A Team Building Program That Improves Leadership
Leadership and team building are two vital elements of a successful, productive, healthy company or organization. The tragedy is that most leaders have no idea how important their example and participation is to creating thriving, dynamic teams.
Most leaders think that team building is something only their employees need to do. I always recommend that team building start with leadership and then be propagated throughout the organization. If leadership doesn’t understand how to build excellent teams, the whole organization suffers.
So, how can you interweave leadership and team building in your organization? Here are some key ideas:
- Develop a team building program that focuses on long-term results.
- Include leadership in any team building activity, not just lower-level employees.
- Commit to ongoing, regularly scheduled team building activities.
- Create an environment free from distractions to practice team building.
- Shift from amusement-related team bonding to deeper team building.
- Reward team building behavior on the job.
- Create policies that require every leader/employee to learn team building skills.
- Make team building part of the company culture.
Few people realize that team building is one of most crucial skills leaders need to possess. If you’ve ever worked for someone in a position of authority who didn’t know how to bring people together, you know the pain that arises from a disjointed, dysfunctional workplace. Some of the benefits of leaders who practice effective team building are:
- More competent leadership.
- Greater empathy.
- Connecting on a deeper level with people.
- Improved morale and motivation
- Better communication.
- People feeling valued and included.
- A sense of joint purpose.
- Better collaboration.
- More creativity.
- Access to a wider range of ideas.
- Fewer misunderstandings.
- Improved productivity.
- A happier work environment.
Imagine what your workplace would be like if you and your staff enjoyed all these things—you’d likely get more work done with less effort. That’s the power of leaders who understand the importance of team building and make it an integral part of their operation.
I had a consulting client share a story with me about her success with team building. She told me that, when she decided to implement an ongoing team building program at her company, she saw improvements week after week and was amazed by how much better her employees interacted and how much more settled and content her office felt. Before team building, she felt defeated and hopeless whereas now she felt like the sky was the limit. I congratulated her on a job well done and encouraged her to keep going.
Being a leader who values and practices team building isn’t difficult. All it takes is your commitment to making team building a priority in your workplace and sticking to it. Over time, you’ll see amazing results and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. Cheers, Guy.