RETHINKING TEAM BUILDING
We all know how important team building is, right? Who doesn’t want to build their teams? Well, some of the longstanding conventional wisdom on team building is being called into question as reported by Rebecca Greenfield (“Startup vs. Wild: Can You Improve Cubicle Culture by Taking Things Outside?” Bloomberg Businessweek , 12/7/15–12/13/15, pp. 99–101):
“ Multiple metareviews of decades’ worth of team-building research have found no conclusive evidence that it improves worker performance. ‘A lot of companies believe there is some magic that translates into some behaviors, and therefore you get results,’ says Eduardo Salas, an organizational psychologist who’s studied the field for 30 years. ‘Team building doesn’t guide behavior; it’s just an experience.’ ” (p. 101)
How are we going to look at this? Most of us can think back to various team-building experiences and feel that some value was derived. My take is that while the metareviews of decades of research might not specifically conclude that worker performance measurably improved, that fact does not mean that team-building events therefore have no value. In my observation, team-building events create these benefits:
- Workers initiate or strengthen relationships with colleagues.
- Workers interpret the team-building event as partially an appreciation expression by their employer.
- Workers interpret the team-building event as a company investment.
- Workers perceive their company as a more fun place to work.
Perhaps team-building events were oversold in the past. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that they are a waste of time. Anything that can be done to give workers the opportunity to have fun and strengthen relationships will likely translate to smoother workflows back at the office or shop.
I think that smart companies will continue to provide team-building events and will continue to enjoy the benefits.
