Are you fed up of coming to blows with your work colleagues? It might be time to float the idea of a team building event to your line manager or HR director. After all, it may help strengthen a few bonds in the office and help you all achieve shared goals more easily once you return to your desks.
So, here are just three things you’ll (probably) learn when you attend a corporate team building event – and it isn’t just as simple as discovering how to get along.
Sometimes, it can seem as though there’s always one person in the office who can’t be trusted. But once you put everyone in a position where they have to play to their strengths, the bonds you develop during your away day will show you much more than you may think. That colleague you thought couldn’t be trusted? They may become your new best friend. And the person you thought was a team player could prove to simply be out for him or herself on a corporate away day. If you’re in charge of booking a team building event, the key is to give everyone a brief beforehand and let your employees or colleagues know that the day’s about strengthening relationships amongst the team, not weakening links. Consider which kind of event will work best for your time, too. If, by day, your team’s in powerful, suited-and-booted positions, sometimes the best course of action is to allow people to let off steam in the Great Outdoors. Head outside for some fresh air and encourage everyone to get involved – you’ll thank yourself later.
Are you the office accountant? Then you already know you’re good with numbers. Likewise, if you’re a marketing assistant you’ll be aware that you’re not too shabby when it comes to promoting the company you work for and the good things it does. But we bet there are untapped skills in there, that you won’t discover until you head out on that team away day. So, dive right in and give yourself chance to learn more about yourself – and remember: fears and weaknesses are just as important to uncover as strengths. By doing so, you may ascertain where you need to devote more time in the workplace to help yourself better achieve departmental or business-wide goals?
When you’re ‘out in the field’ nervously awaiting your fate (a sometimes-painful pelting with paint balls) you’ll realise that, actually, when you really think about it, that office-based dilemma or project isn’t quite as challenging as you may have thought. Use the time on your away day to forge stronger connections with some of the colleagues who can help you reach your goals in the office, and you’ll find that once you head back to work on Monday those objectives will seem much easier to meet.
So, is it time you put the idea of a team building event to the person(s) in charge? Maybe, especially if you have lots of tough decisions to make (or trying tasks to complete) in the workplace over the coming months or years, now’s the time to put your all into developing those key relationships.