Changing times usher in innovative team building techniques
Staff bonding. To make them more engaging, team building activities are often divided into indoor and outdoor sessions. file
Two years ago, ClassiQue Concepts Ltd chief executive Janet Omido believed that team building was an outdoor event meant to break office monotony.
Today, she thinks differently of the activity.
One cannot conduct team building without carrying out research on the target company in order to establish need, she says.
“Before, we went by clients’ demands and arranged such activities for their staff, this has changed,” she says.
There has to be a reason for team building, she says, adding that research determines the content of bonding activities.
This approach has helped to reduce the number of complaints from company managers about low results in the wake of team building activities, says Ms Omido.
Her case is not isolated. Human resource experts say such experiences account for the emerging trend in staff bonding activities.
Positive end results
What has not changed, however, is the fact that such sessions are still valued as a crucial way of increasing corporate performance by boosting staff motivation. Ms Omido says the research-based approach to team building is called training needs analysis (TNA).
Outdoors Africa managing director Canute Waswa says horizontal bonding is among the latest team building techniques.
By horizontal bonding Mr Waswa refers to engaging in activities that enhance understanding of staff members’ soft skills and emotional intelligence, which leads to discerning why people act differently.
“Today, team building is being tagged with personality profiling. It is a diversion from the traditional vertical bonding with top management to such issues as understanding how one reacts to pressure,” he says.
Embracing new concepts
Among the concepts that Mr Waswa and colleagues at Outdoors Africa have adopted include Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI), which is a psychometric measure of how people perceive the world and make decisions.
Such an assessment, conducted during bonding sessions, can unveil the basis for office conflicts and distinguish between disciplined and undisciplined employees.
“It shows small things that make a difference in the team. The test shows how someone perceives and utilises information,” says Mr Waswa.
Revelation of such soft skills, which is not possible when relying on ordinary team building techniques, has informed companies’ embracing of new concepts in bonding programmes.
Kenya Methodist University management lecturer Mark Ogutu says such concepts deliver better results if applied together or interchangeably.
“Outdoor team building activities have always been the most common approach to staff training,” he says.
“However, with other approaches coming up that add to the activities that already exist, it is fair that they are incorporated during bonding sessions.”
Brainstorming sessions, holding events that appreciate hard work, and round-table discussions involving members of various departments can be an ideal way of combining various approaches to staff bonding, he says.
“Through brainstorming, staff members feel that the company values their thoughts,” he says.
Rewarding top performers is not only known to raise the spirit of individual employees, it also reawakens the need to work as a team to achieve common goals, he says.
Benefits of investing in staff bonding sessions outweigh disadvantages, SPEAK to Africa chief executive Wendy Gaya says.
Team building bonds employees, enabling them to help each other in the course of duty. It leads to increased productivity, Ms Gaya says.
She warns that bonding activities’ goals may not be achieved where a company does not set aside a budget yet has high expectations of increased performance.
“When a company spends on staff bonding there is a feeling that employees’ needs are taken into account and that they are appreciated,” she says.
The end results are increased morale, growth of loyalty, and change of attitude towards the company, she says. “All these are determinants of productivity levels.”
Embracing emerging concepts in bonding activities means that companies have to spend more when planning for the events.
For example, while Ms Omido’s company previously embarked on team building on the proposed date and often took only a day to go through the event, today it takes her a day or two to carry out needs analysis. The main event takes two or more days, after which she evaluates the activities.
To make them more engaging, team building activities are often divided into indoor and outdoor sessions.
Indoor sessions involve classroom activities that feature watching video clips and role playing, among others. Experiences learnt indoors are applied in outdoor activities.
“It is all about putting experiences learnt during class sessions into practice,” says Ms Omido.
