What is Teambuilding?:

The term team building generally refers to the selection, development, and collective motivation of result-oriented teams.

Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, such as group self-assessment and group-dynamic games, and generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development.

When a team in an organizational development context embarks upon a process of self-assessment in order to gauge its own effectiveness and thereby improve performance, it can be argued that it is engaging in team building, although this may be considered a narrow definition.

The process of team building includes:

• clarifying the goal,
• building ownership across the team
• identifying the inhibitors to teamwork and removing or overcoming them, or if they cannot be removed, mitigating their negative effect on the team.

To assess itself, a team seeks feedback to find out both its current strengths as a team and its current weakness.

To improve its current performance, a team uses the feedback from the team assessment in order to identify any gap between the desired state and the actual state and design a gap-closure strategy.

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Team Building Methods

The methods of developing an effective team vary widely, and include;

• simple social activities - to encourage team members to spend time together

• group bonding sessions - company sponsored fun activities to get to know team members

• personal development activities - personal change applied on a group level, sometimes physically challenging

• team development activities - group-dynamic games designed to reveal how individuals approach a problem and how the team works together

• team roles - psychological analysis of team roles, and training in how to work better together

Team building generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development.

Team Roles

The approach to Team Role analysis was first introduced by Meredith Belbin in 1981 to inform management consulting practices and for training. (Belbin Team Roles are not designed for high stake employment decisions.)

Belbin proposed nine team roles required for successful teams:

Coordinator

This person will have a clear view of the team objectives and will be skilled at inviting the contribution of team members in achieving these, rather than just pushing his or her own view. The coordinator (or chairperson) is self disciplined and applies this discipline to the team. They are confident and mature, and will summarize the view of the group and will be prepared to take a decision on the basis of this.

Shaper

The shaper is full of drive to make things happen and get things going. In doing this they are quite happy to push their own views forward, do not mind being challenged and are always ready to challenge others. The shaper looks for the pattern in discussions and tries to pull things together into something feasible, which the team can then get to work on.

Planter

This member is the one who is most likely to come out with original ideas and challenge the traditional way of thinking about things. Sometimes they become so imaginative and creative that the team cannot see the relevance of what they are saying. However, without the plant to scatter the seeds of new ideas the team will often find it difficult to make any headway. The plant's strength is in providing major new insights and ideas for changes in direction and not in contributing to the detail of what needs to be done.

Resource investigator

The resource investigator is the group member with the strongest contacts and networks, and is excellent at bringing in information and support from the outside. This member can be very enthusiastic in pursuit of the team's goals, but cannot always sustain this enthusiasm.

Implementer

The individual who is a company worker is well organized and effective at turning big ideas into manageable tasks and plans that can be achieved. Such individuals are both logical and disciplined in their approach. They are hardworking and methodical but may have some difficulty in being flexible.

Team worker

The team worker is the one who is most aware of the others in the team, their needs and their concerns. They are sensitive and supportive of other people's efforts, and try to promote harmony and reduce conflict. Team workers are particularly important when the team is experiencing a stressful or difficult period.

Completer Finisher

The Completer Finisher is a perfectionist and will often go the extra mile to make sure everything is "just right," and the things he or she delivers can be trusted to have been double-checked and then checked again. The Completer Finisher has a strong inward sense of the need for accuracy, rarely needing any encouragement from others because that individual's own high standards are what he or she tries to live up to. They may frustrate their teammates by worrying excessively about minor details and refusing to delegate tasks that they do not trust anyone else to perform.

Monitor evaluator

The monitor evaluator is good at seeing all the options. They have a strategic perspective and can judge situations accurately. The monitor evaluator can be overcritical and is not usually good at inspiring and encouraging others.

Specialist

This person provides specialist skills and knowledge and has a dedicated and single-minded approach. They can adopt a very narrow perspective and sometimes fail to see the whole picture. (Note: the specialist is not considered a team role )

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