Team Building Part 2 – What is it for?
Picking up on my previous post’s reflections on ‘why bother with team building?’, driven by some pretty dire findings from a YouGov poll of employees, I’d like to delve into the nature of meaningful and rewarding interventions.
So, what is the primary purpose of your ‘team building’? It is crucial that you consider this if you are to design a meaningful intervention that delivers the appropriate outcomes and change.
I had the privilege of inviting Valerie Hannon to speak at an Outdoor Learning conference back in 2016, where she posed the question ‘what is learning for?’. I believe that her suggested answer is a helpful framework through which to provide a focus on the purpose of meaningful ‘team building’ interventions.
“As humans, we need to be thriving on four levels:
1) internally, in terms of developing a real sense of self, accessing calmness, and taking care of our bodies;
2) interpersonally, in terms of our relationships;
3) societally, in terms of our communities; and
4) planetarily (or globally).”
Valerie Hannon 2021
In a teambuilding context we might adapt this to look like:
Taking this adaptation of Valerie’s 4 levels of thriving structure as a guide, we may pose the following questions to provide insight into both the purpose and the design of the team building.
Internal / Self
What individual development/learning may be helpful?
What knowledge is needed by all to fully participate and benefit?
What individual commitments to change are being targeted?
Interpersonal / Relationships
How well do individuals know each other?
What levels of trust and understanding already exist?
Which particular relationships need establishing or strengthening?
Team / Community
Which teams or departments are needed to effect the desired change?
What systems or processes might support or hinder team behavioural change?
To what extent do individuals recognise and commit to their membership of the team(s)?
Wider organisation / Stakeholders
Where does the targeted team change fit into the bigger vision?
Who or what outside of the team is needed to support and encourage change?
Who are the wider stakeholders that may be impacted by change?
It’s possible to provide a memorable experience with significant business benefits if we are clear on the intervention’s purpose. Rarely in my experience is a valued team building intervention only focused on one of the above four dimensions. Importantly a successful intervention is also often a product of some of the ‘wider’ considerations above, drawing in others beyond the immediate team.
This consideration of purpose may also lead us to consider a series of actions, not all of which may be learning and development interventions. Beware the seduction of a single intervention solution to a team building challenge!
In my next post I’d like to explore a little of how the delivery of a team building intervention can influence outcomes and impact. Please do get in touch if you’d like to explore the purpose and design of team building further.
Andy Robinson
01433 620377
07730 832760
