Friday, December 23, 2005

Teambuilding Activities

"Team building" (or "'teambuilding'") refers to the process of establishing and developing a greater sense of collaboration and trust between team members. Interactive exercises, team assessments, and group discussions enable groups to cultivate this greater sense of teamwork. Team building is used in many contexts, for example in sport clubs and work organizations. (Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, this term is often heavily abused. I went to an annual conference this month in which one of the activities was "teambuilding activities" -- which turn out to be more like "how to humiliate your team member". The only teamwork required was choosing the next victim. What a mess. I can't believe the event organizer sold this as a teambuilding activities, and worse, the company let this crap happening.

Go through the followings teambuilding ingredients - those that seen as important to the successful set-up and launch of such team efforts.

  • Selection of participants
  • Establishing goals
  • Allocation of roles within the team
  • Harmonizing personality types
  • Training on how to work together
  • Support within the team
  • Making effective use of resources
  • Communication between team members and leaders
It's surely a lot of works! Event organizer: be sure do your homework and ample preparation.