Benefits of Task-Based Team Building

A common question asked in companies is “Should we host a team building?”, but the better question is actually, “What kind of team building should my company do?”. As companies grow and expand, their staff will also increase and coworkers begin to form cliques and groups. A great way to mix and match these cliques and have them do some task-based team building activities. It doesn’t matter if it’s indoor or outdoor as long as there are tasks involved.

In addition to icebreaking, there are many other perks that come with doing team-building activities. Not only can you better understand your coworkers on a social level, but you can also learn a bit about their thought process and how they approach problem-solving.

1. Improve communication

Communication is an essential element in any corporate setting. Depending on the size of the company, some coworkers may work with each other, but never actually talk and get to know each other. Even simple tasks will seem difficult if there’s not enough communication. Through task-based team building, these coworkers can now talk to and learn more about each other. Giving them a common goal to achieve outside a work environment can also lighten up the situation and reduce stress. Additionally, there’s usually a hierarchy at work and by placing the team in a non-work situation, conversations and discussions can be more relaxed and two-way communication can be easily achieved.

2. Division of Labour

Another benefit of task-based team building activities is that team members do the division of labour to approach tasks. For example, if there’s a team member that excels in a certain area they can focus on that task while the other members can assist in more minor tasks to complete the overall goal. Some great activities that can take advantage of division of labour because usually during the game, players will have to look for clues /instruction while some other players will have to solve the riddles / problems. It will utilise the strengths of each player due to the fact that the challenges will range from a wide variety of tasks.

3. No hierarchy

What staff worries about most when team building is doing activities is how management will view them after the activity. What’s important for them to know is that during a team-building event, you shouldn’t bring the work hierarchy in because the main purpose is for staff to relax and to have fun outside the work environment. That’s why doing a task-based team building can help remove hierarchy by assigning roles of equal importance which. Of course, it really depends on the team members, but most teams will distribute the work equally during these activities because at the end of the day, you the most important thing is to learn more about each other.

4. Managing Resources

Usually, in a task-based team building event, all participants will be certain tools or resources to complete the task. It’s not unusual that teams fail due to inadequate resource management. Which makes this a great opportunity for helping them learn how to allocate and manage resources with little to no pressure as it is not a work environment. Let’s say some games set a time-limit and the players are given resources like clues, life-lines, time and various other items inside their theme. The players must allocate all these resources and distribute them to the players in order for them to maximise their efficiency and minimise the time used while inside. Through games like this, the players will learn to think out of the box and perhaps innovate some new techniques at the workplace.

5. Boosting Engagement and Interactions

Last but not least, having a task-based team building event can boost the engagement of the participants.
This means during the time the players are doing the task, they are focused on the task at hand and not worrying about outside influences. Usually, no cellphones or outside tools are used during the team building so there’s no need to worry about some teammates fiddling on their phones instead of helping out with the task. Doing physical activities for team building might be a good way of exercise. At the end of the event, did they really complete something as a team? It’s important that the players learn or complete something during the team building while having interactions with each other. This is the most effective way to achieve a common goal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s essential to know what type of team building your company wants to do and what goals you want the participants to achieve after the team building. Task-based team buildings are becoming a trend that helps coworkers learn about each other and to boost their engagement with each other and allows for them to unplug themselves for the modern world for a brief time. To top it off it is important everyone enjoys themselves and that they will be talking about the event for months to come!

Want to know more? For more tips on Team Building, please see the “HR’s Team-building Cheat Sheet!”

任務式團隊訓練？！

任務式團隊訓練 (Task-Based Team Building) 的好處

公司常遇見的一個問題：「我們應該舉行團隊培訓嗎？」，但事實上，其隱藏的問題是「我的公司應該做什麼類型的團隊培訓？」。隨著公司的發展和壯大，員工也逐漸增加，並且同事開始組成小黨派和小團體。任務式團隊培訓正是一種好方法，可以令小黨派和小團體的成員重新認識和組組合。

舉行團隊培訓活動除了破冰以外，還會帶來許多其他好處。您不單單可以從社交層面上更好地了解您的同事，還可以了解他們的思維模式以及他們如何處理及解決難題。

1.增進溝通

溝通是任何公司環境中必不可少的要素。根據公司的規模，一些同事會互相合作，但他們從不實際交談和了解彼此。通過任務式團隊培訓，同事現在可以打破隔膜、彼此交談並獲取更多資訊。在這種工作環境外的活動，設立及實踐共同目標，這不但可以減輕緊張的情況，亦可以舒緩彼此的壓力。此外，透過隨機組隊，更可讓大家的對話和討論變得輕鬆，從而實踐雙向溝通。

2.分工合作

任務式團隊培訓的另一個好處是隊員可透過自行分工來完成任務。如果有一個隊員在某一領域表現突出，分工可讓他們專注進行該任務，而其他成員則可以協助完成其他支線任務，以達成目標成就。譬如說一些遊戲可充分體驗分工優勢的團隊活動，舉例在遊戲過程中，玩家們需要一邊尋找線索，一邊解決難題，由於它的挑戰範圍廣泛，以及多樣化的任務，這可體驗到每個玩家的長處。

3.沒有階級之分

當進行團隊培訓活動時，員工最擔心的是管理層在活動後如何看待他們。重要的是，讓他們瞭解的是，在這團隊培訓活動中，並不存在工作階級的差異。因為活動主要目的是讓員工能在工作環境之外放鬆和享受樂趣。因此，通過分配同等重要性的角色，可以打破階級的隔閡。當然，這確實取決於團隊成員，但大多數團隊在這些活動期間會平均分配工作，因為在活動結束的時候，最重要的是要更多地瞭解彼此。

4.管理資源

通常在任務式團隊培訓中，參與者都需要利用某些工具或資源來完成指定任務，這是十分有助於他們學習如何分配和管理資源，由於它不是工作環境，因此幾乎沒有壓力。例如在一個遊戲房間來，玩家得到不同的資源，如線索、生命值、時限以及主題內的各種道具。玩家必須分配這些資源給不同的隊友，以提高他們的最大效率，及儘量降低消耗的時間。通過這樣的遊戲體驗，玩家將學習如何跳出思維的框架，在未來的工作場境中也會創造一些新技術。

5. 促進參與

舉辦任務式團隊培訓可以提高大家的參與度，這意味著玩家在活動的過程中，只專注於手頭的任務，無需擔心外界的影響。通常在團隊培訓過程中，大家都不可使用手機或其他通訊工具，因此無需擔心隊友們一直只專注在手機上，而不是協力完成任務。當然，為團隊培訓舉辦體能鍛煉可能也是一個很好的方法，但在活動結束時，他們真的是以團隊的方式完成了什麼目標嗎？團隊培訓最有效方法的是，玩家在過程中能相互交流、共同學習或完成一些任務。

結論

總而言之，最重要的一點是，瞭解公司希望進行哪種類型的團隊建設，以及希望同事在團隊培訓後可實現哪些目標。任務式團隊培訓逐漸成為一種趨勢，它不但可以幫助同事相互瞭解、促進彼此的交往，還可以容許大家在短時間內脫離現實。最重要的是，每個人都能享受自己的樂趣，讓他們將在未來幾個月中談論這次活動樂趣！

如欲了解更多有Team Building 的技巧，可瀏覽「人力資源管理（HR）必看天書」。