Team Exercises

The Importance of Team Exercises

Team Exercises are aimed to either eliminate team conflicts or strengthen team bonds. If the same behaviours are still adopted succeeding a Team Exercise, it has not served its purpose.

How do Teams Benefit from Team Exercises?

1. Increased morale
2. Increased motivation
3. Stronger teams
4. Improved communication skills
5. Specific business outputs
6. Further insights into the organisation

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Making the Most of Team Exercises

If Team Exercises are carried out with no specific focus and purpose they will essentially be a waste of time and the leader could risk losing the respect of team members.

Here are some basic principles that will allow you to make the most of team exercises:

• Identify the problem, figure out how it can be solved, and think of an exercise that aims to solve this. 
• Aim to use present and real-world problems that can be tailored for different individuals and personalities. 
• Avoiding competitiveness is key as you essentially want to encourage team members to work together instead of against each other. 
• Additionally, some businesses take advantage of the benefits of team-building exercises during periods of change and difficulty as it is an effective way of regrouping.  
• Attempt to fit the activities used within the culture of the company. 

Note: Effective managers integrate elements of team building into their everyday schedule in the office which serves to be a catalyst for innovation and contributes to the long-term success of a team.

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Team Building Exercises

Example team-building exercises, tips and tricks can be found here.

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References 

Olsen. (2016). Team Building Exercises for Tough Times. Harvard Business Review, 2009. Web. 24 August 2016.

Goldsmith. (2016). Team Building without Time Wasting. Harvard Business Review, 2007. Web. 24 August 2016.