Every employer should want to boost morale, increase communication between staff members and in the end increase productivity, so why don’t all organisations send their staff to take part in team development events?
Maybe it’s because some of these events can suffer because they evoke negative connotations - many connected to the farcical events portrayed on television shows?
Certainly, the words and wisdom of David Brent from TV’s “The Office” have forced middle management personnel to consider themselves and wonder if that’s who they reflect.
Amongst Brent’s many, now well-known, quotes the one that best summarises his thinking about working as a team reads: “There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there’s a ‘ME’ if you look hard enough”.
Fans of the show will remember the brilliant show in which a team development expert visited their offices. Brent quickly took over, and transformed the meeting into essentially a celebration of him, including an interpretation of his seminal 1980s pop ballad “Free Love on the Freelove Freeway” on acoustic guitar.
However, in real life team development events are nothing like the cringeworthy and destructive nightmare depicted in the show.
Numerous companies across the country now offer businesses the opportunity to take their staff away from the office and away on a team building day.
Team building allows staff members to learn and develop the tools and skillsets required to drive business growth as well as sustain improvement and development.
And despite the worldwide recession, staff development remains essential to the growth of a business. In fact, it’s even more important, as when the recession stops there will certainly be opportunities for the best-managed businesses to take advantage of the developing marketplace.
Team development can take many different forms, from in-house education to getting out into the great outdoors and undertaking adventure courses, high ropes trails and personal challenges - which will certainly inspire and be memorable for staff members.
All these events are fashioned to encourage staff - regardless of age and background - to work as part of a team for the common aim of your company, and they all contribute to the common long-term goals of your organisation.
That’s why team development events are important to business growth. Just don’t follow the example of David Brent, whose hiring policy was simple: “Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them”.
