Motivations Underlying Team Development Sessions

When is the right time to do teambuilding? The real answer to this question is that teambuilding (or team deteriorating) is happening all the time. Any time you and team members become aware of how the group of individuals is attempting to pull together and learn from that awareness, you are engaged in teambuilding. However, in most organizations teambuilding is perceived as an event, a series of events, or perhaps team training sessions. There are some very admirable motivations for arranging such events and some devious ones, too. Hopefully, the overriding reason to engage in a teambuilding activity or event is to develop a more effective and satisfying group that is working together to accomplish something. This should involve evaluating where the team is and planning for what may be next . It is often offered when the team is first formed to sell the members on the benefits of working as a team or to get acquainted with each other and the expectations the organization has for the team. Another popular time to offer teambuilding is when the team seems to be stuck. Someone perceives that there is a problem, the team engages in some diagnostic activity, and it then develops the plans needed to remove the pain it is experiencing.

Remember, effective teams have both a task and a relationship function to fulfill. It is best if every teambuilding effort reflects both orientations. In many, if not most, organizations, teambuilding is a code word for developing better relations ”and often involves resolving some conflict between members or to help the members "bond." I am aware of work and leadership teams being sent to outdoor adventure camps together where they have to discover how to scale walls and get their team across difficult terrain. I know of organizational teams that have been sent to car race tracks and expected to learn how to operate as a pit crew and as race drivers. These activities can be fun and exciting and may provide people with a whole new framework for viewing one another. Breakthroughs can occur and people may learn to appreciate members whom they did not respect before. Teammates can see how they need to pull together to solve problems and to overcome difficult obstacles.

However, if you use these methods of teambuilding, be sure that sufficient time is spent analyzing what was learned about the team and how the members will apply what they learned to the assigned organizational tasks they are expected to perform on the job. Too often, teambuilding adventures are fun (or scary) escapes from work that do not result in improvements in performance and satisfaction levels. Some personality types thrive on the excitement, while others feel threatened. If you are going to invest in this type of approach ”often an expensive investment ”be sure the learning is applied. The structured significant emotional events this approach provides can create attitude changes and a sense of bonding, but that does not ensure that the team will be better at doing its assignments, better at holding meetings, or better at resolving conflicts.

Another warning may be in order here. Some organizations provide teambuilding efforts involving all the members when really the issue is that there is one weak member or one or two people in conflict. Conflict resolution strategies are discussed in chapter 7. You may want to consider using some of the tools provided there instead of a teambuilding event involving all members. Otherwise, it may feel like teambuilding is a punishment that members must endure because one or two people are causing problems. It may also feel like the best way to get attention in this organization is to be a squeaky wheel. I have seen many times where teams spend 90 percent of their energy dealing with 10 percent of their members. I have also seen team members give up if one or two fellow members seem to be getting away with doing less work. Certainly equity and accountability are important, but performance management techniques such as those described in chapter 8 may provide more appropriate interventions than the kind that take up everybody's time at some teambuilding event.

Teambuilding events have also been used by organizations to soften up members prior to negotiations or some major change that may adversely impact them. Teambuilding events have been scheduled because customers have insisted on their suppliers offering such events. Teambuilding has been offered because some certification desired by the organization requires documentation that such events have occurred. Business fads come and go, and sometimes teambuilding events are offered because it seems like a "cool thing to do." It is an attempt to reward people with some fun. I have seen companies designate dinners, trips to ball games , picnics, and happy hour at the local bar as their teambuilding efforts. I am not suggesting that these events cannot be helpful. I am only asking that you question whether people learn something through your event that they then can be expected to use when they return to their jobs. Take teambuilding seriously.

The best teambuilding efforts are conceived as an ongoing process to establish or apply some systematic approach to getting people to work together successfully. The events must be grounded in the work the team is expected to accomplish. The events are like practice sessions similar to the practice sessions sports teams use to prepare for game day. My earlier book Tools for Team Excellence (1996) includes some exercises and activities for addressing each of the seven key components of team excellence in addition to those provided here. Since the publication of that book, I have conducted many training sessions for team leaders and trainers . I have facetiously asked them to go to the mountaintop , consult with any burning bushes, and come down with the "Ten Commandments for Teambuilding." Table 11 presents a composite of some of their best thinking.

1. Thou shalt not form teams for teams' sake.

2. Thou shalt address the task and the relationship side of every team effort.

3. Thou shalt conduct a needs assessment before proceeding with teambuilding.

4. Thou shalt use a model of team effectiveness (e.g., the seven key components of team excellence) to ensure that all team elements are considered .

5. Thou shalt tailor each teambuilding effort to the needs of the team.

6. Thou shalt prepare the organization and its systems to benefit and support the teambuilding effort.

7. Thou shalt have the whole team present for each teambuilding session.

8. Thou shalt not make the teambuilding a one-shot effort.

9. Thou shalt not count on training alone to build effective teams.

10. Thou shalt not expect perfect teams ”continuous improvement is the religion of success with teams.

It has already been emphasized that teambuilding efforts need to be a series of ongoing events. Exercise 12 provides an opening exercise to be used in every session after the first one. Every session is a test of whether actions are following words. Thus each session becomes a great opportunity to gain credibility for the team concept at your company.