Design Exercises with Specific Goals

Sometimes, you may want to give team members a break from working on their normal projects to meet as a team to improve team morale or functioning. In order to use meeting time and team-building exercises effectively, it is helpful to have specific goals in mind, identify those goals to your team members, and follow up. For example, doing a trust-building exercise after team members are at each other’s throats could be helpful, but if you only do the trust-building exercise one time, after a while, team members may forget the point and lose the benefits they gained. When planning a meeting, identify why the meeting is necessary, and plan an agenda to keep the meeting organized. Sometimes the purpose will be quite simple. Scheduling time for team members to play together can help them to recharge after a particularly grueling project. It can also help them build more rapport with each other. 

What to Avoid

• When planning team-building exercises, make sure that you don’t undermine your attempt to improve your team. Here are some suggestions: 
• Make sure that your team-building goals are relevant to your team’s needs so that they are worth taking time away from other work.
• Make sure that your team-building activities continue on a regular basis, monthly or even weekly to reinforce your goals.
• While athletics can be fun for many employees, they can also be destructive for team morale, especially if they are focused simply on competition and winning.

Until next time ...

 

Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP