Team Building Blog

Team building programs of the 90’s took place in fields and forests. Remember ropes courses, both low and high, that allowed people to engage in a series of team activities and face self-imposed limitations while dangling from cables?

The next decade ushered in classroom-based team building that included behavioral profiles, such as the DISC model and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

As we look forward to the next generation of team building programs, people will be coming out of the woods and sterile hotel conference rooms. So where will they be going? They’ll be headed to facilities with a sensory-rich environment that enhances the team building experience.

For example, imagine going to your local zoo and participating in ZooQuest, Teambuilding, Inc.'s handheld GPS-based treasure hunt. Or, picture yourself on the deck of the Midway in San Diego or the Battleship New Jersey across the river from Philadelphia participating in the Teambuilding, Inc. activity, Battleship Adventure.

By linking the activity to the facility, the experience is heightened and people remember more of what they have learned. Research clearly demonstrates that people learn better and remember more when their emotions are activity. So picture visualize your team at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ engaging in the Teambuilding, Inc.'s Deep Water Adventure activity in a room with a view to the shark tank.

Team building programs are evolving, so teams can too.

Employer-supported activities that enable their employees to support their communities can include a wide range of programs. Opportunities may include donating cell phones or clothing or volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, United Way and Big Brothers Big Sister. Other opportunities incorporate team building while giving back to the community.

Bank associate volunteers from Bank of America contributed more
than 650,000 hours to United Way programs in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide –according to the United Way.

Teambuilding, Inc. recently conducted a team building program that was both developmental for the team members and enabled them to give back to the community.

During Wheels for the World, groups created team names, competed to earn bicycle parts, negotiated for remaining parts, and then presented their marketing campaigns to promote their bikes. The team utilized tools such as collaboration, communication, creativity, a wrench, a screwdriver... and a lot of heart.

Once the bikes were assembled and decorated with balloons and stickers, the conference room doors flew open and kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters ran into the room to claim their bikes.

During the programs, one of the little girls brought her old sister to the activity because she was afraid of the crowd. The teams assembled an extra bike and were able to reward her big sister with a bike too.

Team members at the Wheels for the World program said:

“This was by far the most personally satisfying team building event."

“The team building event was very rewarding. I loved seeing the kids get the bikes.”

"As always this was another fun event where everyone enjoyed themselves. We were able to build relationships and given the opportunity to build bikes for such deserving kids. To witness the joy and gratefulness of the parents and children, not only made their day one to remember, but ours as well.”

"This team building event was my favorite of all. It was interactive with my team as well as other teams, fun, and the end result was touching and left a lasting impression.”

Teambuilding, Inc. also partners with Habitat for Humanity to offer Tools for Teams and partners with local food banks to offer Community Cuisine.

I recently read a fascinating article in Business Week magazine (August 21/28, 2006, "Game Plan: First Find the Leaders") that discussed an alternative approach to picking team leaders. Typically leaders are chosen for their prowess with the technical aspects of the job, their decision making skills, and their assertiveness in commanding others. Historically, we see these people as natural leaders, yet we also see them fail often.

The BW article talked about another approach, using the experience of the University of Maryland's men's soccer team. The coach, Sasho Cirovski, watched his team decline in performance and standings after 6 straight NCAA tournament showings. Naturally, with such success, the coach thought they were on the verge of a National Championship. Instead, the team declined steadily.

The coach had picked his two strongest players to be captains, but they were falling short of the skills needed to help the team. So he called his brother Vancho, who was a human resource vice president for Cardinal Health Inc. in Windsor, Ontario. He suggested that Sasho survey his players to find the real leaders in the group. Using an instrument he used at work, the players were asked questions such as "Whom do you rely upon when your team needs unity and motivation?" and "From whom do you seek inputs and opinions before making minor personal decisions?"

Also called "social network analysis," such surveys are increasingly popular among corporate managers who want to visualize their informal organizational charts.

After the players had taken the survey, Vancho called with the results. "How come Scotty Buete is not your captain?" he asked. "He's off the charts. He's such a big influence." Cirovski was shocked. Buete was a quiet sophomore, a promising local rather than a sought-after-recruit.

Just hours before a midseason road game, he made Buete the team's third co-captain. The team rallied around Buete, who went on to score the winning goal in that game and remained an effective leader until he graduated.

The coach admitted that "Scotty was the glue, and I didn't see it." It was a defining moment that helped propel the team to four straight College Cup appearances (soccer's version of the Final Four) and, last year, the national championship.

The coach now plans to use the survey to identify future leaders based more on social skills than technical ones. In this is an important lesson for business.

I think one of my greatest learnings over my 25 years working with teams has been their power to innovate. Many times we have formed teams to deal with the organization's most perplexing problems, and every time they have performed...even beyond their own expectations.

Once we formed a team of employees to deal with a major traffic problem in getting everyone (3500 workers) to the site each morning. Traffic experts had been working on the problem for 3 years, yet the employee team solved the problem in six weeks with six recommendations. Yes, it amazed everyone including me.

Understanding the power of a team to innovate is important because, in this new millennium, innovation will be key to organization success. It seems every major business magazine today is extolling the virtues of creativity and innovation as applied to the business of today, and for good reason. The growth of the world economy has opened a Pandora's box of opportunities for any business in any part of the world. So the primary differentiator will be the organization's ability to reinvent itself, its processes, and its products regularly.

The October 24, 2005, issue of Business Week magazine discussed a new book called The Ten Faces of Innovation in their article entitled Innovation as a Team Sport. What surprised me was the reference in the article to "brainstorming," one of the oldest techniques used in creative problem solving today. The author stated "This is important: Brainstorming is vital, and most companies are new to it."

It's hard for me to contemplate that, in 2006, companies still don't use this powerful technology! Even a 5-minute brainstorming session will yield new insights to any issue. Let's get on with it!

Anyway, if you need some additional resources for this topic, here are a few on our site.

Create a Company (exercise)
Polygon Puzzle (exercise)
Mars Surface Rover (exercise)
Toobeez (exercise)
Leading Innovation (training)
Team Creativity (training)
Treasure Hunts (training)
The Winner's Circle (video)

I'd like to toss this idea around with nonprofits a bit.

We do our best to accommodate schools and nonprofits who need teambuilding assistance or activities for their staffs. Some of our people have more time on the weekends and would also like to earn some extra income. Nonprofits would like a trained facilitator, but frequently can't afford the fees, even with significant discounts.

Our idea is to perform these team building sessions on weekends, giving our younger (but talented) trainers the opportunity to gain more experience, yet provide the sessions at drastically reduced prices, sometimes 50-60% below our regular rates. It seems win-win to us, but we wanted to get more feedback before we go with it.

Any thoughts are welcome. Click on the "Leave a Comment" or "# comment" link below