Team-Building in Secret

Corporations have been going about building teamwork in some of the strangest ways known to employer and employee. It all began when corporations started having employees hang from ropes, next came having employees shoot each other with paintballs, and now some corporations are trying to build teamwork by having employees participate in inflatable-sumo-wrestling. What will the future hold? Will corporations be asking their employees to swim with dolphins to build teamwork, or perhaps group parachuting will be the key to transforming your squabbling employees into a winning team.Conduct a search on the Internet, and you will quickly realize just how ridiculous team-building exercises are becoming for both employers and employees. Therefore, if I may take a moment to speak on your employees' behalf: "PLEASE…PLEASE…do not make your employees participate in human foosball, comedy karaoke, or sing in a music video with the company CEO in order to build teamwork." Now, if I may take a moment to speak to the HR manager(s) in the company. "Team sailing, employee Olympics, and having all your employees ride around on All-Terrain Vehicles may be fun, but ask yourself this question: does a fun team sport really add up to more teamwork back in the office?"If comedy karaoke and human foosball will not develop your employees into a well-oiled self-directed team, what will? It's simple, if you want to build employee teamwork, do it in the office and do not tell your employees you're doing it. Why keep it a secret? It is important to keep any teamwork activities that you do a secret for three reasons.First, employees are human, well most of them anyway, and humans are social animals that gravitate to work in groups versus individually if given the opportunity. Therefore, employees are already naturally geared to work in teams (groups), and making them swing from ropes will not add any more "group behavior" to their genetic makeup.Secondly, since employees are already geared to work in teams, your primary goal is to integrate teamwork practices into everyday work patterns. It is up to the leaders within the organization to integrate teamwork practices, not the employees.Lastly, if you announce that the company plans to build teamwork, most employees will respond by asking when the team building practices will be over, so they can get back to work. By announcing your team-building efforts, you will not create additional motivation in your employees to suddenly get them to develop team cohesion.Steps to Team-Building in the Office:1.) Define your teams. Most large organizations will have one main team with numerous sub teams. A sub team may be composed of just one employee and employees may be on several different sub teams.2.) Setup a meeting and ask each sub team to define their goals, and what would be helpful for them to have from the other sub teams within the department. You will need to prepare your employee for this meeting by letting them know ahead of time what they will be asked, so they can prepare proper responses. End the meeting after all participants have reported to each other their goals and needs. Do not mention the words teamwork or team building.3.) In future meetings, ask employees to report what assistance they are receiving from other sub teams. Focus only on the positives, and applaud those sub teams that have assisted other sub teams. It may take a few meetings for employees to pick-up on the trend of asking how other sub teams are assisting, so don't give up if your employees are slow to report. Remember, be mindful not to mention the words teamwork or team-building.4.) Incorporate sub team assistance as a performance review item during employees' performance reviews. Be direct by asking employees to report how they have assisted other sub teams while they met their own goals.These are the basic skills necessary to build teamwork within your organization's various sub teams. Remember that your employees are already geared to operate in groups; all you need to do is integrate teamwork practices into your organization's operations. Hence, please cancel the inflatable-sumo-wrestling team-building exercise you have planned for next week.Happy Working,Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP