Monday, July 6, 2009

4 Steps to Successful Team-Building

As you work to develop your team, one of the most important concepts available to you is team-building. Yet, it can only be successful if and when it is used properly. That starts from the beginning, with the planning.

These four steps can help you to create a successful plan that is structured, organised and most importantly successful in accomplishing your goals. Invest your time wisely.

Plan. The foundation of your activities is critical. You should have plans drawn up and approved before moving on. More so, your plan is an instruction manual (of the short nature) to help your group to understand the concepts and to work towards them.

This plan can also help by keeping you on track throughout the process. If you do not have such an action plan in hand, your group is unlikely to achieve all benefits possible.

Structured Works Best. Keep your exercises successful by having a structured event. You should have each activity done ahead of time, organised and designed to be a simple approach. While the activity itself could be challenging, the step-by-step process of getting from one activity to the next should be organised and structured. That way, you do not rely on the team to actually make decisions about what to do, when to do it or how to structure the event.

Fun but More. One of the biggest mistakes that is made during this process is trying to focus too much on the fun of it all. While you can and should incorporate some enjoyable aspects to the activities, you also need to ensure something is being obtained from it.

Too much entertainment may leave out the actual learned benefit. If you are doing this to build your strength, then having fun in an environment that is motivating is critical to getting the point across, but still, there should be a point to be learned.

What's to be Learned. Before you get started, be sure that you have a goal in mind. In other words, what is it that you want your group to learn and to build on as you work through the team-building exercises? It is critical for you to invest the time into organising these goals so that the right decision can be made from the start of the planning. At the end of your activities, be sure to stress the point and purpose of them.

By Brian Middle

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