Many organizations out there are hiring diverse teams and rely on the collaboration of their members to reach the business objectives of the organization. Managers need to reduce conflict among the team members and make sure that they work to their full potential. An effective way of bringing team members together is through online team building activities. This is also going to help in educating them on the strength, weaknesses, and personalities of their coworkers. The team-building strategies used will go a long way in helping employees work cohesively and work with each other’s strengths. The following are the four types of team-building techniques that will help teams reach their goals.
Personality-Based Team Building Techniques
You can learn more about members of a team through a personality test. There are many different options, but the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most popular one. This exam is going to classify people into 16 different personalities, and each of these personalities comes with its strength and weaknesses.
When you realize that some team members are more introverted, it can make things easier because you can assign specific creative tasks. Extroverted employees are usually better at tasks that involve presenting new ideas and engaging with people. Keep in mind that each of the personality types has a role to play in the team and organization at large. The business is going to appreciate what each employer has to offer, but this happens when each of your employee’s personality types is incorporated into the team-building strategies. You will also understand how each of the team members interacts with their colleagues.
Activity-Based Team Building Techniques
This is where team members take part in several challenging tasks that have been designed to take them out of their comfort zone. In most cases, the task is usually outdoor activities and can include boot camps, ropes courses, survival events, or rafting.
Taking your team members out of the office can seem irrelevant, but it is going to be rewarding because the teams get to learn more about working with and trusting each other. This usually works best with younger employees who want to try out something different.
Skills-Based Team Building Techniques
For those who don’t think activity-based team building is not going to help the team members in developing job skills, it may be a good idea to consider a skill-based approach. This is where employees take part in workshops to develop job skills, such as giving helpful feedback and negotiating effectively. Such skills can be honed through workshops and are relevant to the job. This is going to have a huge boost in team performance.
Problem-Solving-Based Team Building Techniques
There are times when it is good for teams to look for and discover issues and problems at their workplace, such as poor morale, process strategy, or poor communication.
This is what problem-solving-based team building has been designed to do. The approach is going to involve an external consultant and takes place in a retreat setting. The leader is going to guide the team through exercises that help in narrowing in on the issues and a way of resolving them. This approach can be a great option because it directly addresses problems. This is going to improve interpersonal bonding and help the teams relax.
The Importance of Team Building
The above four types are just a taste of the many approaches that organization leaders can use. Some can decide to try out group-building activities for virtual teams. This can bring distant employees together.
Team building will help the teams work to their full potential, whatever approach works best for you. When employees understand the different communication styles, strengths and weaknesses, and thinking approaches of other employees, they are more likely to appreciate the value each member brings to the team and organization.