Team Building Program

A great team is essential for achieving anything great. Characteristics of a great team include great team spirit, mutual respect for each other, each team member standing for each other in the time of need, the entire team working together as a single cohesive unit and most importantly an atmosphere of collaboration among them.

When a new team is formed, the team will not become a great team instantly. The team dynamics will be missing initially. The team evolves slowly through various stages of dynamics to become a great team. The stages of evolution include forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. This group dynamics of team development was formalised by Tuckman and Jensen and famously known as Tuckman Ladder.

Hence it is important to take team building activities and initiatives which will help in transforming the team from the forming stage into performing stage. The key focus is to ensure the team as a whole performs very well. Team building programs are aimed at helping the team members to know each other well, develop an atmosphere of trust and goodwill among them, help each member in getting a team identity.

Some of the team building programs may include the following:

• Outbound activities such outdoor sports, tracking, water-rafting etc.
• Indoor activities such as regular social meetings, partying etc
• Adventure programs
• Executive training programs
• Residential workshops
• Corporate conferences
• Charity and religious programs sponsored by the organization

Conclusion

The team building programs provide a great opportunity to the team members to know each other well, work with each other and develop a better understanding about each other leading to a greater team feeling and atmosphere.  Team building programs will help in improving overall communication between all members and an atmosphere of trust leading to reduced conflicts and greater collaboration.

Planning for team building programs is a very important part of organization development. It is important to design the right team building program keeping in mind the age group of people involved and ultimate goal to be achieved from such exercise.