Teamwork Building

Teamwork building is a process that takes a group of people who work together and refines the way they cooperate with each other to the point where a team is produced that is cohesive and efficient with individual members all engaged and committed to the shared common goals of the team.

The problems faced by any team building process are commonly that there is a group of people who have nothing much in common and who would not be together if they did not work together. The question then becomes one of how to persuade this group of people to work together in the most efficient way possible in order to produce a team.

The teamwork building process should start by removing everything that blocks and inhibits the smooth achievement of the process. Each member of the team needs to feel ownership of the common shared goals, and not just their own individual goals. They need to be made aware of the broader picture and be persuaded that they are an important part of the process of achieving the desired end result.

If team members can be persuaded to become more deeply involved in the process through awareness of where they stand in the team, and why they are vital to the team's success, they can start to become engaged in the work they do.

At this point the team member generally becomes a more efficient part of the overall process. They become more content and satisfied with what they are doing, which in turn has positive repercussions for the company.

Should it be the case that removing anything that blocks and inhibits the team building process is not enough on it own, steps should be taken to introduce measures that enable the process better. These can be as simple as building awareness and providing access to information and relevant resources.

The level of support and trust between team members is important. Each team member needs to feel that they are supported at every step of the way. They also need to feel that guidance is available if required. It is important that they are allowed to feel that they can trust other team members as well as their superiors, and in turn be trusted too.

Teamwork building requires a well rounded model for success. There should not be too much concentration on any one aspect of the process to the exclusion of other aspects. The planning process of team building should also recognise the value of assessment and feedback after the company away day activities are over.

Building a team should be a process of forging better cooperation between team members. Competitive activities that pit members against each other do not achieve this. One company even ended up in court as a result of an angry employee who had been forced to endure a range of demeaning actions because the employee had been in a losing team. The Californian company was sued for 1.7 million dollars. There is a lesson there for every company involved in teamwork building.