“Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.”

• Henry Ford

You got it! Team building is the art of building a team with a can-do attitude to achieve targets or business goals. And keeping the team intact is an essential part of the process.

Do I really need this?

In an increasingly shrinking world, people move across the planet chasing their dreams. As a result, you need to work with different groups of people at different times. It’s not always easy for everyone to get along. Have we touched a raw nerve…?

The good news is that there are ways to bind your team together into one tight workforce.

Do I need to hypnotize team members?

Hell, no! It’s much tougher than that… just kidding.

The goal of team building is to help create better focussed and effective teams that are result oriented. Successful managers will probably give you the following mantra.

§ Leave no room for doubt – Communicate to the team your expectations on performance. Tell them why the team has been formed and how important they are to the organization.

§ Assess their comfort level – You need to understand the mood of the team - what do they feel about its composition? Do they feel that they have the knowledge, skill and capability to accomplish a mission? Are they in need of resources?

§ Empower – Make the team feel an integral part of your success. Allow them not only to take some decisions but also assume the responsibility necessary to achieve targets. This will bring in a sense of ownership.

§ Review progress – Periodically make sure to talk through the team’s progress, so everyone knows where they’re headed.

§ Be generous with praise – Anticipate & recognize their achievements. Reward an extra special performance. This will motivate them to take on further challenges.

§ Make room for innovation – Tell them you’re open to creative thinking, unique solutions and new ideas, as long as they’re not too wacky. Allow for a measure of risk taking.

§ Let them in on the decision making process – Change is particularly hard to swallow. If you involve the team in the decision making process, chances are, you’ll improve the odds of a successful implementation.

§ Enjoy the experience – Last, but not the least, make it fun for the members to work with each other. People rarely remember what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. And that’s the crux of team building.

Team building is a strategic tool that helps you harness the potential of your employees and makes for a strong and vibrant organization. On the other hand, a poorly planned and disorganized team might fail to deliver and result in disillusionment, low self esteem and demotivation.

Ben Franklin knew what he was talking about when he said

”We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”