You know a team building activity had gone badly when your team is discouraged, or mocking the activities, or simply not reacting at all. Team building activities are difficult to prepare by nature. These activities are a method of educating and of course, the art of educating is a gift not common to everyone. This doesn't mean however, that a non-educator would be incapable of such a task. It will be done - it simply requires a thorough understanding of the team building principles and heaps of preparation.

Ways In Which Team activities Go Wrong

One way in which team activities fail is because the one educating fail to inspire their "class" of workers. This is not necessarily the failure of the individual teacher, though natural charisma can be incredibly helpful. The problem may be that the activities themselves are not gripping, not particularly educational and are perfunctory in manner.

Team building activities are not "work meetings", i.e. designed to simply lecture a group of people on what is or is not acceptable. Team activities are designed to increase team performance, by improving relationships and refocusing workers towards a shared goal. Lecturing a team is not effective team building. Workshops can be an effective exercise, but can also be boring, depending on the style of delivery.

Additionally, an activity that's too much amusement, or even too absurd, can also be a failure. In the case of a social event that was too over-the-top, workers won't only feel discouraged and unconvinced, but may also feel used and resentful towards whoever organised it.

Why?

Because the person arranging the event showed a lack of knowledge or even a lack of respect for their audience. The person facilitating the team building activities ought to know who they are educating, what they already know, and what they need to find out.

How To prepare a successful Team Activity

The key to successfully organising an activity is to setup according to whatever you hope to accomplish. If you're demonstrating to a team the importance of working together, then you ought to incorporate group activities that emphasise these principles, not games that work towards improving self-expression or self-discovery. Ideally, workers ought to

1. Enjoy the event, meaning that amusement and laughter is allowed

2. Learn something from it, meaning that the goal of the business and of the team is represented and incorporated into the activity

3. Be instructed to apply the new training in their daily work routines

4. Be regularly trained to improve upon what they know.

Without these primary factors, a team event can easily become wasteful or boring. Whether you're educating children in school, children in sports, or workers in a business, they all have one thing in common: they are there to work, to find out and to improve their professional worth. So ensure that your team building activities reach a goal and teach each member the value of their team