Partner Article

Will you survive professional teambuilding?

As the summer months draw in, most people welcome the sunshine and lighter evenings, but June can mean something else for many companies – teambuilding.

Teambuilding can be a tenuous time for businesses, especially if there is a resistive workforce, one that doesn’t feel that they need to improve their relationships and would be better placed remaining at their desk.

It’s a minefield for management and staff alike; is it purely for entertainment and bonding, or are there ulterior motives from management, seeking to find the next potential promotion?

Whether you have an entire workforce kicking back or just one individual, here are some points on how to survive teambuilding as a manager;

Do as the Scouts do and be prepared

You can never expect everyone to be happy with an idea and be as excited as you might have been whilst planning the event; ensure you’re ready to answer any queries with tact and be available to quash any fears people may have

Get people excited!

It can be easy to let all the details out at once and expect people to hold onto it for months. Why not release the information gradually, keeping everyone interested and enticing staff with additional facts as a reward for a good week. The closer you get to the date, the more excited individuals will be to finally know where they’re going and what they’re doing

Be subtle

If you need to fill an internal position and feel that teambuilding is a good place to start the recruitment process, don’t be obvious about it – chances are your staff will know and those who aren’t in the running are likely to be put off from joining in at all. Let the teams run themselves naturally, and avoid putting your favourites ahead of everyone else, you might just be surprised.

How about as a team member?

Avoid complaining

No one wants to be on a team with someone who moans about everything and anything. Stay positive and be the optimist of the group – if you’re not enjoying yourself, it doesn’t mean no one else is. Vent when you get home, not to your work colleagues

Embrace the opportunity

It’s likely you’ll be given the chance to interact with a group of people that you don’t work with on a daily basis, so make the most of it. See it as a form of networking, allowing you to solidify your existing relationships while building new ones, ultimately making your life easier when you return to work

Get stuck in

Teambuilding is named as such for a reason. It’s a few days away from the office and you get the chance to have a bit of a laugh with the people around you, lightening the mood and dispersing some of the corporate gloom that can come with working in an professional environment.

Teambuilding should be viewed as a constructive challenge, an event that happens once a year and is worth getting excited about. Follow the above points and a happy balance can be achieved between the necessity of going and actually enjoying yourself.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jessica Higham .