Corporate Team Building: 5 Important Questions To Ask Before Buying

Corporate Team Building can be a powerful tool for developing high performance teams, but not all programs are created equal.  Have you ever participated in a program that seemed useless or irrelevant?  If so, by asking the right questions in advance, your program can be  enjoyable AND support your business goals!

Here are 5 critical questions to ask to ensure your corporate team building event actually builds teams!

  1. Are outcomes important?  Just doing something for recreation isn’t wrong, but why not expect more from your investment of time and money?  Your first step is to answer the question, “Am I looking for an event… or an outcome?”  Clarifying expected outcomes isn’t always easy, but is key to building an effective program.
  2. Is it relevant?  It’s relatively common to hear how team building events will “relate” back to business, but the real question should be, “Will it relate to our business?”  How will the program address specific issues that you face on a daily basis?  Does it reflect the challenges we face both internally and externally?
  3. Does it fit your team?   As soon as people begin to opt out, for whatever reason (physical limitations, fear, skepticism, etc), you decrease both the power of the program as well as the power of the team.  Team building exercises should build engagement, encourage full participation, and open dialogue around issues that otherwise might be avoided.
  4. Does it reinforce your messaging?  Team building should be an extension of what you are already doing, not an isolated event.  It should reflect your messaging, be consistent with your management style, and fit your organization’s culture.  
  5. Will it produce observable results?  Perhaps the most important question of all… “What will be different tomorrow?”  If nothing changes, your team building opportunity will have been reduced to a mere event.  Fortunately, with effective planning, team building exercises can be the perfect tool to explore, test, practice, and commit to doing things differently without risking clients or productivity.

The best part is that none of these points limit your team from having fun.  So instead of just going through the motions, why not let LTI help plan an event that actually achieves results!

Contact us to learn more about team building and leadership development opportunities.