Using Team Building for Leadership Development

A Team Building event can be a strong framework for leadership development. Here's how.

We meet a handful of natural-born leaders in our lifetime. The rest are made: nurtured, mentored, developed.

The latter has a bigger pool of potential leaders and is not always easily spotted. Especially in companies where the nature of work does not give a lot of opportunities for them to take on leadership roles.

Be the first to spot potential leaders in your team. Give them a chance to showcase their skills and feel confident. In this article, we'll show you a framework on how you can use Team Building for leadership development.

Why cultivate leadership within your team

In a research to measure job satisfaction of young employees based on corporate events, the participants were asked what they needed the most from their companies.

They found that celebrations, the most common corporate events, was the least preferred event among the respondents.

(In fact, 86% of companies held New Year celebrations even if nobody among the respondents wanted them.)

Ironically, the events they felt they needed - events that involved training outside the office and Team Building activities - were largely ignored by the companies.

Being ambitious, these employees wanted their leaders to support their professional growth.

And not wanting to lose your driven members to competition, you'll find it beneficial to provide them with this kind of support.

It's easy to spot and develop these members in neutral zones, like Team Building events. Everyone is "sitting in a circle". There are no hierarchies and anyone can take the lead.

And with the added "fun factor", learning retention goes up while their guards go down.

Leadership Development and Team Building

Here's a simple framework on how you can use Team Building for leadership development.

Step 1. Define leadership competencies and objectives

Guiding question:

What are the skills and attributes most valuable to your organization? These may include communication, strategic thinking, and adaptability.

Based on your answer, you can set a more specific aim, which would be useful once you're planning the particular activities for the event.

Step 2. Design a tailored Team Building for Leadership Development

Activity Selection

Choose activities that directly align with the identified leadership competencies.

Team puzzles, for example, requires clear communication, effective collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

And you can observe these skills play out in real time, as they accomplish the task.

Incorporate real world scenarios

Use simulations and role-playing exercises. They can mimic real-life challenges leaders face in your industry.

Think of it as a "try outs", in a fun and controlled environment where the risks are low.

Diversity

If the activities encourage diversity of thought, you can promote a leadership culture that values different perspectives.

For reference, check out Mission Possible Creativity and Innovation Stations

Step 3. Facilitate and guide the experience

Expert Facilitation

Employ expert facilitators to guide participants, provide feedback, and help them draw connections between the activity and leadership principles.

Having facilitators would also mean you can focus less on the little details of the event and focus more on your personal goal as the leader: to observe (step four of the framework).

Encourage Reflection

Hold a debrief session. When they can reflect on the connection between what they learned to their values, they're more likely to apply them beyond the event.

This is also a good time to talk about areas for improvement.

And since there's generally less pressure in Team Building than in office setups, your members are framed for learning and are less likely to get defensive.

Step 4. Observe and identify emerging leaders

Monitor Performance

Observe your members for signs of leadership potential. Who is taking initiative? Who are effectively communicating and supporting team members?

Gather Feedback

Use peer feedback, as well as observations from facilitators for more comprehensive insights.

Step 5. Apply Learning to the workplace

Action Planning

Planning lets our subconscious know our intentions. It makes us more open to committing to a tasks.

So encourage your members to outline how they can apply their new skills and insights to their day-to-day work.

Continuous Learning

Provide resources and opportunities for continuous development.

You can also pair your emerging leaders with mentors and coaches.

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"High Performance" is a culture. It is actively developed and targeted. Begin instilling this culture today by having your team collectively work towards a goal, while they're growing individually.

Talk to us for a tailored Team Building event.

Contact a Mission Possible Agent.