According to Mr Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director at Vodafone UK, British companies are spending large amounts of money and time in improving team effectiveness. Official research has show that open, collaborative and flexible work methods are far more effective than team building exercises or a team building party.
From the research it has emerged that adrenaline experiences such as mountain biking or bungee jumping are the least effective, followed by trust exercises. The most effective team building activities are of a social nature where groups go out for a drink, a meal, volunteering or charitable work. A party bus would be a great way of creating a relaxed and fun enviroment for your work colleagues
Those with a negative view of team-building exercises suggested that money should not be wasted on ineffective team building exercises and rather more effort should be put into creating a positive working environment, geared towards better team communication and flexible working.
“Employers need to focus on how their employees work on a day-to-day basis, and give their staff the tools they need to be able to do their job efficiently. Studies show that employees have a need to be able to work smarter - and that means easy access to customers, colleagues and information wherever they are. This research confirms that people place more value on open, collaborative and flexible ways of working every day than once-off team-building exercise." said Peter Kelly.
From a recent survey colleagues feel more awkward towards each other after partaking in office "team-building'" exercises.
Almost 54% of all UK employee’s believe that team-building exercises will bring no improvement to the way they work. Resent surveys done under employees from YouGov and Vodafone UK suggests that employee’s feel team-building exercises are a waste of time and very embarrassing. Employee’s would rather employ a new method for improved communication amongst staff members than get involved with trust and adrenaline based exercises.
Research done amongst 1,000 British employees have uncovered some disturbing examples of team-building exercises namely:
- Massages from co-workers,
- Bikini “bed baths”
- Lingerie parties,
- Eating insects or raw meat
In conclusion, many genuine team building activities can be valuable, but ultimately, to achieve better teamwork businesses need to get the basics right first.
