Team Building Tips

Every year, team building gurus who are nothing more than snake oil shysters rake in millions of dollars writing books, giving seminars and hosting one on one counseling with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies looking for the magical password that will inspire their workforce to never before seen levels of productivity and happiness. Of course, the key to good team building is far simpler than any of these gurus will admit. The truth is that good team building is common sense. Let's take a quick look at just a few things every boss can do to foster better team building.

Leading teams into team building conquers the challenge of change. Change is the one constant of life, and change undoes the way things are. A team, for instance, is either building or falling apart. An essential aptitude for true leadership, then, is leading the team into building on a continuous basis. Team building leads a group into a higher levels of team spirit, cooperation and interpersonal communication. Even if you only one other person that you have responsibility for leading, that person needs to perceive you on his side to give his best. Team building is the process of building upon the team-dimension of any relationship. Team spirit either grows, or it dies.

Helping employees, managers and departments work better together has numerous benefits. Rather than thinking of team development in the workplace as special intervention, it should be seen more as helping the company to work to its fullest potential. Teamwork is at its essence- a set of individual behavioral choices that workers make in their own best interest, and for their own satisfaction, security and survival.

Let's paint a typical scenario that sets the stage. Senior leadership has called for a company meeting to discuss the "new direction" of the organization.