How Team Building for Collaboration Drives Project Success

A highly skilled team is not always high-performance, especially if these talented members don’t know how to work together. Here’s how Team Building can help with interpersonal challenges, and what activities you could do to improve collaboration.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Every day is a challenge when members can’t seem to work together.

It’s understandable: they’re from different functions and departments. They don’t know each other. Their only interaction was greeting each other with a good morning in the hallway.

It is understandable, but it cannot stay that way.

With a lack of teamwork, goals could get delayed, members may feel demotivated, and friction can affect productivity long-term.

If you’re starting to feel the toll of lack of collaboration in the workplace (or even before you start seeing its effects), it might be time to recalibrate their collaboration style and dynamics.

Your team will thank you for it.

Common Teamwork Challenges and their Origins

The former CEO of General Electric, John H. Welch, said this about being a part of the team:

“If you can’t operate as a team player, no matter how valuable you’ve been, you don’t really belong at GE.”

This communicates the importance of teamwork over technical competence.

Larry Leifer, Director of Stanford Center for Design Research, also believes in the importance of teamwork in project success.

“Design team failure is usually due to failed team dynamics.”

To further understand the activities, you could do to recalibrate team dynamics, it’s important to take a look at two of the common teamwork problems and how they come about.

This can help you customize your efforts in bringing your team together.

Communication Barriers

Inadequate communication leads to misunderstandings and inefficiencies.

This can lead to compromised tasks and project completion.

Recruiters and employers seem to understand these heavy consequences well since they value communication skills above all else when hiring.

Barriers can arise from various origins:

• Cultural differences, especially in a global business environment.

• Technological challenges that come from communication platforms. Additionally, different generation groups prefer different platforms.

• Organizational structures, which can deter open communication. Employees might feel hesitant to share ideas or feedback with a rigid hierarchical structure.

Lack of Trust & Cohesion

Every member brings something to the table. This can be hard to take advantage of if they don’t know each other’s potential and cannot therefore trust each other to complete tasks.

In this case study published by Forbes, it’s revealed that lack of trust creates a tense atmosphere that undermines the company’s shot at hitting its goals.

It’s important to address lack of trust soon before members pull back even further.

Lack of trust and cohesion can come from:

• Past experiences, such as failed projects and team conflicts, can linger and erode trust among team members.

• Inconsistent behaviors in leaders and members, where failure to follow through on commitments contributes to mistrust.

• Competition over collaboration, which makes individuals feel they must prioritize achievements over team success.

The Role of Team Building for Collaboration in Overcoming Challenges

Collaborative Team Building games foster camaraderie.

During Team Building events, there are no silos.

There are no departments, no hierarchy. There are no roles and identities that create walls between members.

There are only the company and the collective members that built it.

Add in common objectives.

There’s nothing better than a common goal that makes people forget about the divisions that set them apart in the workplace.

When they have a common end, it doesn’t matter if they’re working with the boss or another person they have not met before from the other department.

All that matters is the end.

Additional tip: Make the objective extra fulfilling.

Throw in an end-goal where the full picture considers values they have in common.

A great example is this corporate social responsibility Team Building activity called CanMasterpiece.

Here, the organization is divided into teams to build themed structures out of canned food.

The beauty of this activity is that the materials used for big Team Building events will be donated to local food banks after they are carefully boxed.

So, in addition to the teams expressing their artistic, design, and arithmetic skills in collaboration with the team, they would also know that they would be helping the community through the company donation.

Managers, join the fun!

Managers are now spending more time with their employees than they have in the past.

This shows that businesses are shifting towards a more collaborative managerial style.

And this works!

This Harvard Business School article shows that involving the team in decision-making led to better solutions and increased engagement.

The collaboration that takes place in Team Building can translate to more seamless communication back at the workplace.

Opportunities to take on leadership roles.

This doesn’t only help you discover and develop new and potential leaders.

Having your members assume leadership roles will also improve their ability to convey ideas and give directions, improving confidence in themselves and others.

Budding leaders will also appreciate the opportunity to showcase their skills while these opportunities are limited in the office set-up.

 

Here’s how The Ultimate Expedition activity design helps in tying in various goals for improved collaboration.

The Ultimate Expedition is a virtual travel activity that’s more than just entertainment.

Here, teams must strategically plan for success, starting with creating their own Survival kit. Everyone gets a say!

It will be followed by a series of activities.

• The Navigation Challenge tests communication, trust, and time management skills.

• The Snowboarding Game brings out the competitive spirit in all players.

• The Tent Building Challenge focuses on effective exchange of information, managing resources, and team collaboration.

With inventive problem-solving combined with inter-team collaboration, The Ultimate Expedition has become a favorite among our clients for increasing cohesion in their company.

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Foster a culture of excellence when you partner with Mission Possible.

For tailored Team Building solutions that helps you put build teams that works seamlessly together, no matter how unpredictable the problems are that you face at work

We’re here to help you plan and implement simulations for your hard-working team.

Contact a Mission Possible Agent.