April 7, 2025 • 19 mins
In This Episode, We Cover:
- Why traditional team building has such a bad reputation
- The five biggest reasons team building fails
- What research says about effective team-building elements
- How to plan team-building activities that actually work
Resources
Team Building Tops the List of Most Disliked Workplace Social Activities
Please Don't Make Me Go! Team-Building is Not for Everyone, Says Acas
Many Workers Do Not Like Team-Building Activities – Report
Team-Building Activities Disliked by a Third of Workers, Survey Shows
Build a Great Team on a Relationship-Based Culture, Not the Myth of Family
5 Questions for Team Building - Leadership Vision Consulting
17 Smart Ways For Managers To Foster Two-Way Relationships With Team Members
Relationship-Based Leadership: Be More Than a Boss
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
11 Reasons Millennials and Gen Z Dislike Team Building Activities
-
Read the full blog post here!
CONTACT US
- email: connect@leadershipvisionconsulting.com
- Leadership Vision Online
ABOUT
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in discovering, practicing, and implementing a Strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. Contact us to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Several years ago I set up a Google Alert for the
phrase team building activities.
A couple times a week I get anemail filled with articles, blog
posts and headlines about thelatest trends in team building.
Now, normally I just kind ofskim through them and look for
anything interesting to maybeshare in social media or for a
possible podcast topic.
(00:20):
But recently something caughtmy attention.
Instead of the normal articlesabout creative or effective team
building ideas, the GoogleAlert seemed to be filled with
articles about how bad teambuilding is.
Some headlines stood outthere's one that said many
workers do not like teambuilding activities, finds
report.
Another one said team buildingtops the list of most disliked
(00:42):
workplace social activities.
And my favorite one just saidteam building sucks, so you
should stop doing it.
Yikes, clearly the algorithm orwhatever the alert system had
was having a bad day orsomething.
There's some disgruntledemployees out there, I guess.
But anyway, I skimmed thearticles and they laid out all
the reasons that you canprobably guess why people
(01:04):
dislike team building.
You can maybe add your ownreason to this list, but there
are things like because it's tooawkward, it feels forced and it
often fails to achieve any sortof meaningful change and,
honestly, for most of thesesorts of things at least, the
way that they were being done inthese articles, they were not
wrong.
The way that they were beingdone in these articles, they
(01:25):
were not wrong.
Hello everyone, my name isNathan Freeberg and this is the
Leadership Vision Podcast, ourshow helping you build positive
team culture.
For links to all the resourcesmentioned in this episode today,
or other resources as well, tohelp you create mentally engaged
and emotionally healthy leaders, please click the link in the
show notes or visit us on theweb at
(01:45):
leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
On this episode, we're going tobe talking about team building.
You know trust falls awkward.
Icebreakers, escape rooms,maybe even some karaoke.
You know all the things thatare supposed to bring us closer
together.
Well, not those thingsspecifically, but at Leadership
Vision, we really prideourselves on doing team building
(02:05):
differently, in a way that'sactually meaningful, that's
purposeful, that'srelationship-based and even
practical.
So today on the podcast, I wantto share just a little bit of
the research that I found fromdigging into those three
articles and a bunch of otherones, and talk a little bit
about why traditional teambuilding has such a bad
reputation, what elements needto be present for effective team
(02:29):
building and then how toactually plan a team building
event.
We'll call this the leadershipvision way.
That sort of sidesteps thesecommon pitfalls and can be
helpful for you and your team.
If you've ever rolled your eyesat the words team building or
team building exercise, thisepisode is for you.
By the end of it, you're goingto know how to design team
building that not only doesn'tsuck, but maybe even makes work
(02:52):
better.
All right, let's get into it.
So why does team building havesuch a bad reputation?
Well, too often these teambuilding events feel forced,
irrelevant or even cringey.
We were the speakers at anevent once where they made
everyone do some kind of likekaraoke thing, or maybe as an
(03:13):
improv, I don't know.
It was not good at all, but wedo know that teamwork is
critical, right?
Obviously it's important.
86% of employees say that poorcommunication leads to poor
collaboration, which is thereason for some of the biggest
failures at work.
So where's the disconnect?
Why does something so importantoften get such a bad rap?
(03:37):
Well, here's a few ideas.
Here's a few of these myths.
Number one people think it's awaste of time.
Most employees think that wehave real work to do, so why are
we wasting our time doing thisthing and, to be fair, bad team
building does feel pointless.
Think about like the sillygames or the awkward icebreakers
If they don't connect to realwork, they're just distractions.
But good team building buildsrelationships that improve
(03:59):
collaboration and productivity.
In fact, 63% of leaders haveobserved better communication
after effective team building.
So the issue isn't necessarilyteam building itself, but it's
just how it's done.
The second reason is that mostteam building doesn't impact
real work.
Some leaders think that teambuilding is just this feel good,
fluffy stuff, the soft skills,whatever you want to call it.
(04:22):
But again, research provesotherwise.
Departments with strong teambonds see 20 to 25% higher
productivity and 30% greaterprofitability.
There's actually a whole bunchof other research on this that
I'll provide in the show notesif you really want to get into
the weeds.
So the key here is trying teambuilding that actually, you know
(04:44):
, tackle some kind of workchallenge.
A trust fall is not going toimprove trust, but maybe a
brainstorming session on why ourteam is having trust issues
that just might All right.
The third thing is because a lotof team building is awkward and
embarrassing.
Remember that karaoke example,one of the biggest complaints
that we've heard from clientsand supported in the research is
that team building is justforced vulnerability.
(05:06):
I don't know many people thatwant to do improv skits or sing
karaoke, go rock climbing, dobowling or share personal
stories in a circle.
Team building should respectdifferent personalities.
Instead of making introvertsuncomfortable, offer activities
that let everyone engage indifferent ways.
Small group discussions,role-based problem solving or
(05:27):
structured collaborationexercises are kind of some ways
to do that.
That said, team building kindof is inherently about getting
people out of their comfortzones in some way.
It is a little awkward andembarrassing, but it shouldn't
feel forced or mandatory.
More on that later.
The fourth reason why teambuilding has a bad rap and this
is perhaps more for the peopleplanning it is because it's
(05:49):
expensive and time-consuming.
Many people assume that teambuilding requires these big
off-sites or elaborate retreats,but that's not the case.
Small, consistent interactions,even like a weekly 10-minute
check-in, can build strongerteams over time, maybe even more
so than a one-off retreat atsome kind of retreat center or a
(06:10):
big spa or whatever it is.
And yes, you can certainly dothose big, expensive and
time-consuming things, but youdon't have to.
There's also a mentality withsome of the leaders that we've
talked to that, if you're nottaking people on those big
retreats, like what's the point,like it's just not worth it to
put in just a little minute hereor a little minute there.
I totally disagree, we disagree.
(06:31):
Half-day investments, you know,a couple times a year, that's
not only affordable but it'svery doable and can be highly
effective.
All right, the fifth and finalthing is that people think that
team building will fixeverything and then are
disappointed when it doesn't.
I mean, we've worked with somany clients over the years who
think that just because they'veinvested in team building, now
(06:51):
their team is built.
Well, that's not the case.
Obviously, some teams use teambuilding as a quick fix for
deeper problems, you know, likelow trust, poor leadership, lack
of clarity.
But team building isn't acure-all.
It's just one piece of thepuzzle and works best when
paired with strong leadershipand clear communication over
time.
It's like that person who stopsdoing their physical therapy
(07:12):
after just like a couple daysbecause they think it's not
working.
Well, that's not going to fixyour underlying problem.
It's about consistently doingthose things, day after day,
week after week, month aftermonth, until you achieve the
results that you want.
All right, so what actuallyworks.
What does the science say?
If traditional team building isdone so bad, what does
(07:34):
effective team building looklike?
Well, in my little internetresearch here, I didn't
necessarily find one particularactivity that you could or
should do that would be likeparticularly effective, like do
this, not that.
But what I did find is thatthere is some science that says
that whatever you end up doing,whatever activity you consider
(07:55):
team building yes, even a trustfall you should include some
degree of the following fivethings, and there's probably
more.
I would love to hear yourfeedback on it as well.
So the first thing is createpsychological safety, or just
safety in general.
This is such a buzzy thingright now, thanks in no small
part to Google's projectAristotle, who found that the
(08:16):
number one predictor of highperforming teams is
psychological safety, which isjust simply the ability to speak
up without fear.
So this is probably more of ateam culture thing than like a
specific to team building.
But if you want to create thetype of team where psychological
safety is present, where peoplecan speak up, where they can
(08:37):
share what's on their mind, youcan start by making sure that
whatever team building activityyou do has some degree of this.
This could be as simple asmaking sure that everyone has a
voice, make sure that there aremultiple avenues for people to
share feedback and to givefeedback and to receive feedback
.
There's this thing I cameacross called wins and wisdom
(08:58):
check-in, where people justshare a recent success and a
lesson learned, and this canbuild trust without forcing some
of that deep vulnerability thatpeople are afraid of, and it
also just takes a couple ofminutes.
At my home with the kids everynight, we do something called
high-low buffalo the same kindof idea what's something that
went well today, not so well,and then the buffalo is just a
(09:19):
random thing.
And what's interesting andwe've done a version of this
with teams is that sometimesthat can build this degree of
safety and trust, because peopleare getting just a little
window into someone's maybepersonal life.
The second thing here is to makeit relevant to work.
I mentioned this earlier, butteam building really works best
(09:40):
when it's tied to some kind ofreal team challenge.
Instead of going to an escaperoom, try maybe structured
problem-solving exercise thatreflect actual work dynamics
structured problem-solvingexercise that reflect actual
work dynamics.
Or if you are going to anescape room, how do you include
those elements of work dynamicsinto that experience.
In Leadership Vision we've doneall kinds of team-building
(10:00):
activities that, at least on thesurface, or at least on paper,
they don't appear to have anyreal connection to the workplace
.
But at the hands of some giftedfacilitators like oh, I don't
know Dr Linda and BrianSchubring, everything can
connect back to work andeverything can be relevant.
It's kind of like in the KarateKid.
When Mr Miyagi was makingDaniel wax and wash his car, he
(10:23):
didn't realize that he wasactually learning bigger lessons
there.
You could take your team to acooking school and like prepare
a meal together, and then youcan debrief that experience
using examples of what happenedduring that thing and apply it
to a current office project oranother internal situation.
The third thing here I found wasto allow different ways to
(10:45):
participate.
So not everyone thrives inthese high energy activities.
So mix it up.
Maybe you do some hands-onchallenges for problem solvers,
maybe you have some casualsocial bonding for more
relationship-minded folks andmaybe some discussion-based
activities for getting somedeeper insights.
We used to do this full daything called Vision Trek, which
(11:07):
it was kind of like an amazingrace thing that a team would do
like in their local city orlocal park and you'd kind of
look for clues and solve puzzlesand do all this stuff.
And we had many different waysfor people to interact.
So by the end of the day, bythe end of that experience,
everyone was able to participate, everyone was able to kind of
(11:27):
shine or step forward, step ontothe proverbial stage, if you
will, and it really helps peopleto get to know them.
It made them feel comfortablebut also gave us insight into
their personality and theirstrengths.
The fourth thing to include isto prioritize small, consistent
efforts.
So, going back to an earliercomment, you don't need a big
(11:49):
retreat to call it effectiveteam building, but rather just
kind of recognize the smallinteractions on a regular basis.
Those can make a big impact.
This can be as simple assomething that a company that we
worked with.
They did these 10 minute coffeechats and they just kind of
assigned random people, had likea couple of questions and they
just chatted about it.
(12:10):
This just broke down silos andimproved collaboration.
Naturally there's another clientthat we have who they do this
quarterly 90 minute team sessionthat incorporates all the
elements I mentioned above, butin very kind of small, easily
digestible format, a little bitlonger than a normal meeting.
That doesn't get in the way ofreal work.
(12:30):
We really believe that there'skind of a few different.
You know, a big retreat isgreat, a two minute check-in is
great, it's all team building.
It's just kind of how we thinkabout it, right?
So now let's get into thisthird section here about how do
you plan team building thatactually works.
You know, how do you structurea chat, how do you structure a
(12:52):
retreat?
Well, in addition to those fourthings, I've got five more
things for you, and if you'vebeen listening to our podcast
for any length of time, thismight all be review for you, but
sometimes I think that we justneed to be reminded of things
that we already know, to kind ofbring it back to top of mind
and and give us a littlerefresher so as to make it seem
(13:12):
new, okay.
So the first one is to set aclear goal and have a clear
strategy.
Ask yourself or your teamleaders, why are we doing this?
If your goal is to improvecommunication, do an activity
that requires problem solvingtogether, not just some random
game, and hope communicationhappens Great team building is
intentional, it aligns withorganizational goals, it
(13:34):
connects long-term prioritiesand happens over time, not just
in isolated events.
Brian always says that teambuilding or team development
isn't a strategy.
It's part of a larger strategy.
So when you're planning yournext team building development,
ask yourself where does teamdevelopment, where does team
building, fit into our overallstrategy of what we're trying to
(13:55):
do?
Make sure your efforts are partof the big picture.
The second thing is to make itvoluntary or offer choices.
There's some debate about this,but people feel disengaged when
they feel that they're forcedinto doing something.
Instead, let them choose rolesor participation styles.
Some might lead, others mightobserve, others may dip in and
(14:16):
out.
You'll have to experiment withwhat works for you best.
In your context.
You can't really do a teambuilding and only half of the
team shows up, but you alsocan't force everybody to go in
to do something and hope for thebest.
This is a tricky one.
I think this has to do with howyou've set it up beforehand.
Don't spring it on peopleeither.
(14:36):
Okay, the third one which Imentioned earlier, but tie it to
real work, even fun activitiesyou should connect back to
collaboration, trust,communication.
What are the themes that you'retrying to improve in your
office culture, in whateveractivity you end up doing, even
these lame trust falls that Ikeep mentioning ask your team
what did we learn?
How can we apply this?
(14:57):
To work as the team leader, youmay need to apply some
additional learningopportunities throughout the day
.
Maybe you give your team someadditional challenges, like if
you're going to pick out bowlingshoes or do trust falls, I'll
blindfold it.
I don't know, those aren't thebest examples, but you get the
idea.
In our experience, nearly anyseemingly lame activity can be
(15:17):
tied back to real work and realexamples, if you're observant
and if you're paying attention.
We were doing one of thoseamazing race things once and
they were like putting thispuzzle together.
And there's this one individualwho had just kind of been
grumpy.
Throughout the whole day.
They're constantly pointing outlike why this won't work, why
this isn't going well, waste oftime, whatever, and at one point
(15:39):
when they're doing this puzzle,someone said hey, this is what
you always do, like in theoffice.
You're always telling us whatdoesn't work and it kind of
forces us to maybe pivot or lookat things a different way.
So it kind of was a great ahamoment for this team to say, oh,
he's not just a grumpy guy,he's not just being mean, he's
actually just trying to help usavoid doing things wrong.
(16:02):
So this all can lead to justgreat discussions about like who
we are in different contextsand we're the same, whatever,
all right.
The fourth one keep it inclusive.
Consider differentpersonalities, abilities,
preferences.
Avoid activities that excludepeople you know.
Think about doing or not doingrather very physical things, or
(16:22):
there's a lot of like social,like happy hour type things, and
not everybody is into that.
So how do you really keep itinclusive enough where everyone
can participate?
This is something that youshould be thinking about anyway.
But if your goal is to help theteam create a greater sense of
cohesion, what do you need to doso that you can get to know
(16:43):
people?
Maybe in a less worky or lessintense context, all right.
So the last one, maybe the mostimportant, I'm not sure but
follow up and make it ongoing.
Again, I've said this a coupleof times.
I feel like I'm repeatingmyself a lot here, but team
building isn't a one-time fix.
It should be part of yourlarger team culture.
(17:03):
Regular check-ins, shout-outs,quick problem-solving challenges
, off-sites, half-day things,two-hour things all of that
keeps those connections strongand ultimately help you build
stronger team culture.
That single off-site activityis not really going to transform
your team culture.
Real team building happensconsistently over time, not just
(17:26):
once a year.
So build in some ongoingopportunities for connection,
whatever that looks likestructured discussions, shared
experiences, regular check-insjust make it be a part of your
team.
All right, so just to kind ofreview, team building isn't
inherently bad.
Bad team building is bad Ithink we can all agree on that.
(17:47):
But when it's done right, itcan strengthen trust, it can
build communication, it can helpimprove in collaboration, it
can reduce conflict andultimately build engagement and
help your team thrive.
Now, if you're a leader, here'syour challenge.
Try to do just one meaningfulteam building activity in the
next month.
(18:07):
Keep it simple.
Maybe a discussion-basedexercise, a structured
problem-solving challenge, oreven just a social gathering
with a purpose.
The best teams don't just worktogether, they actually grow
together.
So let's retire the trust fallsand embrace team building that
actually builds teams up.
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast, our
(18:29):
show helping you build positiveteam culture, for more resources
, about anything you heard inthis episode or anything else to
help your team grow together.
You can check the link in theshow notes or visit us on the
web atleadershipvisionconsultingcom,
and if you found value from thisepisode, we would appreciate a
review on Spotify or iTunes, oreven just share it with someone
(18:51):
that you think could getsomething out of it.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
thanks for listening.
Several years ago I set up a Google Alert for the
phrase team building activities.
A couple times a week I get anemail filled with articles, blog
posts and headlines about thelatest trends in team building.
Now, normally I just kind ofskim through them and look for
anything interesting to maybeshare in social media or for a
possible podcast topic.
(00:20):
But recently something caughtmy attention.
Instead of the normal articlesabout creative or effective team
building ideas, the GoogleAlert seemed to be filled with
articles about how bad teambuilding is.
Some headlines stood outthere's one that said many
workers do not like teambuilding activities, finds
report.
Another one said team buildingtops the list of most disliked
(00:42):
workplace social activities.
And my favorite one just saidteam building sucks, so you
should stop doing it.
Yikes, clearly the algorithm orwhatever the alert system had
was having a bad day orsomething.
There's some disgruntledemployees out there, I guess.
But anyway, I skimmed thearticles and they laid out all
the reasons that you canprobably guess why people
(01:04):
dislike team building.
You can maybe add your ownreason to this list, but there
are things like because it's tooawkward, it feels forced and it
often fails to achieve any sortof meaningful change and,
honestly, for most of thesesorts of things at least, the
way that they were being done inthese articles, they were not
wrong.
The way that they were beingdone in these articles, they
(01:25):
were not wrong.
Hello everyone, my name isNathan Freeberg and this is the
Leadership Vision Podcast, ourshow helping you build positive
team culture.
For links to all the resourcesmentioned in this episode today,
or other resources as well, tohelp you create mentally engaged
and emotionally healthy leaders, please click the link in the
show notes or visit us on theweb at
(01:45):
leadershipvisionconsultingcom.
On this episode, we're going tobe talking about team building.
You know trust falls awkward.
Icebreakers, escape rooms,maybe even some karaoke.
You know all the things thatare supposed to bring us closer
together.
Well, not those thingsspecifically, but at Leadership
Vision, we really prideourselves on doing team building
(02:05):
differently, in a way that'sactually meaningful, that's
purposeful, that'srelationship-based and even
practical.
So today on the podcast, I wantto share just a little bit of
the research that I found fromdigging into those three
articles and a bunch of otherones, and talk a little bit
about why traditional teambuilding has such a bad
reputation, what elements needto be present for effective team
(02:29):
building and then how toactually plan a team building
event.
We'll call this the leadershipvision way.
That sort of sidesteps thesecommon pitfalls and can be
helpful for you and your team.
If you've ever rolled your eyesat the words team building or
team building exercise, thisepisode is for you.
By the end of it, you're goingto know how to design team
building that not only doesn'tsuck, but maybe even makes work
(02:52):
better.
All right, let's get into it.
So why does team building havesuch a bad reputation?
Well, too often these teambuilding events feel forced,
irrelevant or even cringey.
We were the speakers at anevent once where they made
everyone do some kind of likekaraoke thing, or maybe as an
(03:13):
improv, I don't know.
It was not good at all, but wedo know that teamwork is
critical, right?
Obviously it's important.
86% of employees say that poorcommunication leads to poor
collaboration, which is thereason for some of the biggest
failures at work.
So where's the disconnect?
Why does something so importantoften get such a bad rap?
(03:37):
Well, here's a few ideas.
Here's a few of these myths.
Number one people think it's awaste of time.
Most employees think that wehave real work to do, so why are
we wasting our time doing thisthing and, to be fair, bad team
building does feel pointless.
Think about like the sillygames or the awkward icebreakers
If they don't connect to realwork, they're just distractions.
But good team building buildsrelationships that improve
(03:59):
collaboration and productivity.
In fact, 63% of leaders haveobserved better communication
after effective team building.
So the issue isn't necessarilyteam building itself, but it's
just how it's done.
The second reason is that mostteam building doesn't impact
real work.
Some leaders think that teambuilding is just this feel good,
fluffy stuff, the soft skills,whatever you want to call it.
(04:22):
But again, research provesotherwise.
Departments with strong teambonds see 20 to 25% higher
productivity and 30% greaterprofitability.
There's actually a whole bunchof other research on this that
I'll provide in the show notesif you really want to get into
the weeds.
So the key here is trying teambuilding that actually, you know
(04:44):
, tackle some kind of workchallenge.
A trust fall is not going toimprove trust, but maybe a
brainstorming session on why ourteam is having trust issues
that just might All right.
The third thing is because a lotof team building is awkward and
embarrassing.
Remember that karaoke example,one of the biggest complaints
that we've heard from clientsand supported in the research is
that team building is justforced vulnerability.
(05:06):
I don't know many people thatwant to do improv skits or sing
karaoke, go rock climbing, dobowling or share personal
stories in a circle.
Team building should respectdifferent personalities.
Instead of making introvertsuncomfortable, offer activities
that let everyone engage indifferent ways.
Small group discussions,role-based problem solving or
(05:27):
structured collaborationexercises are kind of some ways
to do that.
That said, team building kindof is inherently about getting
people out of their comfortzones in some way.
It is a little awkward andembarrassing, but it shouldn't
feel forced or mandatory.
More on that later.
The fourth reason why teambuilding has a bad rap and this
is perhaps more for the peopleplanning it is because it's
(05:49):
expensive and time-consuming.
Many people assume that teambuilding requires these big
off-sites or elaborate retreats,but that's not the case.
Small, consistent interactions,even like a weekly 10-minute
check-in, can build strongerteams over time, maybe even more
so than a one-off retreat atsome kind of retreat center or a
(06:10):
big spa or whatever it is.
And yes, you can certainly dothose big, expensive and
time-consuming things, but youdon't have to.
There's also a mentality withsome of the leaders that we've
talked to that, if you're nottaking people on those big
retreats, like what's the point,like it's just not worth it to
put in just a little minute hereor a little minute there.
I totally disagree, we disagree.
(06:31):
Half-day investments, you know,a couple times a year, that's
not only affordable but it'svery doable and can be highly
effective.
All right, the fifth and finalthing is that people think that
team building will fixeverything and then are
disappointed when it doesn't.
I mean, we've worked with somany clients over the years who
think that just because they'veinvested in team building, now
(06:51):
their team is built.
Well, that's not the case.
Obviously, some teams use teambuilding as a quick fix for
deeper problems, you know, likelow trust, poor leadership, lack
of clarity.
But team building isn't acure-all.
It's just one piece of thepuzzle and works best when
paired with strong leadershipand clear communication over
time.
It's like that person who stopsdoing their physical therapy
(07:12):
after just like a couple daysbecause they think it's not
working.
Well, that's not going to fixyour underlying problem.
It's about consistently doingthose things, day after day,
week after week, month aftermonth, until you achieve the
results that you want.
All right, so what actuallyworks.
What does the science say?
If traditional team building isdone so bad, what does
(07:34):
effective team building looklike?
Well, in my little internetresearch here, I didn't
necessarily find one particularactivity that you could or
should do that would be likeparticularly effective, like do
this, not that.
But what I did find is thatthere is some science that says
that whatever you end up doing,whatever activity you consider
(07:55):
team building yes, even a trustfall you should include some
degree of the following fivethings, and there's probably
more.
I would love to hear yourfeedback on it as well.
So the first thing is createpsychological safety, or just
safety in general.
This is such a buzzy thingright now, thanks in no small
part to Google's projectAristotle, who found that the
(08:16):
number one predictor of highperforming teams is
psychological safety, which isjust simply the ability to speak
up without fear.
So this is probably more of ateam culture thing than like a
specific to team building.
But if you want to create thetype of team where psychological
safety is present, where peoplecan speak up, where they can
(08:37):
share what's on their mind, youcan start by making sure that
whatever team building activityyou do has some degree of this.
This could be as simple asmaking sure that everyone has a
voice, make sure that there aremultiple avenues for people to
share feedback and to givefeedback and to receive feedback
.
There's this thing I cameacross called wins and wisdom
(08:58):
check-in, where people justshare a recent success and a
lesson learned, and this canbuild trust without forcing some
of that deep vulnerability thatpeople are afraid of, and it
also just takes a couple ofminutes.
At my home with the kids everynight, we do something called
high-low buffalo the same kindof idea what's something that
went well today, not so well,and then the buffalo is just a
(09:19):
random thing.
And what's interesting andwe've done a version of this
with teams is that sometimesthat can build this degree of
safety and trust, because peopleare getting just a little
window into someone's maybepersonal life.
The second thing here is to makeit relevant to work.
I mentioned this earlier, butteam building really works best
(09:40):
when it's tied to some kind ofreal team challenge.
Instead of going to an escaperoom, try maybe structured
problem-solving exercise thatreflect actual work dynamics
structured problem-solvingexercise that reflect actual
work dynamics.
Or if you are going to anescape room, how do you include
those elements of work dynamicsinto that experience.
In Leadership Vision we've doneall kinds of team-building
(10:00):
activities that, at least on thesurface, or at least on paper,
they don't appear to have anyreal connection to the workplace
.
But at the hands of some giftedfacilitators like oh, I don't
know Dr Linda and BrianSchubring, everything can
connect back to work andeverything can be relevant.
It's kind of like in the KarateKid.
When Mr Miyagi was makingDaniel wax and wash his car, he
(10:23):
didn't realize that he wasactually learning bigger lessons
there.
You could take your team to acooking school and like prepare
a meal together, and then youcan debrief that experience
using examples of what happenedduring that thing and apply it
to a current office project oranother internal situation.
The third thing here I found wasto allow different ways to
(10:45):
participate.
So not everyone thrives inthese high energy activities.
So mix it up.
Maybe you do some hands-onchallenges for problem solvers,
maybe you have some casualsocial bonding for more
relationship-minded folks andmaybe some discussion-based
activities for getting somedeeper insights.
We used to do this full daything called Vision Trek, which
(11:07):
it was kind of like an amazingrace thing that a team would do
like in their local city orlocal park and you'd kind of
look for clues and solve puzzlesand do all this stuff.
And we had many different waysfor people to interact.
So by the end of the day, bythe end of that experience,
everyone was able to participate, everyone was able to kind of
(11:27):
shine or step forward, step ontothe proverbial stage, if you
will, and it really helps peopleto get to know them.
It made them feel comfortablebut also gave us insight into
their personality and theirstrengths.
The fourth thing to include isto prioritize small, consistent
efforts.
So, going back to an earliercomment, you don't need a big
(11:49):
retreat to call it effectiveteam building, but rather just
kind of recognize the smallinteractions on a regular basis.
Those can make a big impact.
This can be as simple assomething that a company that we
worked with.
They did these 10 minute coffeechats and they just kind of
assigned random people, had likea couple of questions and they
just chatted about it.
(12:10):
This just broke down silos andimproved collaboration.
Naturally there's another clientthat we have who they do this
quarterly 90 minute team sessionthat incorporates all the
elements I mentioned above, butin very kind of small, easily
digestible format, a little bitlonger than a normal meeting.
That doesn't get in the way ofreal work.
(12:30):
We really believe that there'skind of a few different.
You know, a big retreat isgreat, a two minute check-in is
great, it's all team building.
It's just kind of how we thinkabout it, right?
So now let's get into thisthird section here about how do
you plan team building thatactually works.
You know, how do you structurea chat, how do you structure a
(12:52):
retreat?
Well, in addition to those fourthings, I've got five more
things for you, and if you'vebeen listening to our podcast
for any length of time, thismight all be review for you, but
sometimes I think that we justneed to be reminded of things
that we already know, to kind ofbring it back to top of mind
and and give us a littlerefresher so as to make it seem
(13:12):
new, okay.
So the first one is to set aclear goal and have a clear
strategy.
Ask yourself or your teamleaders, why are we doing this?
If your goal is to improvecommunication, do an activity
that requires problem solvingtogether, not just some random
game, and hope communicationhappens Great team building is
intentional, it aligns withorganizational goals, it
(13:34):
connects long-term prioritiesand happens over time, not just
in isolated events.
Brian always says that teambuilding or team development
isn't a strategy.
It's part of a larger strategy.
So when you're planning yournext team building development,
ask yourself where does teamdevelopment, where does team
building, fit into our overallstrategy of what we're trying to
(13:55):
do?
Make sure your efforts are partof the big picture.
The second thing is to make itvoluntary or offer choices.
There's some debate about this,but people feel disengaged when
they feel that they're forcedinto doing something.
Instead, let them choose rolesor participation styles.
Some might lead, others mightobserve, others may dip in and
(14:16):
out.
You'll have to experiment withwhat works for you best.
In your context.
You can't really do a teambuilding and only half of the
team shows up, but you alsocan't force everybody to go in
to do something and hope for thebest.
This is a tricky one.
I think this has to do with howyou've set it up beforehand.
Don't spring it on peopleeither.
(14:36):
Okay, the third one which Imentioned earlier, but tie it to
real work, even fun activitiesyou should connect back to
collaboration, trust,communication.
What are the themes that you'retrying to improve in your
office culture, in whateveractivity you end up doing, even
these lame trust falls that Ikeep mentioning ask your team
what did we learn?
How can we apply this?
(14:57):
To work as the team leader, youmay need to apply some
additional learningopportunities throughout the day
.
Maybe you give your team someadditional challenges, like if
you're going to pick out bowlingshoes or do trust falls, I'll
blindfold it.
I don't know, those aren't thebest examples, but you get the
idea.
In our experience, nearly anyseemingly lame activity can be
(15:17):
tied back to real work and realexamples, if you're observant
and if you're paying attention.
We were doing one of thoseamazing race things once and
they were like putting thispuzzle together.
And there's this one individualwho had just kind of been
grumpy.
Throughout the whole day.
They're constantly pointing outlike why this won't work, why
this isn't going well, waste oftime, whatever, and at one point
(15:39):
when they're doing this puzzle,someone said hey, this is what
you always do, like in theoffice.
You're always telling us whatdoesn't work and it kind of
forces us to maybe pivot or lookat things a different way.
So it kind of was a great ahamoment for this team to say, oh,
he's not just a grumpy guy,he's not just being mean, he's
actually just trying to help usavoid doing things wrong.
(16:02):
So this all can lead to justgreat discussions about like who
we are in different contextsand we're the same, whatever,
all right.
The fourth one keep it inclusive.
Consider differentpersonalities, abilities,
preferences.
Avoid activities that excludepeople you know.
Think about doing or not doingrather very physical things, or
(16:22):
there's a lot of like social,like happy hour type things, and
not everybody is into that.
So how do you really keep itinclusive enough where everyone
can participate?
This is something that youshould be thinking about anyway.
But if your goal is to help theteam create a greater sense of
cohesion, what do you need to doso that you can get to know
(16:43):
people?
Maybe in a less worky or lessintense context, all right.
So the last one, maybe the mostimportant, I'm not sure but
follow up and make it ongoing.
Again, I've said this a coupleof times.
I feel like I'm repeatingmyself a lot here, but team
building isn't a one-time fix.
It should be part of yourlarger team culture.
(17:03):
Regular check-ins, shout-outs,quick problem-solving challenges
, off-sites, half-day things,two-hour things all of that
keeps those connections strongand ultimately help you build
stronger team culture.
That single off-site activityis not really going to transform
your team culture.
Real team building happensconsistently over time, not just
(17:26):
once a year.
So build in some ongoingopportunities for connection,
whatever that looks likestructured discussions, shared
experiences, regular check-insjust make it be a part of your
team.
All right, so just to kind ofreview, team building isn't
inherently bad.
Bad team building is bad Ithink we can all agree on that.
(17:47):
But when it's done right, itcan strengthen trust, it can
build communication, it can helpimprove in collaboration, it
can reduce conflict andultimately build engagement and
help your team thrive.
Now, if you're a leader, here'syour challenge.
Try to do just one meaningfulteam building activity in the
next month.
(18:07):
Keep it simple.
Maybe a discussion-basedexercise, a structured
problem-solving challenge, oreven just a social gathering
with a purpose.
The best teams don't just worktogether, they actually grow
together.
So let's retire the trust fallsand embrace team building that
actually builds teams up.
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast, our
(18:29):
show helping you build positiveteam culture, for more resources
, about anything you heard inthis episode or anything else to
help your team grow together.
You can check the link in theshow notes or visit us on the
web atleadershipvisionconsultingcom,
and if you found value from thisepisode, we would appreciate a
review on Spotify or iTunes, oreven just share it with someone
(18:51):
that you think could getsomething out of it.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
thanks for listening.
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