Team Building Events - Build Productivity and More With 5 Important Guidelines

Team efforts are an integral portion of any successful company. Whether it is a company with ten employees or a Fortune 500 corporation, teamwork builds companies. Without effective teamwork, productivity and profits suffer. While almost every business owner and corporate executive realizes the importance of team building, making it happen is often an elusive task.

Human resource departments are often the creators of team building events. Effectively creating these events is a task that sometimes has difficult parameters. There are no specific numbers or measurements to be placed on the results and there are no set venues for creating them. Key elements of successful team building events involves activities indoor or out that requires creative energies, innovating thinking, and tasks to build camaraderie. Results of effective experiences are felt throughout the participating groups and can last the life of the company.

So, how do you generate, plan, and coordinate effective team building events? There is no simple answer. Using creativity to come up with an original idea fosters unique activities bringing a team together for tasks at hand. Consider the following 5 tips when designing your team's activities:

• 1. Establish a business purpose and goals before planning your event.


• 2. If possible, hold your event offsite.


• 3. Mix up team members.


• 4. Provide opportunities for teams to compete against each other.


• 5. Consider using a professional team building service to build your event.

Let's look at the specifics:

1. Establish a business purpose and goals before planning your event.
Creating a business purpose before the event will work best. Determine your goals, and then structure the activities within the event so they help to accomplish the goals. If your company is already structured so employees share visions, purposes, and missions on a regular basis then an occasion to work together in an entertaining setting will naturally improve employee contributions at work. If you are ready to build employee relations, improve productivity, and establish more company loyalty, giving your employees an energetic, fun experience of working together will help in each of these areas. There are a number of ways to generate ideas and you can test the waters by having your own in-house event.

For example, create teams to come up with stress reliever breaks. Have each team implement their stress relieving methods for one month. At the end of the two months have employees vote for their favorite. Provide rewards for members of the winning group.

2. If possible, hold your team building event offsite.
One thing is certain, recent studies suggest that building an effective team with a specific activity occurs at locations other than the company facilities. Even when company directives are involved, to get together to plan strategies, assign team functions, and build team spirits, taking your people off-site works best.

3. Mix up team members.
As you assemble teams make sure to mix up the members. Don't use traditional managers, and groups to create the team. Make sure you have members of each team that don't normally communicate with each other. This helps to build bonds between departments.

Generating activities that are not centered on specific job descriptions helps to create anticipation and excitement. Creating fun, yet challenging objectives for these events gets even the most traditionally somber person into a different mode of action. While some of your employees may seem a bit hesitant at first, once they see other members of the team taking action, they will become more involved. The goal is to generate actions and input from every member of each team.

4. Provide opportunities for teams to compete against each other.
Teams competing against each other helps foster a winning attitude. This winning attitude automatically carries over into the normal workplace. Try planning a program that is easily followed up with meaningful workplace activities once the event is over. Implementing the use of newly acquired behavioral changes within the workplace is crucial to long-lasting successful change.

5. Consider using a professional service to build your event.
Another solution for planning a successful event that will meet your goals is to use the services of professional companies that specialize in hosting and planning team building events to suit your needs. This can often be the best solution to quickly improve production and relationships between employees. Companies specializing in these types of events can work with your unique needs to provide just the right mix of activities for the results you require. Don't expect dull and boring. More and more companies create motivating, challenging, and exciting events that get immediate action from team members.

Some popular events designed to get the most from employees are scavenger hunts, games, culinary activities and even a new trend called philanthropic team building. Events can be anywhere from lighthearted to more serious training session games. Whatever your needs, experts can help plan just the right event.

Leadership qualities, management skills, and the ability to work with others are the concerns of all companies. Giving employees positive, fun experiences motivates them, thus maximizing out-put. Developing goals for the event, finding an offsite location, mixing up team members, providing competition scenarios and hiring a professional are 5 guidelines that lead to successful events and ultimately more cohesion and teamwork among your employees.