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

“The higher the performance or the faster you want to go, the greater the need for a cockpit of dials and dashboards.” Cunningham

I recently read that an F1 driver has access to more than 20 data points whilst driving.

These include:

• Speed (obviously)
• Tire pressure
• Best lap time
• Laps to go
• Braking system status
• etc

F1 teams understand that the faster you go, the greater the need for accurate measurement.

Why?

Because high-performance requires systems and structures that are subjected to the pressure that comes with high-performance.

Lose track of what’s important and things go wrong.

Lose track of what’s important and you no longer operate in the realm of high-performance.

Therefore, for your team to go fast.

Create structure.

Create systems.

Be disciplined with measurements.

Let’s go fast.

Erik//

I recently made a change to the workshops that I offer teams.

Specifically, I introduced a new support system for helping teams to integrate learnings and to effect real change. This comes in the form of a monthly team debrief session.

Here’s why I did it.

The biggest threat to team building is the status quo.

Teams arrive at an offsite energized and excited. They are able to zoom out to assess team behaviour and to think creatively of new and improved ways for the team to operate.

However, once they are back in their usual environment they default to their usual behaviours.

One might think that this happens because improving the team is not a real priority.

But that’s not true.

Instead, teams are busy, overloaded, and reacting to a thousand fires happening every day. On top of that, they are enslaved by the patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting, that they have grooved over a long time.

This decimates team building in two ways;

1. The team does not implement the behaviours that were agreed upon during a “formal” team building event.
2. When in a reactive state, we neglect time for learning and development. Therefore, we further perpetuate current patterns without creating a space for intervention.

How do we remedy this?

Here are some ideas;

1. Create a monthly ‘Team Debrief” session with the team and schedule it into the team’s calendar for a few months in advance.
2. Nominate someone on the team responsible for scheduling and running a team debrief for the month. Once they have done it, they can nominate who takes the responsibility next.
3. Send out daily Whatsapp reminders to the team of the behavior changes that they should be working on. You could also start meetings with a quick reminder. We must keep change top of mind.
4. Be firm with accountability. Everyone on the team holds everyone on the team accountable for agreed upon behaviours.
5. Focus on one behaviour at a time.

Your enemy is the status quo.

Do not underestimate it.

Instead, plan for the ways in which you and your team can create enough momentum so you can escape the pull of how things have always been done.

Here’s to building better teams,

Erik/