To assure the connection between team members, especially in the cases of organizations that are opting for remote work, in-person events, such as team building, have proven to be a very efficient tool.
At KWAN, we love to be able to work from wherever we want and feel comfortable, whether it be the office, our home, or in another country. In fact, we very recently published an article with 6 reasons why your team’s performance while working remotely is better than ever.
At the same time, we’re also aware that remote work can sometimes make people feel lonely and disconnected from coworkers. Therefore, group bonding strategies are essential to create a sense of belonging, strengthen work ties, and show support.
That’s why we’re truly believers in the benefits of team buildings. As a matter of fact, we recently took our team of Ambassadors of KWAN to Sintra for two days of challenges, group activities, and lots of fun.
In this article we’ll share with you 9 reasons why we think team building is a game changer, and it is very much worth the investment and the time!
9 reasons why team building are more important than ever
Getting to know the people you less interact with
How well do you know the people in your company that work in other departments?
Group activities will not only help you to straighten bonds with people you usually interact with, but also to get to know and learn about the people you may not have the chance to work with regularly.
Benefit from new perspectives to help you solve old problems. How?
Imagine a scenario where IT professionals, account managers and human resources all meet and try to overcome challenges altogether, in a casual way. This experience will allow them to get to know their work methods, and perhaps acquire new skills that they will later be able to apply in real work situations. All departments have to gain from learning from one another and sharing their insights. New perspective may just be what they need to find the solution to that problem they’ve been stuck on for a while.
Moreover, perhaps another department has already faced a similar problem?
Coworkers have the chance to create real connections
Team building activities may look like fun and games, but there’s much more to it than mere entertainment. Is there a better way to promote communication among teammates than with friendly interaction in a casual environment while engaging in creative challenges? A study by Kenexa Research Institute states that communication between co-workers improves thanks to interaction outside the workplace. Bonding refines communication by stimulating active listening and bringing people closer, which is fundamental for producing successful outcomes.
Learning conflict management and problem-solving strategies
Team building contexts are great for people to understand the perks of having everyone working in the same direction. They help employees acknowledge that all departments may be different but they all contribute to the organization’s common goal and are responsible for its success.
Through team building simple exercises and games, strategies to overcome conflicts can be shown and tested, and later applied to real-life situations. How?
There’s a very simple exercise called the “speaker-listener-technique” that is used both in business and personal contexts. At this game, all participants take turns at listening and speaking. It’s not by chance these activities are designed to promote brainstorming, debating and active listening.Training these skills is essential because at the end of each game, much like in the case of a work project, people are supposed to agree and find a solution that benefits all departments.
A murder mistery challenge gave Greenfield Global Inc. the right opportunity to test their employees’ problem solving abilities. Playing detective was only possible through sharing experiences and working together. What problems did they encounter? How could the experience have gone better? In the end everyone got to share their final thoughts on how to apply this knowledge in work situations.
Exploring trust building strategies
Some people are a little self-conscious and become afraid to expose their thoughts and ideas, which may cost your organization great talent. Trust building strategies are useful in the creation of a safe environment with no place for judgment, and where people feel comfortable showing vulnerability.
In KWAN’s team building we applied this by inviting our Ambassadors of KWAN for the Ice Challenge using the Wim Hof method – in which the participants should enter into a bathtub full of ice and, through breathing exercises, overcome fear of the cold during 2 minutes.
After this activity, the participants felt powerful and confident – after all, they’ve been through the same experience, had the same fears, and had to overcome it, so they had to trust the method and each other.
Unblocking leadership potential
Who could have guessed the introverted programmer to be a natural born leader? Thanks to team building activities you will be able to discover your team’s hidden talents and understand how to benefit from each person’s leadership potential. Of course, not all people like to be in charge, but even those, in the context of relaxed training, can learn to release their inhibitions and reveal themselves.
Lifting the morale
Especially when companies are struggling with work overload, taking some time to breathe, by engaging in team building events, shows you care. Team building can also be quite rewarding as it gives the perfect opportunity to recognize your team’s efforts, and lifting the morale. In fact, experiences conducted by Stanford’s investigators show that the slightest notion of belonging to a team boosts motivation. During this investigation participants were requested to perform an activity alone after first meeting in small groups. Only half of them were under the instructions that they were part of a group. Their performance was better. The simple notion of being part of a team has increased their motivation and sense of responsibility.
Reinforcing company culture
Company culture or workplace culture can be described as every aspect of an organization that will influence the work environment, such as values, goals and norms. In a nutshell, everything the company stands for.
In fact, culture is so important that, at KWAN, we believe that finding a candidate with the appropriate cultural fit is more important than the technical knowledge.
Through team building, you don’t only get to know your team members character and aspirations, as you also get to know the personality of the organization itself. This will increase everyone’s sense of belonging, especially when there’s a shared common ground, and will lead to the construction of a healthy work culture.
Acknowledging the importance of mental health
Numbers are quite frightening. According to CNBC, 69% of remote workers experience burnouts. No one is immune to mental exhaustion. A more demanding project, deadlines, loneliness, everyday life stress or even finding it hard to unplug at the end of the work day… all this can be a trigger.
Remote work, specifically, can be very lonely. There are studies that state that remote workers are more prone to depression. Team building will will help you take care of your team’s mental health by promoting social interaction and giving everyone a chance to unwind.
Enhancing productivity
Last but not least, we’ll leave you with the ultimate reason why no organization should ever dismiss team building opportunities. Team building promotes well-being and happiness and, according to research by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, a happy employee produces 13% more. Therefore, it is safe to assume that happy and motivated workers perform better, reach up to their full potential, deliver greater outcomes and will help you bring your company to the next level.
9 reasons why team building is more important than ever: final thoughts
At KWAN we love remote work but we also understand the need of in-person events, such as team buildings. Group activities create the right mood for everyone to feel at ease, and through group challenges and a little healthy competition, one can unleash its true potential.
People are the most precious asset of a company, and each one of them is a unique individual that contributes to the organization in a different way. But, as we’ve learnt so far, cooperation strengthens bonds and brings obstacles down much faster and easier, thus increasing productivity. Team building is a management strategy that promotes togetherness and that can be quite empowering.
If you want your tech team to benefit from KWAN’s experience in remote work, but also in team buildings and in-person events, get in touch. Count with us as your outsourcing partner while you focus on what matters the most: developing your business!
