How Team Building Activities Are Effective at Boosting Workplace Productivity

Since the beginning of time, the importance of teamwork and cooperation has always been evident. Even the earliest human beings on earth realized they needed to work together for the survival and success of every “tribe.” Tens of thousands of years later, corporate America has also come to the realization that team cooperation is often mandatory for the survival and success of any kind of business endeavor.

At a time when employees are much more transient in terms of employer loyalty, managers have to work harder to create a work environment that is employee-retention friendly. To do that, they have turned to the implementation of team-building exercises to better connect employees to management and coworkers to one another.

Let’s take a very specific look at how team-building activities can help boost workplace productivity.

Factors That Drive Employee Productivity

The key to understanding how important team building exercises are is first to understand what factors tend to drive good employee productivity.

It’s not a secret that productively depends a great deal on a company having strong managers. Strong managers are individuals who have the ability to both communicate and “lead” their co-workers and subordinates into battle. That includes having the ability to train employees to handle their work responsibilities properly.

As for employees, they also play a role in creating productivity. What business owners/managers near and far have come to realize is that there is a direct correlation between worker productivity and employee morale and satisfaction. The question is, “What factors go into determining employee morale and satisfaction?” Here is a list of some of these key factors:

Wage (salary) satisfaction
Ample employee benefits
The opportunity for recognition and advancement
Working in a clean and healthy environment
Good communication from management and managers
Trust and camaraderie among coworkers

The Benefits of Team Building Exercises

At this point, the focus belongs on the last two items from the above list. What both of these items have in common is they both involve the integration of teamwork among all employees within an organization. Regardless of a company’s size, 4 employees or 1,000 employees, success will not be possible if all interested parties aren’t pulling their weight. How do you get individuals to work as a team?

Mention has already been made regarding the keys to productivity among employees: communication, trust, and camaraderie.

Imagine for a moment that a “team of coworkers” in a new organization will lack familiarity with one another. Without familiarity, most employees communicate cautiously, lack trust, and will not have any meaningful level of camaraderie. Employing a solid group of team-building exercises will quickly address all three (3) of these problems at the same time. How?

Most team-building exercises require communication and coordination between team members. Specifically, communication exercises can help employees gain an understanding of how each of their team members communicates. Understanding communication styles leads to fewer miscommunications and misunderstandings, which further leads to more employee efficiency. The truth is a lot of people actually have fun with communication exercises.

Next on the list is trust. Trust among co-workers is vitally important in every work environment, especially when each employee has to perform separate but equal tasks. If employees feel confident that their co-workers are pulling their weight, they’ll feel compelled to perform their own tasks or tasks with excellence to avoid becoming the team’s “weak link.” Most fun team trust-building activities will allow coworkers to build trust in a low-risk environment. That often translates to good trust when it comes time for work.

The last item on the list is camaraderie. While most companies will strongly disapprove of inappropriate fraternization between employees, these same companies will encourage employees to build friendships. They want employees to enjoy each other’s company at work and outside the workplace. That can include going to concerts, having picnics, or something as simple as playing different variations of bingo in the local bingo hall.

It’s important to remember that coworkers spend as much if not more time with other employees than they do with their family members. In the end, having camaraderie and closeness in the work environment serves as motivation for employees to get up and go to work, knowing they get a chance to be among their friends.

The Ultimate Goal of Team Building Exercises

At the end of the day, business owners/managers are seeking the same outcome. They want their companies to be hugely profitable and successful. By investing time and money into team-building exercises, they can help motivate employees to “join the team” and become part of something that everyone can share in and be proud of together.

Team-building exercises are a great way to drive home the notion that there is “no I in the word team.”