How to…. get the most out of staff teambuilding days

23/01/2009

With redundancies and economic uncertainty featuring heavily in the media, recruiters are increasingly encountering a lack of enthusiasm and motivation amongst staff, as people concentrate their attention on the tough times that may lie ahead. In addition, as budgets get tighter, staff morale and retention is more important than ever before, however training new members of staff and ensuring they are quickly integrated into the workforce is a cost that most companies would prefer to avoid.

As a result, many recruiters are turning to teambuilding to get the best out of their employees, tackle motivational problems, increase productivity and boost staff morale.

So how can teambuilding help, and how can companies ensure they are getting value from teambuilding days, rather than it being treated as an away day where the company picks up the tab?

Strengthen inter-office relations
Staff corporate events and ‘away days’ should be integral part of every company’s employment strategy in terms of building multiple-office relations, whilst also helping to improve company communication and the sharing of ideas. As a company grows, it is important to arrange strategic events throughout the year, which bring staff together from all divisions and offices, giving everyone in the business a chance to meet any new joiners and encouraging a ‘one team’ mentality.

Reassurance
Bringing a company together for a well-planned teambuilding day not only improves internal relations but can also provide employees with reassurance for the future. ‘Away days’ are the perfect time to present the strategy and motivate staff for the year ahead. By looking at your vision together as a company, everyone gets a chance to feel that they are involved, which can engender a feeling of unity and solidarity across the group.

Have fun!
Planning inter-office games and challenges with prizes to win at the end will ensure that everyone gets involved in the exercise and will give employees a better chance to get to know their colleagues away from the work environment. Selecting mixed groups from all levels, divisions and offices provides employees with a better chance to bond, especially in growing companies that have offices spread across the company. Leaving an element of surprise in what you have planned for the day is a great way to get everyone talking in the office and adds a bit of excitement.

Popular activities
Choosing a fun, popular activity for your teambuilding day, such as adventure assault courses, paintballing and abseiling, will ensure that your employees work together as a team and that they finish the exercise with good memories of the day and funny stories to take back to the office. Planning your exercise over the duration of a weekend gives you the added option of arranging a selection of exercises for your teams to score points from, which can then be added up over the two days and a winner will then be chosen. This will increase the competitiveness amongst the teams and will set the challenge high for your employees.

Rounding off the day with a night of drinks and entertainment provides everyone with a chance to relax and let their hair down, whilst continuing to build on the relationships they have developed during the team exercises.

Creating a shared experience
Taking a different approach to teambuilding, such as planning office competitions or doing something out of the ordinary, can help to create a ‘shared experience’, giving each member of staff, from all levels, their own individual memories of the exercise or day. Leave a selection of the day blank and hand over responsibility for the rest of the activity to the teams, so it doesn’t become a management-led day.

Effectiveness
Measuring the effectiveness of a teambuilding exercise is vital to completing the task. Offering staff feedback sessions in groups and sending round questionnaires are both good ways of ascertaining the success of the exercise, highlighting areas that worked well and things to focus on for the future. Letting your staff know that their opinions matter is especially important when they have taken time out of work hours, and will benefit the company the long-term.

Top Tips

• Don’t take the easy route and stick to the same teambuilding exercises every year – explore the options and surprise your staff
• Set the challenge high – give your employees something great to aim for
• Plan regular staff corporate events throughout the year
• Get feedback and measure the effectiveness of the exercise
• Have fun and don’t be scared to plan something out of the ordinary