Why Team Building Fails
Why do teambuilding efforts often fail?
Well, firstly because we tend to think that playing games or socializing is the full extent of teambuilding.
It’s not.
In fact, it’s only a small piece of the team improvement puzzle.
Yet, it’s unfortunately the only go-to for many leaders.
But we can talk more about that on another day.
True teambuilding means that we are building the team to improve weaknesses, bolster strengths, and develop new skills.
In other words, we are making changes to the dynamics of the team.
I have been on many teambuilding offsites to help teams improve communication, performance, and collaboration. Only to speak to the same team a year later and to hear that nothing has changed in the team.
Why does this happen?
Simple.
Change is hard.
Change within a team, harder.
You are fighting against the ingrained behaviours of a network of people.
However, change is not impossible.
As I am learning, what you need is more frequent check-ins to keep the change that you are trying to create top of mind.
Here’s the cadence I recommend:
- Daily reminders.
- Weekly check-ins.
The daily reminder reminds the team of the change that we are trying to create. This could happen in the team WhatsApp or the morning huddle. Quick. Easy.
The weekly check-in is a 20-minute session to ask the team what’s working, what’s not, and how we can do better.
Change requires effort.
If you aren’t willing to spend a few minutes every day dedicated to team development, then you are unlikely to succeed in building a high-performance team.
Here’s to building better teams.
Erik