Sarmiento, Abegail Mae B.

JULY 14, 2019

9 ARCHIMEDES MRS. ORLYZA ROSALES

TEAM BUILDING

Ano ang Team Building?

 Ang Team Building ay isang paraan kung saan hinahasa ang kooperasyon at ang
teamwork sa isang grupo. Maraming aspeto ang dapat matutunan dito tulad ng respeto
sa isa’t-isa, pag-alam sa kanya kanyang strengths and weaknesses, pagtutulungan para
makamit ang isang goal at marami pang iba. Gayundin hinahasa dito sa pamamagitan ng
mga team building activities ang TEAMWORK, VALUES, PRINCIPLES ng bawat miyembro
pati narin kung ano ang mga FUTURE PLAN, TECHNIQUES at DIRECTION ng isang grupo.

History of Team Building

 The emergence of the team idea can be traced back to the late 1920s and early 1930s
with the now classic Hawthorne Studies. These involved a series of research activities
designed to examine in-depth what happened to a group of workers under various
conditions. After much analysis, the researchers agreed that the most significant factor
was the building of a sense of group identity, a feeling of social support and cohesion
that came with increased worker interaction.

Importance of Team Building

 Team building activities are essential to establishing a corporate culture where people enjoy
coming to work, collaborate easily and trust each other. As a business leader, you shouldn't
expect a strong team to just happen when you hire competent, kind people. Help your
employees learn about each other, and understand what diversity is and why it's important to
work together. Make it a priority to consistently conduct small team-building activities rather
than rely on one or two large events each year.

How to prepare a successful Team Building

Are team-building activities worthwhile? Research says yes. In fact, according to the University
of Central Florida’s research, team building positively impacts outcomes across the board.

If your goal is a more cohesive and productive workplace, it’s worth investing the time and
resources to organize some team-building activities.

You’ll have to get creative, though. Citrix data shows that 31 percent of office workers dislike
team-building activities.

So how do you plan an event or exercise that’s not only effective at teaching your staff to work
better together, but enjoyable for them, too?

Here are seven tips to help you make your next team-building endeavor a successful one:

1. Schedule the activity during work hours

No matter how much they may love their job, nobody wants to put in extra time on evenings or
weekends to attend a mandatory work event. If you can, schedule the activity during the
workday – even an hour or two on a Friday is better than spending the weekend at the office. If
you must, host the activity over lunch or breakfast, but be sure to provide food! Check vacation
schedules, too. You won’t want your big team activity to happen on a day when half the office
is on vacation.

2. Consider volunteer work

Is there a way your team can volunteer their time to work on a project that benefits the
community or a local charity? People tend to feel good about spending their time doing
something to help others, so a volunteer project is a great way to get everyone involved and
feeling positive about the activity. Perhaps they could plan, prepare, and serve a meal for a
local shelter or soup kitchen or organize and execute a clothing drive or a public youth event.

3. Encourage collaboration, not competition

If there’s a contest element, some employees will become so focused on ‘winning’ that they
may fail to learn anything from the experience. Instead, choose an activity that encourages your
staff to work together to solve a problem.

4. Make it accessible for everyone

Sure, some people would love to play softball or run a relay race as a form of team building, but
keep in mind that not everyone on your staff may be up for that challenge – and those that
aren’t will feel left out, which is the opposite of what you want to accomplish. It’s important to
consider physical conditions or health sensitivities and make sure you choose an activity that’s
appropriate for everyone. That said, physical activity has a myriad of health and social benefits,
so if your employees are up for it, by all means plan a group hike, yoga class, or trip to a local
rock-climbing facility.

5. Go offsite

Sometimes, just getting outside of the four walls of an office helps people interact with one
another more freely. Even if you’re doing a team-building session that could easily take place in
your company boardroom, book a meeting space offsite anyway to give the impression that this
is not “regular” work.

6. Set clear expectations

Staff should know exactly what the intent of the team building activity is (other than getting out
of work for a few hours!) Are you trying to develop a new company mission statement? Are you
hoping to come up with more efficient processes, or do you want to do a better job of
integrating new hires with the rest of the team? You don’t need to give away all your secrets
about the event but employees may be more on board if they know why the activity is taking
place.

7. Gather feedback

Within a couple of days of the event, reach out to all participants to thank them for their time
and ask them to provide constructive feedback about the event. This feedback can be really
useful when it’s time to plan your next group event.

 Elton Mayo (1933), one of the original researchers, pointed out certain critical conditions which
were identified for developing an effective work team:

– The manager (chief observer) had a personal interest in each person’s achievements.
– He took pride in the record of the group.
– He helped the group work together to set its own conditions of work.
– He faithfully posted the feedback on performance.
– The group took pride in its own achievement and had the satisfaction of outsiders showing
interest in what they did.
– The group did not feel they were being pressured to change.
– Before changes were made, the group was consulted.
– The group developed a sense of confidence and candour.
– These research findings spurred companies to seriously consider the idea of grouping their
employees into effective work teams and to this day they are still important considerations for
human resource developers.

Great activities for Team Building

 Battle of the airbands

Move over karaoke. Split your team into groups of four. Have them pick a song and do their
best impression of performing it with air instruments and lip-syncing. Props and costumes
are encouraged.
 Potluck
Let your employees show off their cooking skills (or at least their skills at tracking down
delicious food). Schedule an afternoon potluck once a quarter. Yum.
 Water balloon toss
On a warm summer day, fill up a bunch of water balloons. Split your team into pairs, and
have them throw balloons back and forth to each other, taking a step back with each
successful exchange. Last balloon standing wins.
 Human knot
Have your team gather in a circle. Tell everyone to put their right hands in the air and grab
onto someone’s hand across the circle. Then tell them to link left hands with someone else
across the circle. See if they can untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hand.
 Show-and-tell
It was awesome in elementary school. Now, we’re all adults, and we have cooler things.
Have your workers bring in a prized possession and let them tell a story.
 Egg drop
Can any of your employees build a device that can keep a raw egg intact when it’s dropped
from a few stories?
 Two truths, one lie
Take turns telling your coworkers two things about you that are true and one thing that’s
false. Have them guess the lie.
 Blind retriever
Split your staff into small teams, blindfolding one person on each team. The first team that
can successfully direct their blindfolded colleague to a hidden object wins.
 Community service
No matter where your office is, there are undoubtedly people in your community who are
less fortunate. Pick a deserving cause, rally the troops, and give back to the community
whenever time allows for it. Team building — and for a good cause.
 Group juggle
Have your team form a circle. Throw one employee a ball. Have them say their name and
then throw the ball to the next person, who says their name, and so on. Keep introducing
new balls into the mix to make things interesting.
 Team lunches
Everyone needs to eat. The easiest team-building activity? Take your team out to lunch and
pick up the tab.
 Active listener
Schedule what your team thinks is a routine meeting. Deliver a boring speech filled with
jargon, but sprinkle random unrelated sentences in every so often. Quiz your team to see
who was listening.
 Jigsaw puzzle pieces
Give different teams plastic bags with puzzle pieces. Unbeknownst to them, they’ll end up
having to partner with other teams to complete the puzzle.
 Group timeline
Have different teams sort themselves by height, age, how long they’ve been with the
company, how many states they’ve been in, etc. Quickest team wins.
 18 and under
Ask your employees to share their biggest accomplishment that occurred before they
turned 18.
 Pair up
Write a bunch of pairs on different pieces of paper (e.g., Thelma and Louise, salt and
peppers, Mario and Luigi, etc.). Tape them to your employees’ backs. Have them walk
around trying to figure out who they are — and find their complementary colleague.
 Work Jeopardy!
Come up with five questions for six categories that pertain to your business. Break the
group up into teams, and select one lucky employee to play Alex Trebek.
 No smiling
Before you start a meeting, tell your employees they’re not allowed to smile. See who can
last the longest.
 The dinner party
Take turns asking which three people (dead or alive) your employees would have dinner
with and why.
Building a strong team can’t happen without effort. Sure, you can have a team that
meshes organically, but in order to cultivate a team that supports each other through and
through, you’ll need to reinforce relationships with team-building activities.