When you’re starting a new company, your main concerns are growing your business and becoming profitable. Conducting a team building session is not likely to be a top priority. It may be too expensive, too time-consuming or something that you consider unnecessary.
However, your employees are an important component of your business, and having a strong team can mean the difference between success and failure.
Here’s why new companies should use team building activities:
- To help you hire the right people
Hiring the right people is one of the biggest concerns for new companies. One way to assess candidates is by using team building activities in a group evaluation. This can be especially invaluable if your company is team-oriented.
Through a team building activity, you can observe potential hires and assess their behaviour when interacting in a team setting. You can gauge their leadership, communication and problem-solving skills. You can also test for qualities such as creativity, resilience and mental toughness – all qualities that are necessary when growing a new company.
A group setting allows you to directly compare candidates side by side and will give you a better sense of who’s the best fit with your company. The hiring process can not only be long and tedious; it is often also expensive. Ensuring that your hiring process leads to a best-fit hire can save your company a lot of time and money.
- To ensure your team shares your vision
Once you’ve got the right people on board, it’s crucial that they share your vision, especially when your company is new. Having a team building day is an opportunity for you to communicate your vision for the company to your team. What’s more, you can try to get your team aligned with that vision and the core values you’d like to build.
Instead of just a presentation or speech that outlines the company’s vision and core values, learning through fun, engaging activities makes it easier for your employees to internalize them.
- To help shape your company culture right from the beginning
Conducting team building activities during the early days of your company signals to your employees that you value people, teamwork and collaboration.
Depending on the type of activities you use, you’ll be able to cultivate the characteristics you want in your company culture. Be it creativity, autonomy, risk-taking or empowered employees, tailoring a team building session can help take you there.
- To learn more about your team, in particular their strengths that you can leverage
One of the benefits of team building is that it brings to light the various personalities in your team. Through team building activities, you can observe how your employees react in stressful situations, how they communicate and what they’re good at it.
Perhaps one of your quiet employees is really creative and hasn’t had the chance to display that quality in the work place. Or maybe you’ll realize that someone has leadership qualities that can be further developed. In this way, team building activities can help strengthen your team and company.
- To build trust and respect within your team
Things can be especially hectic in a new company. Everyone may be so focused on the day-to-day tasks that there is no time to get to know your fellow teammates and connect with them.
A team building session gives everyone the chance to relate to each other as people, not just employees. Getting to know your colleagues outside of work often means that you get to see a different side of their personality. Finding out more about their personal history, family life or hobbies makes it easier to connect, instead of only talking about work.
Often team building activities help to break the barriers that exist and allows for trust and respect to grow and deepen between your team members. With more trust and respect, employees are more likely to collaborate and work more effectively together.
What’s more, having a team building day need not be expensive. With our free resources, you can conduct a session on your own! All you need to do is prepare the relevant materials (if any), follow our step-by-step instructions and do the necessary review to reinforce the learning outcomes.
If you are more flexible with time and money, a team building retreat could be an excellent way to solidify the relationships between your team members and for everyone to connect in a relaxed, non-work setting.
Whether it’s one hour, one day, or one weekend, a team building session can be beneficial to your new company. The result is a more connected and engaged team that can work better together to achieve your company’s goals.
Do you think new companies can benefit from team building? Let us know in the comments.
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For any business team building activities are very important to achieve goals.
I agree.
Thanks for sharing such valuable post as the working in a team is a progressive and highly interactive approach to adult learning and team development.
Definitely – Glad you enjoyed it.
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Glad you found it useful.
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You’re Welcome.