Why Your Team-building Efforts are Falling Flat

• July 6, 2016
• Emilie
• no comments

We all know how important it is to keep our teams motivated and working well together. Team building efforts can be incredibly useful at teaching groups how to work efficiently and effectively. In addition, they prove necessary for increasing feelings of competency and motivation. However, not all team-building events and practices may be as successful as you would hope. Here are several reasons your team may be under-performing, according to research.

Your team members are confused about who has control. Two key methods for motivating and improving team success are 1) use of control, and 2) team building. The idea behind using control is that it allows you to oversee your team’s progress more easily, and thus you will be able to guide them towards greater success and efficiency. Team building is meant to improve communication and collaboration between your team members, thus aiding with efficiency as well. A recent study paired team members together, analyzing the effects of both methods (control and teamwork). Although both methods improved team efficiency when used individually, efficiency was actually hindered for teams who successfully accomplished the team building task and were placed under the effect of external control. The researchers theorized that team building experiences lead members to feel like they have been handed greater control over the task at hand. Thus, when external control is also utilized, team members become frustrated because they do not know if they should be taking more initiative (thus keeping more control for themselves), or if their superiors still maintain all control by constantly regulating sub-tasks. Thus, team building efforts can be very useful, but if team members are micromanaged it will send mixed messages and actually hinder their ability to be effective.

You aren’t focusing on the importance of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is the idea that through leadership and guidance we can mentor team members, transforming individuals into leaders. Recent research has demonstrated a relationship between transformational leadership and team-building, showing the important interaction between these two interventions. If your team-building efforts are falling flat, it may be because you are not simultaneously focusing on transforming your members into leaders. Team-building is about more than learning communication and collaboration, it must also highlight other important leadership skills, such as decision making, problem solving, and the ability to give definitive instruction.

Your project manager isn’t considering the different needs throughout project stages. Bruce Tuckman’s team development model analyzes the important stages a team must go through before performing as a cohesive whole. He suggests that the team first undergoes a “forming” period, during which the project manager must sell each member on the role he/she needs to play. If members are not convinced they are playing the right role, it is up to the project manager to assert control over the final decision and convince each individual that his/her role is necessary for completion of the task at hand. During the next stage, “Storming,” dominant members may try to gain more control, whereas less dominant individuals may begin to reduce the role they are playing. It is up to your project manager to continue asserting control and to maintain balance between each member’s position. Thus, it is crucial that your project manager focuses on maintaining team roles during the early stages of a project, and then turns his attention to the project itself only after team members have adjusted into the roles each person needs to play.

Overall, although team building is very important, not every team-building attempt will be successful if the previously mentioned factors are not taken into consideration. Think about each goal you want your team-building event to accomplish, not just the improvement of communication and morale.

If your company is looking for a team-building event of your own, contact us today at United EVENTures. We have a vast number of unique team-building events, and will create a custom experience specifically designed for your team!

Reiner, Gerhard, and Simon Wiederhold. "Team Building and Hidden Costs of Control." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 123 (2016): 1-18. Web.

Aga, D. A., N. Noorderhaven, and B. Vallejo. "Transformational Leadership and Project Success: The Mediating Role of Team-building." Internation Journal of Project Management 34.5 (2016): 806-18. Web.

Lester, Eur Ing Albert. "Chapter 39- Team Building and Motivation." Project Management, Planning and Control: Managing Engineering, Construction and Manufacturing Projects to PMI, APM and BSI Standards. 6th ed. Kidlington, Oxford: Elsevier, 2014. 371-79. Web.