Top 5 Team building Traps
As a Certified Behavioural Consultant, I have overseen hundreds of team building and corporate training activities, from local SMEs to MNCs, from Asian companies to Western companies. There are plenty of types of team building and I deal with quite a lot of event organizers or planners on a regular basis and most of them are working as Human Resources, Secretaries, or Personal Assistants, either simple or complex team building activities are great for them. I’m also aware that many companies have a designated colleague to organise the events every year; however, some companies’ team building are planned by different colleagues, which means every colleague has the opportunity to participate in the process of organising and getting some new ideas, to plan a team building event. Based on my past experience, I have listed out the following points about the “Do’s and Don’ts” for team building process and planning.
The 5 Traps of Team Building
Many companies regularly organise Team Building, aiming for the activities to increase communication and cooperation between colleagues, to boost productivity, effectiveness and improving the working atmosphere. However, Team Building can be a double-edged sword for organisers, you may earn the appreciation of your colleagues; or you may get an earful of complaints.
Trap 1: Too Much Physical Movement
Some sports like rock climbing, hiking, cycling, or even war games, laser tag etc. are a popular choice for outdoor team building activties. Youngsters or sport-lovers may love it so much, but have you ever thought that your seniors or management staff may not enjoy it at all? Unless you are aiming to “take them down” during the game. You may win the game, but you might lose your career… Also, thinking about your colleagues, as an organiser, people might expect you to consider everyone’s interest, what if people are not familiar with too much exercise due to being pregnant? That’s why you must remember “3W1H” when organising. Who’s attending the team building? What do they like? Why this kind of team building activity? How to make sure everyone is satisfied? Especially your boss!
Trap 2: Boring Team Building Seminars
Holding seminars or workshops for team building is easier and you may please your boss (if he is very money-oriented) as long as there is a session for inviting some successful sales person sharing, giving a speech or a tutorial. However, I am sure you will see a lot of snoozing faces… Your colleagues were expecting a fun event to chill out and release their pressure during the team building, so you might need to balance everyone’s expectation to make yourself in a good position.
Trap 3: No Interaction During Team Games
Nowadays, video games like VR or AR are very common and you may consider it for team building. Players need to carry the heavy equipment, and emulate shooting monsters/zombies (most of the VR) in 10-15 minutes. It could be fun, but you may have missed a very important point and that is “interaction”. The spirit of team building is to gather everyone to complete a task or mission within a certain time, but can you see their face while everyone is wearing VR goggles? Is that a team building game? Can you read their body language? Can you communicate in person? I personally do not recommend this as their not too many benefits and the result of the team building isn’t that obvious.
Trap 4: Not suitable for All Ages
Imagine a professional like lawyers, bankers or a doctor participating in some kid games, that might work like a 5 minute team building game. Well, you may say it’s the best memory you enjoyed during your child age, but there might some embarrassing scenes, and teasing during the kid games. Bear in mind, the money you are spending for team building is by the company, your job is to organise a great team building event with everyone’s enjoyment in-mind.
Trap 5: Unfair Team Games
Singing or some sport activities could be another consideration for team building, and there might be some hidden superstars in your company who are familiar with it. If you want to create a platform to let them show off, that’s fine! Unless the one who shows off is your boss, or you are the boss, most people would not like to keep an eye on a single person for an entire team building activity because that’s not the purpose, right?
In conclusion, as a team building organiser, you need to consider the importance of team building and really have to think carefully about how to organize the activity that could affect your teammates participation and emotion. Especially if your boss takes this task as an assessment of your ability to do business, the applause and evaluation by your colleagues will really affect your career. Sometimes it might be wise to think out of the box and think of unusual team building activities to get a breath of fresh air for both you and your colleagues. Based on my many years of team building experience and HR friends who get headaches just thinking about how to organize their events, I have compiled “Five Tips for Team Building”, in hopes to solve everyone’s team building headaches, just leave your email, it will be delivered soon after! We wish you the best of luck on your team building efforts!
Want to know what are the things you SHOULD do?
Click here to see the top 5 team building tips!
HR 必看天書
Team Building 的 Do’s and Dont’s
筆者是註冊專業企業培訓導師，在過往幾年間，曾帶領過好幾百場Team Building（團隊訓練）及 Corporate Training（公司培訓）活動，由本地中小企到國際大企業，說中文的、講英文的都曾參與過。在活動的過程中，一直接觸到很多活動搞手或者策劃人，多數是由人力資源部 (Human Resources) 、秘書 (Secretary) 或者私人助理 (Personal Assistant) 負責； 親眼見證過不少公司每年都是由某位特定同事負責、亦有些公司每年都由不同同事負責，讓每位同事都有機會參與整個籌備過程，希望能夠擦出新火花、亦有可能是搞手在往年的活動出現差錯，立馬換人。因此，有時可以誇張地說「做得好可以升官發財，做不好就隨時被制裁」。根據過往聆聽到不同活動負責人及老闆的心聲和經驗，以下的五大陷阱是活動常見的。
Team Building 的五大陷阱
很多公司都會定期做 Team Building，希望透過團隊活動可以讓同事加深互相了解，尤其是上司對下屬；下屬對上司，發掘大家潛在能力，增加同事之間信任度，溝通效率從而提高生產力，亦可以讓公司上下打成一片、製造歡樂氣氛。但是 Team Building 這項活動對於策劃人來說可算是一把雙刃刀，有時可以令你獲得無限掌聲，有時卻會令你跌落人間地獄。
陷阱1：體力勞動
上山下海、打野戰、雷射槍等等諸如此類團隊活動的確是有苦有樂。年輕一輩必定喜歡刺激，可是較資深的又未必能體會箇中樂趣，尤其是管理層或者老闆。試想一下，在打野戰的時候，想針對你老闆獲勝又不是，除非你真的跟他有血海深仇；想故意放水又害怕做得太過明顯，真是左右做人難。另外，當需要極大體力勞動時，年紀稍長些的前輩們又不未必能受得了，說不好回到公司還會公報私仇。
陷阱2：過於沉悶
舉辦講座、研討會或者交流活動，尤其是銷售檢討，老闆們一定最開心，但是打工仔又不一定會受落。或許你會想在研討會面中加插一些特別的互動環節，不過這樣又會被人容易看穿，說到底都是為了取悅老闆，但卻得失了同事，還是可免則免。
陷阱3：互動欠奉
現在流行VR 或 AR 等等電玩遊戲，大家配帶沉重的裝備，在短短10多分鐘的螢幕裏拼過你死我活。在電玩過程中，未能與同事直接交流，更不用說眼神接觸、身體語言溝通，這些都一一欠奉。在籌備的過程中，請不要忘記這次團隊訓練的最大任務，是為了提高團隊合作精神，從而增加生產力，讓同事之間有進一步的了解、融洽、相處，所以這種互動欠奉的活動真的是不太建議。
陷阱4：過於幼稚
試幻想作為專業人士及高學歷的大家一起來參與「小孩子」的玩意，大家一邊笑一邊做，應該只會不斷製造出很多尷尬場面。有童真固然好，不過你利用公司的資源（金錢）來換取這些場面，真的要視乎你老闆是一個什麼的人，還是選擇小心為上。
陷阱5：欠缺平衡
唱歌或者球類競技活動，除非明知道老闆很喜歡，甚至乎某類型運動或歌唱大部份同事都很在行。否則，相信你也不想一整天只看著某位「一技傍身」同事作個人表演賽，而冷淡了其他在場同事的感受，這些欠缺平衡的活動，你還會相信它是一種團隊訓練嗎？
綜合多年的team building 活動經驗以及答應了很多HR的朋友要求，我整理了一份名叫「Team Building的心得及五大貼士」，希望能夠幫助大家解決難題，只要留下你的電子郵件，天書會立即送上！
