Saturday, July 11, 2009

What is the Purpose Behind Team Building Events?

Team building events are becoming a hot commodity all over the world, especially as the economy has a lot of employees guessing whether or not they will have a job in the coming months. Even positive quarterly results in some companies do not keep the concerns of the employees at bay.

Currently in the UK, the unemployment rate hit a high of 6.5 percent as of March 18, 2009. This rate is 0.5 percent higher than the previous quarter. There have been companies all over the world that have told their employees not to worry about their jobs, to say at the end of the quarter that they may have to let employees go in order to survive.

All of this uncertainty is the reason why companies are turning to corporate events that focus on team building. Employees need some reassurance because their doubts can lead to reduced performance within the company.

These company events contain several attributes, such as:

Promoting continual process improvement

Optimising the team's talent

Recognising the impact of being a high performing team

Setting certain standards for the team

Experiencing the power of excellent leadership

And the list doesn't stop there. There are many more attributes in regard to communication, empowerment, and overall teamwork that can be achieved through company team building events.

Here is what happens at a team building event:

Employees learn more about one another

The team members are able to have fun

The team learns about how to effectively execute a project

Those in leadership roles learn to manage and motivate

Because a business can be quite busy with customer service tasks and administrative tasks, it is easy for department team building or company team building to be put on the backburner. In all reality, properly building and teaching the team is crucial for the development of the company.

But when the manpower isn't there, it just isn't there. That is why companies specialising in team building are hired to put on the events. Everyone within the company is able to take a time out and focus on the heart of the business...which is the employee.

As for what happens after a team building activity, the team is able to return to work feeling more valued, motivated, and more responsible than what they did going in. This is what is contributing to the growth of team building events throughout the UK and the world.

Everyone will find that they are on the same page and the team will be able to self-regulate itself, meaning that there is no need for micromanagement by the management staff within a business. That also contributes to employee satisfaction. They do not like to feel as if someone is looking over their shoulders at all times.

The end result is quite obvious from the first day the employees return to the job. Their overall demeanour and their level of production will be filled with excitement. Any time employees are presented with something new, such as new ways to get things done, they are quite excited about it.

By Brian Middle

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