn up to see what the event is all about. Engage them beforehand to engage them in the future!
4. Your planning process lacks efforts
No matter what you say, if you haven’t put in efforts in the planning of the event, then it is bound to fail. You have to use an activity which can keep a considerable number of employees engaged and entertained for a brief period. It is something that is not as easy as it may sound. If you plan such events annually, then you have enough time to make it right, as you can start planning and preparing at the start of the year.
Conclusion
Team building exercises are important! period. Encouraging dialogue between the employees in a relaxed environment gives them a much-needed break from the workplace while also enabling them to understand each other’s core skills as they engage in the activities.
The key to that is organising a creative event that ensures willing participation. You must be aware of your ill approach by now, and also know what you can do to rectify it effectively.
Consider the views and suggestions of your employees to make them feel valued and to organise a successful team-building event.
