What does team building accomplish? Just ask the New England Patriots, winners of this year’s Super Bowl. Ask Serena Williams’ hitting partner, agent, coach, or sister Venus.
The coach of the New England Patriots isn’t out on the field, but without his leadership, his team wouldn’t have won. And conversely, while Serena Williams is the star of her own universe, she’s not the only inhabitant. Team Serena is a vital part of her astronomical success.
What does team building accomplish? Professional growth
Depending on the facilitator’s level of professional proficiency and personal maturity, team building activities can be the cornerstone upon which a company’s success is built. Successful team building doesn’t start with an amorphous mass of generic nobodies.
It starts with one individual and then another and another bound together humanely, strategically, and purposefully. And the purpose is not always profits and perks for the CEO and his inner circle. Just ask the Magnovo Training Group.
What does team building accomplish? Inclusion
Magnovo’s CEO Rob Jackson teaches clients about team building based on his own track record of success. He knows what works and what doesn’t.
He knows that the success of any team is based on the value that leaders place on their individual team players. When individual employees are valued and validated, they feel included. That sense of inclusion is the glue that binds teams together and holds them together through difficult times.
Jackson has learned that in order to build a strong team, you first need a strong foundation and the core of that foundation should be trust. Each prospective team member will bond more easily to the rest of the team if he or she feels that they can trust their leader.
A leadership style that is bold but kind; challenging but humane; confident but welcoming—these are the attributes around which a group of strangers can coalesce and form a dynamic, productive, and innovative team of professionals. This is the kind of leadership style that fosters easy engagement, or “buy-in” among the most reticent employees.
What does team building accomplish? Respect
Team building that is based on respect for each employee versus domination and intimidation of an entire staff engenders creativity, innovation, and work performance at a consistently high level.
Team building that is based on deadline pressure and the threat of downsizing, layoffs, and other stressors is not real team building. It’s team bullying. You can compel a worker’s participation in an icebreaking game, but when the game is over, the ice—social distance and tentativeness between workers—will be as thick as before. You can force people to smile on the outside, but you can’t make them relax and trust each other inside where it really counts.
This kind of so-called team building is toxic. And it erodes a company’s morale and its bottom line. To avoid such a calamity, choose carefully and wisely your team building event facilitator. A myriad problem can be eliminated or avoided in the hands of a patient, enlightened, and empathetic team building expert.
What does team building accomplish? Success
Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
Magnvo’s team-building experts help clients get started by putting their priorities in order. We help identify strategies to accomplish each one and then groom the right employees to work as a team and get the job done.