Stop Wasting Money on Team Building

“I don't know why they do this to adults. I was at a school that made us do three days of "bonding" how about three days of working collaboratively or doing something actually productive.” (Someone from the internet expressing his/her feeling about team building)

You must have been dragged into team-building activities if you work for medium or large companies. The activity is likely to be a wishy-washy attempt to solve problems and conflicts or bring people who cannot stand each other together. Most team building is a waste of money . "Many companies, when they decide to invest in team building, decide to do offsite events like bowling nights or ropes courses. Sometimes these events get really elaborate. One sales and marketing executive I know told me how he was flown to London with 20 of his colleagues, put up in a pricey hotel, and then trained to do the haka, a traditional war dance, by a group of Maori tribe members from New Zealand. This exercise was supposed to build relationships and bolster team spirit, and, by extension, improve collaboration. Instead, it fostered embarrassment and cynicism. Months later, the failing division was sold off."

Good intention? Yes! How about the execution? Horrible! Most team-building activities do nothing. The best-case scenario is that people have a good time. The worst case is that people hate every moment and get bitter about it. What is the solution?

Organise useful team-building sessions! Yes, there are useful team-building activities that facilitate the development of self-awareness about skills, strengths & personality traits.

Once individuals understand themselves, they learn how to communicate the value they bring to the team, what their needs are to produce high performance and be motivated, how the environment looks like in which they get demotivated, what it is they like and what it is they absolutely hate. How they solve problems and how they build relationships. How they influence others, how they think, and how they get things done.

Aren’t this information more useful for a team than “what kind of fruit would I like to be?” or “what three things do we have in common?”.

At The Strengths Company, we conduct CliftonStrengths-based team buildings, often combined with personality assessment (Big 5) that helps executives and team members answer all those questions and communicate them to their teams, families, and friends. The Strengths & Personality assessment combination gives a very clear picture of the individual’s genetic capabilities without all the platitudes of what they could be. Instead, we deal with and leverage what they actually have. It is a very pragmatic approach to self & team development. You see people’s eyes open up when they realise, “I am a very agreeable person, maybe that is why my ideas are never being heard” or “My Strengths are distancing me from others, but I need that space to think, and I am ok with that”.

Feedback about Strengths-Based Team Building:

"Getting the approval to be me was very liberating. I was able to communicate my needs, and for the first time, I felt that I have been heard at work."

"Finally, I was not considered as a competency framework but as an individual with a unique talent that can be useful for the team. I was allowed to be ME!"

"Personally, understanding my own strengths and those of my team has helped to make sense of some of the behaviours from my team members and myself and caused me to make adjustments to some of the ways I interact with my team."

"This workshop helped me understand team differences, what makes each person unique, and what we have in common."

If you are interested in really building a team: [email protected]

If you want more tips about how not to waste your L&D or HR budget: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BT6YJDN2