But first, HR needs to be a team to Practice what they Preach
Team – a group linked in a common purpose according to Wikipedia. Many companies put a lot of effort into building a team environment in order to maximize their resources and productivity. The collaborative and cooperative efforts of teamwork and how they’re applied often mean the difference between success and failure for both projects and careers at the office. As Hara Estroff Marano writes in the Psychology Today column ‘Help Wanted: A Team Player,’
“Do you play well with others? If you’re a part of the working world, playing well with others means being a member of a team. It’s a key part of nearly every job description.”
Often the implementation of team building activities falls to the human resources department of a company. But shouldn’t the HR Team have first-hand experience in team building themselves before undertaking the tasks of creating a program for the rest of their colleagues? Aside from the trial-and-error learning benefits, the goal of course is to get the HR group collaborating smoothly – making the transition from departmental ‘group’ to interactive ‘team.’ Once this is accomplished, and a team building agenda is established – it would make sense to get input from other department managers about how to best implement team building for their groups.
To realize the most beneficial team building experience, HR and managers need to ‘gear the material to the audience.’ In other words, what are the biggest needs that the group should address? The Society for Human Resource Management advocates in the HR Magazine article ‘Make the Most of Team Building,’
“Real teamwork building is about developing skill sets that enable participants to collaborate better or to learn how to handle difficult situations that may have arisen in the team. The training may include instruction on how to communicate better, manage conflict, or understand the skills and talents that everyone brings to the table.”
Human resources expert Susan M. Heathfield offers ’12 Tips for Team Building’ which includes topics such as defining clear expectations, commitment to the endeavor, understanding of collaboration, communication of task priorities and the cultural change the team is working towards. These guidelines were developed to help ensure the success of an organization’s team building efforts – understanding and following the ‘twelve C’s for team building’ (as the author has coined them) will provide a blueprint by which a plan of achievement may be created.
On the lighter side of team building, some activities should be included in the agenda that are just plain fun. Getting people who work together to ‘let their hair down’ in an informal setting every once in a while leads to improved communication and morale and a sense that ‘we’re all in this together’ which is, of course, one of the goals of team building. Visit the HR Insights Blog for some great ideas for team-building games and activities. These fun and challenging activities focus on four areas of team building: communication, problem solving/decision making, adaptability/planning and trust building – and will help inspire your team’s spirit in no time!