Corporate Team Building Should Have Real Results

How often does the phrase “corporate team building” evoke images of beach Olympics and meaningless games?  It’s unfortunate, because “building corporate teams” is one of the most important aspects of any organization’s success.  So how can you actually contribute to your bottom line rather than spending your bottom line on your next corporate retreat or meeting?

Consider using activities that target specific aspects of your business but are also fun and engaging.  This can take considerable thought and planning, but the results are well worth the investment.  The objective is to engage your entire team and focus their collective energy on resolving real world problems.  Imagine if you were able to do that on a daily basis back at work.

Some of the advantages of an effective corporate team building event include:

  • Working Outside Your Comfort Zones: Have you ever heard the excuse “That’s not my job?” Team building activities can demonstrate that with clear goals and a committed team, the seemingly impossible can be overcome.  It reinforces that if you were willing to reach out and help others here, you can do the same back at work!
  • Handling Multiple Challenges: Effective team building exercises will rarely have an easy answer, which encourages participants to test different ideas. By presenting multiple challenges, these events can better reflect the day-to-day challenges seen back at work. The ability of a group to handle conflicting demands is essential to long-term success.
  • Building a Sense of Pride: One of the most important outcomes of team building should be developing a sense of pride or commitment to continue supporting the team. If this doesn’t translate into improved relationships, communication, and coordination back at work, your insights from team building will soon be lost.

Three Great Examples of Tangible Team Building Programs

  • Boat Building: construct a vessel that your team must paddle across a pool. This requires everyone to collaborate under tight time constraints and within a budget. Planning and execution must be balanced effectively to make the final result a reality.
  • Rockets: begin by working in functional teams to learn the mechanics of a new business. Once reassembled into cross-functional teams, develop a strategy to best penetrate your market and leverage your team.  Through communication, planning, and collaboration, your team will soar as high as your rockets do!
  • Bike Building: the bikes you build go directly to the business leaders of tomorrow. Working together to earn the necessary parts, each team begins to assemble their bike. As part of the exercise, they also work to coach and share their experiences with the recipients… students from a local school or non-profit organization.

Wonder how your Raleigh company retreat can show tangible results to your team? Learning Technologies, Inc. brings content know-how and planning expertise for such events. Contact us today, and let’s talk about how we can make your meetings produce solid results.