I once ran a teambuilding day with loads of fun and impactful team games and experiences for fifty people from a company in Abu Dhabi. They had some problems they needed to address two of which were low trust and a breakdown in relationships. I expected and encountered a but of cynicism when we started, but things ended up going better as the day went on.

At the end of the day, I wrapped up the session saying have a good weekend ahead, and everyone started leaving the function room after the usual round of applause and thanks from the client. Job done! I walked out behind two ladies who had been taking part and happened to hear one of them say to the other “you know, in the end that was alright”. As expected, – she’d arrived with some cynicism about the whole teambuilding thing, and I was pleased to hear that perhaps we’d won her over.

It was the response of her colleague that stopped me in my tracks. She replied: “yeah, it was good, but we are all still going to hate each other on Monday”.

Teambuilding can be a great intervention for companies looking to help build teams, celebrate occasions, break down barriers, connect people across the organisation, and many more reasons. Done well, they can provide great benefit. But you can also get it wrong, and this story is just one of the many I have experienced or heard from other teambuilding colleagues out there where teambuilding didn’t work. (Russian roulette with a starting pistol was another one…!)

Teambuilding can be expensive, take time out of people’s diaries and be counterproductive if you get it wrong. I have been working in the teambuilding and Team Coaching business for 15 years, in countries all over the world and here’s some tips from me on how to make sure you choose the right activity for your team.

Ask Yourself What You Are Trying To Achieve – and is ‘Teambuilding’ The Right Choice?

What is your reason for deciding to run a teambuilding session for your team in the first place. Is teambuilding the right option? For the company in the example above, teambuilding was probably not the right option. They had some deep-seated relationship, behaviour and culture issues that were not going to be addressed or solved in one day of activities.

Maybe what you need is some team coaching, or work on your team culture or values. This involves more in-depth conversations about the realities of what is going on and will get to the heart of your challenges or issues.

Follow Up Your Teambuilding Afterwards

Teambuilding is not going to fix deep seated problems overnight. Accept that it is a great opportunity to do things like connect people from different departments, boost morale, celebrate together, learn about teamwork… but it needs to be followed up to make real behavioural change happen. Yes, find the activity that has a real ‘wow’ factor and memorable experience for your people, but be prepared to continue the conversation afterwards if you want to make change happen.

Integrate Teambuilding With Other Interventions

Marketing people talk in terms of full-service campaigns – above the line, below the line, involving multiple media, adverts, event sponsorship, social media, etc… rarely do they do just one thing.

Far too often teambuilding is a one-off, shot in the arm affair. Sometimes different departments of larger companies are all doing their own teambuilding independent of each other. Coordinating your efforts across departments is a good idea. Also consider integrating teambuilding with other plans across the year.

Thinking of teambuilding as one part of an integrated staff plan is another. You might do culture workshops, a staff party, team coaching, inter-departmental conversations, incentives… there are many interventions you could integrate to multiply the impact rather than running things on an ad hoc independent basis.

Find The Right Teambuilding Supplier

I am sadly aware of too many ‘cowboy’ operators out there. I have had many clients come to me saying they had a bad experience with a teambuilding supplier last time round. Do some due diligence on them – check the company out (the Internet is great for this). Ask to speak to some of their clients for a reference, ask to meet (if possible) the facilitators who run their programs rather than just the salespeople. (A quick note on that – they may not be able to introduce the actual individual who will run your teambuilding session as they will get rostered once you confirm your booking – but at least you can speak to one of their facilitators to get a feel for them).

Pick An Activity That Fits Your Aims

Make sure the activity is going to match your goals. If you want people to interact with each other, don’t pick a city treasure hunt where they won’t see each other all afternoon! If you want to increase collaboration, don’t pick something which is just a competition between different teams.

Speak to your supplier about what it is the event achieves – will it match with what you are trying to get the team to work on. There are different activities that are collaborative, competitive, creative, and so on. A good teambuilding supplier should be able to explain what their activities achieve.

Take Care To Think About Logistics.

I have had clients insist on running an outdoor teambuilding event in Dubai in July. I had to strongly advise against this as it would have been far too hot and counterproductive (if not downright dangerous) to do so. Think carefully about the planning of your teambuilding. Things like how much time you have, weather, space (indoor or outdoor) group size (overall and team sizes), travel time to and from the location and even music. Playing appropriate music (and having a good PA system for the facilitator’s announcements and screen for presentations) can really enhance the experience if done well.

Also, if every team has to present something back to the group – maybe a short movie they have made, or presentation/performance of some kind – don’t have twenty teams, as this will mean they have to sit through far too many other people’s creations. Let’s face it – most people will just want to see their own team’s performance and will lose interest having to sit through all the other teams’ efforts!

Don’t Cut The Teambuilding Time in Your Conference Agenda

Don’t squeeze the teambuilding session time. If your teambuilding supplier says they need two hours to successfully complete the activity, try to give them as close to two hours as you can. Teambuilding is often included in a conference agenda, and as the previous sessions inevitably run on, it’s the ‘less important’ teambuilding slot that gets the chop.

I have had clients say ‘you’ve only got 30 minutes’ to run a 2-hour activity. You are only going to shoot yourselves in the foot if you do this. They will need the time they ask for to make the activity work, and you won’t get nearly as much bang for your buck if you cut the time. The activity could fail which is even worse than not doing it at all.

You Can Do Teambuilding for Every Budget

Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of money – there’s something for every budget. You can do some simple things yourself for free (plenty of ideas out there on the Internet) but if you do have some money to spend, then the options increase. Do have a look around and find the right thing that fits with what you can spend.

Accept That You Can’t Please All The People All Of The Time

Teambuilding is not everyone’s cup of tea. Also, some people will like different activities. The sporty types might like a beach Olympics event, creative types might like picture painting or movie making. You will never please everyone. You will get raving enthusiasts which are great to have, but you should accept that some would never like to do teambuilding, and there’s not a lot you can do about that. What you want is a teambuilding activity that wins over most middle ground fence sitters – and if you think about some of the things I have shared above, I think you can do so.

Teambuilding can be a fantastic experience, if done right. I hope this helps you avoid some of the things that might make it less so. Good luck!