Corporate Team Building Activities: Why it is Essential for Company's Growth?

Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, had once said that

” if everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

A saying that has so much relevance in the cut-throat corporate scenario today! Many corporate houses think that employee engagement is a total waste of time and money. Traditionally, organizations would encourage a competitive and aggressive environment in the workplace because they felt that employees would give their best this way. The truth is that if not done properly, this becomes like a rat race where each employee works as a solitary unit trying to beat the others. What good can it do to the organization where employees are working against each other?

On the contrary for organizations that treat their employees well – a decent pay package cannot be counted as the be all and end all of the good treatment – pampering and indulging them in creating an amicable and harmonious working environment are the ones that are doing exceptionally well, year after year. In recent times, there has been a shift in the corporate paradigm that has resulted in them moving out of the competitive workplaces to set up collaborative environments. Today many corporate are investing in corporate team building activities to enable their employees to pick up and develop essential skills that are crucial for the success of the business.

The importance of team events and activities

Well-defined corporate team building activities contribute to the overall growth of the company in a substantial manner. It is essential to design them accordingly keeping the objective and purpose in mind. Here’s how it influences the development of a business entity positively

1.   Enhance efficiency

Team activities augment work efficiencies of the employees. Corporate team, as well as in-office activities, help team members to learn to work together as a team. It helps in reinforcing the three Ps of productivity – processes, policies, and procedures – to the employees in a fun-filled manner where their minds are off the daily work pressures.

2.   Strengthen the aptitude of team members

Team building exercises help harness the talents and skills of people at hand. When corporate need their goals to be achieved, they need first to identify the potential of their human resources and accordingly hand them out responsibilities and duties. The informal atmosphere at a team event helps the managers in understanding the core competencies of their team members well on the one hand, while on the other it makes the members feel included in the team thereby helping in creating a more conducive and productive environment.

3.   Instill collaborative environment

Corporate team outings are one of the best ways to create a collaborative work environment. Collaboration comes from knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, trusting each other and gaining knowledge from one another’s experience and skills. When corporate team activities are planned to create such an environment, corporate help foster a milieu of mutual respect, friendliness and infusing a feeling of camaraderie in the office. Work then becomes more enjoyable rather than monotonous assisting the organization in benefit the most from such an environment.

4.   Helps deliberate ingenious ideas

All businesses need creativity and inattentiveness to survive and sustain. In the ever transforming and dynamic business scenario, business entities cannot afford to stagnate. Hence, they need fresh ideas to keep moving. Since ideas spring from the human mind, what better option than to take assistance from the human resources of the company? Some activities can be planned and organized to enable and inspire employees to come up with novel solutions and share their creative sides with others. More the ideas, more powerful the brainstorming sessions become giving birth to concepts that have the potential to change the fortunes of the company.

5.   Improves inter and intradepartmental communication

Corporate team experiences can be planned to meet different criteria and requirement of the business. One of the aspects that such experiences can target and realize success is the issue that most organizations face today – inter and intradepartmental rivalry and communication gaps. We are all aware of the pros of having strong internal communication network between employees.

However, more often than not, people from the same department or across verticals mistrust each other and view each other as foes rather than a combined unit. It causes immense harm to the organization and has the potential to cause more significant damage to the brand image if not handled well. Well-structured team activities, especially corporate team outings give team members ample time and space to know each other at an official as well as at a personal level. As a result of such outings usually facilitate in breaking down barriers, preconceived notions and prejudiced perceptions nurturing a motivated and trustful working environment.

6.   Cultivates constructive competitiveness in the team

Being competitive helps, only when done positively and in a controlled fashion! Awards to members who are doing good help set in a spirit of encouragement for others to try and improvise their performances. When team members learn to bond well and enjoy each other’s wins with a fun, it displays true team spirit. Team activities can be arranged that helps channel positive and conducive competitive spirit in the team so that each can encourage and motivate the other to perform better. Enhanced performance and positivity amongst employees ensure the long-term growth of the organisation.

7.   Helps emphasize organization goals

Team events can be skillfully designed to reinforce the business purpose and goals. When done in an upbeat and optimistic environment, employees feel responsible and readily take onus. Every member of the team feels motivated enough to work towards the achievement of the goals and strategies. They are all united to perform and work together.

Employees are an organization’s biggest strength. When treated well and taken care of, their commitment levels can reach the zenith! However, organizations need to provide result-oriented and purposeful team events rather than just having a nice day out event. Only then would they be able to make a genuine effect on the team members driving them to align their personal aspirations with business goals and objectives.