Most team building is eye-rollingly painful and a complete waste of time and money. It was my choice this morning to climb trees 200 feet high, attach myself to a zip line over a lake deep in Woburn Forest in England. I was with my husband and eldest daughter. Aged eight she fearlessly ran, jumped, and climbed her way across tightropes and chain ladders and we all had a marvelous time. But it was our choice and we did it for fun. It reminded me of the many times in my corporate life when I was forced to participate in such activities in the name of team building.
In my quarter of a century of corporate and consulting life, I must have experienced more than $5 million worth of team development activities. Some were painful, some hilarious, some pointless, some embarrassing, and some outrageously fun, but they all had one common trait: completely futile in their ability to actually improve how the team accelerated results.
I am not advising against fun—far from it. But fun cannot be the sole focus of your bringing your team together, and it cannot replace the fundamental foundation of a galvanized team. Many leaders hope that a team-building event will improve morale. But who wants to spend time bowling with their coworkers or learning about your preferred communication style if your strategy isn’t clear, you are missing opportunities to grow your business, or there is a toxic leader on your team not being dealt with?
Don’t waste your money. Your team will thank you for it.
Remember:
You don’t need an event to improve morale.
You don’t need a workshop to galvanize your team.
Contact me today if you want to discuss the real return on investment and effort you can get by galvanizing your organization.
Dedicated to growing your business,
Val