Team Development - Why Your Office Is Different from the Office
Bosses always want to boost morale, improve staff communication and in the end increase productivity, so why don’t more companies send their staff to take part in team development events?
Maybe it’s because some of these events can suffer from the fact they conjure up negative connotations - many connected to the humorous events pictured on television shows?
Certainly, the wisdom of David Brent from TV’s “The Office” have forced middle managers to consider themselves and wonder if that’s who they resemble.
Amongst Brent’s many, now infamous, quotes the one that most accurately summarises his thinking about working as a team reads: “There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there’s a ‘ME’ if you look hard enough”.
If you watched the show, you may remember the excellent instalment in which a team development expert visited the Wernam Hogg offices. Brent promptly took control, and transformed the meeting into essentially a celebration of himself, including a rendition of his seminal 1980s pop ballad “Free Love on the Freelove Freeway” on the guitar.
However, team development events in real life are nothing like the cringe worthy and destructive nightmare depicted in the programme.
Numerous organisations across the UK now offer companies the chance to take their staff out of the office and away on a team building day.
Team building allows staff members to learn and develop the tools and skills required to push business growth plus sustain development and improvement.
And in spite of worldwide economies being in the midst of a recession, staff development remains crucial to the growth of a business. In fact, it’s even more important, as when the recession ends there will certainly be chances for the best-managed businesses to take advantage of the growing market.
Team development can take many different forms, from in-house teaching to going out into the wilderness and taking part in adventure courses, high ropes trails and personal challenges - which will certainly inspire and be memorable for employees taking part.
All these events are fashioned to encourage staff - regardless of age or background - to work as part of a team for the common aim of your company, and they all add to the common long-term goals of your business.
So team development events are essential to business growth. Just don’t follow the example of David Brent, whose hiring policy was straightforward: “Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them”.
