When you hear the word team building, you might immediately think about a fun-filled activities, held a few times a year by company. However, beyond all the fun and games, actually employees can benefit from team building. This is because, besides providing some entertainment and opportunity for employees to get to know each other, team building also offers more profound impact to employee’s personal and professional development.
Employees get to know each other
This is probably the most tangible impact from team building that employees can immediately feel: they get to actually know each other. Employees might enter the same building every day and visit the same pantry every day for the last six months. But there’s a chance that they don’t know each other’s name. Or in a more flexible environment where work doesn’t have to be done in office building. The opportunity for employees to know – let alone interact with – each other becomes even rarer.
This could create a sense of disconnect among employees which, in the long run, might end up affecting their performance. When employees know each other, communication is smoother, and this can improve work process as a whole.
Not only will they know each other’s name, activities in team building can give employees insight into a colleague’s personality, even their hard and soft skills.
Employees learn new skills
Company should carefully choose activities and games that will be included in the team building. Guardian Support noted that team building can be a fitting opportunity for employees to sharpen or learn new skills. In order to do so, company should be able to identify what skills can be beneficial for employees and tailor the activities accordingly.
Blind drawing, for example, is good to hone employees’ communication skills. Human Know game can also exercise problem-solving ability and allow “natural leaders in the group to flourish” .
Employees have fun and enjoy positive company culture
Most employees will agree that they partake in team building because it’s fun. Aside from all the lessons learned, just having some times to laugh with colleagues sounds fun, right? Taking a break every once in a while is good for mental health. As a result, it can help your employees work more optimally. In addition to that, company can also instill a positive company culture that can help retention and attract potential employees.