Management Secrets unveiled - How to Increase the Efficiency of your Staff

Monday morning tea break in the building. There is a subdued air in the canteen, a few people are grumbling. About what? The memo that came round first thing announcing the team building day planned for the end of the week ...

1 week later …

Monday morning tea break in the canteen. The atmosphere is electric. Bert from stores is telling a joke to Dave, the accounts director. Madge from packing is having an animated conversation with a couple of guys from sales ...

OK, so why this big difference. The team building day of course. The whole day was arranged by Brian and Sue in the personnel department (note how this forward thinking company did not regard their staff as merely resources). They realise that to get the best out of people you need to work with them, help them to enjoy their working life. It's all about human nature. Treat a person as a resource and they will be just that, a resource. They will do what they have to to to make sure they get paid. That's it. They will not be concerned about how good a job they do.

But treat them as a person and things will be very different. They will come to work with a spring in their step and a positive attitude. The result - you will get someone who takes a pride in what they do which will clearly benefit the company. Some management styles demand that you constantly tell staff that you value their contribution. If those words are not backed up by action that shows that you really do value them, the words become hollow. Meaningless and at best, de-motivating - the exact opposite of what you intended.

But back to Brian and Sue. What made the team building day they organised so successful? Easy, it was team building by stealth. Instead of sending them out into the cold and wet, they organised a day at a country house hotel. So if it did rain, no-one had to get soaked. The hotel was 50 miles away, so they organised transport, overnight accommodation and a social event to round it off, so no-one needed to drive. But central to the success of the day was that they had organised a corporate event day rather than a traditional team building day. Expensive, but a worthwhile long term investment in people.

By making the team building a corporate event, all tasks were accessible to everybody. It did not rely on strength or other physical ability such as is often the case with traditional team building. There wasn't a barrel or a plank in sight throughout the whole day, much to the relief all of the delegates. The event was based on adventure games which made it enjoyable for everyone and no one had realized that teambuilding was really taking place.

If you intend to organise a day such as this, you need to consider carefully what constitutes good team building. The simple answer is that it should happen in an positive and enjoyable atmosphere that develops the key skills needed within a successful business. But what are these skills? In short, the core skills are communication, planning, flexibility, co-operation, deadlines and dealing with the unexpected. That will not be found in all corporate entertainment events, for example casino nights or racing nights are good for morale but poor for team skills development as everyone functions as an individual and the activities rely purely on chance. You will need to choose wisely - themed events with some sort of point to them are ideal.