Whilst working as a team is a great idea, what sort of team are you seeking to build? The types of different teams and the way in which they function vary enormously, and will depend upon the task in hand and the relevant skills of the individual team members. Teams are complex mixes of people and it is not surprising that they malfunction occasionally or need re-alignment through team building.

To work effectively as a team the team needs to reach a consensus as to exactly what sort of team they are: what are the team’s goals, what is each member's role, who needs to work closely with whom and what is the game plan? Sometimes it is as simple as learning more about the people with whom you work, and sometimes it is more complex - such as resolving entrenched difficulties or seeking to define how a long-distance team must communicate.

You can tackle this by taking some time away from the workplace to slow things right down – and Staffordshire has many good venues at which you can hold your team building event. Through discussion, brain storming, game play, role play and goal setting, you can sort out problems, plan the future, put forward new ideas, look at the team's purpose, vision and mission and hence learn more about each other both as people and as a team. After a well organised and structured team building event team members will have a fresh perspective, build confidence, achieve a sense of focus and be more prepared for prepare for the challenge ahead.

A team building event in Staffordshire will have a positive effect on the confidence, morale, motivation and the effectiveness not only of the both the individual members and upon the team and the benefits will immediately flow back to the workplace.

KDM Events will create your team building event from your specific brief and it will be tailor-made by KDM working closely with your company to ensure that you have most appropriate programme or event to suit your objectives.

Tailored specifically to each group KDM’s Team Building events are designed to help create and nurture successful, professional, productive and happy teams.

Towards the end of the twentieth century, ‘Team Building’ became recognised by many companies as an important factor that helped them provide a quality service and remain competitive. Yet now that the 21st century is well established, the term ‘team building’ still fails to be properly understood - people often know that they need it, but they are not sure exactly just what it is and the power that it can unleash for them.

If a team is a just a group of people that work towards a common goal, 'team building' is the process that facilitates that group of people to reach their goal in the most efficient fashion. Clearly it is a vital management issue, and the most effective form of team building is that undertaken as a form of consultancy, rather than as pure training.

The stages involved in team building are:

• Clarify the collective goals
• Identify the inhibitors that prevent the team from reaching their goals
• Remove those inhibitors
• Put in place enablers that assist the team to reach that goal
• Measure and monitor the progress made
• Ensure the goals are achieved

Traditional techniques to team building often address the principal inhibitors to collective performance: relationships and bad communication. However, if a group is only a group of colleagues with unrelated objectives as opposed to being a team with a common objective, then the benefits of such team building techniques will be limited. At best, there may be no need to resolve relationship problems; at worst it can be a waste of time and distract the people involved from achieving their individual goals.

Summary

• A team is a group of people working towards a common goal
• Team building is a process of enabling that team to achieve that goal
• If they are only a group – rather than a team - then traditional team building techniques can be a waste of time and money or even counter-productive
• There may be better ways to resolve problems in groups; e.g. putting distance between people who don't get on or enabling them to understand what motivates the other and building an understanding of personality differences.

For help in getting your people to work more effectively as a team and for help with Team Building both in Staffordshire and elsewhere in the UK contact KDM Events on 01782 646300.