7 Sobering Facts About Team Building - It's Not Just About T-Shirts and Mugs

At the heart of it, successful team building will result in an organizational culture that will engender mutual trust, respect and maturity among all members. Team building is a process that requires the typical "Family Unit" or Father Knows Best model which is top down be replaced with an adult collaborative model that respects and holds accountable each member of the organization. It takes a shift in the way things are done. Simply giving the accounting department T-shits that read "Bob's Bean Counting Team" does not make a team. Take a look at these 7 elements and ask yourself how many, if any you can honestly say apply to your business.

1. Managers function as facilitators

You mange things you lead people. The leadership style of the successful team builder is one that provides a clear statement of the mission and the objectives and then ensures that the team has sufficient skill or training and the tools to accomplish the task. The team performs the task; the manager gives them what they need and monitors the progress.

2. Team members are empowered

The leader's task is to support and monitor. The team is empowered to achieve the objective. If you are a micromanager you are not a team builder. Demonstrating trust and confidence in the team's abilities is not only a morale booster, it develops a sense of responsibility to get the job done and get it done right to validate the trust and confidence.

3. Open communications

If you have an organization that has sufficient trust in its members, then those members will have ready access to information and people outside of their departments. Free flowing information is another sign of empowerment. It's the equivalent of giving each member their own search engine for company information. How many times have you turned to Google to get information regarding an issue or a problem? Imagine the impact on problem solving if each team member could access the organizational equivalent of Google.

4. Collaborative teams

Companies with strong team building skills will routinely assign members from different functions to work on a common challenge. If it's a product launch or a large installation at a client site, representatives from sales, accounting, operations and even human resources may be assigned to work together to come up with the best plan.

5. Accountability

So far you may think that these ideas mean nobody is in charge and in a sense; there isn't a traditional formal boss. However there is accountability and that's one of the keys to team building. Employees want to be held accountable. Teams obviously want to be held accountable. Evaluating that accountability is a key function of leadership.

6. Investment in team building training

You don't just wave a wand and say "Presto we now have a team". Team building, both understanding the value and the ability to lead are skill sets that need to be taught and reinforced. If an organization is serious about it, they allocate budget to team building training. Of particular importance is providing leaders with skills that allow them to be coaches and mentors and this is especially true when a team member is promoted into a leadership role.

7. Measuring results

A team's objectives have to be stated in a way that they can be measured. If you can't measure progress how will you know when you arrive at the objective? Performance management and measurement are essential to effective team management and overall organizational performance.

If these elements sound alien to you, perhaps it's time to investigate team building training in depth. An organization that acts as a team is far more nimble and can react much faster to market changes than can the traditional top down company.

Business management expert Mark Polman is a big advocate of companies developing successful team building programs. For details on how to develop a plan for sales, Mark recommends you visit Building Successful Sales Team.