As a team building motivational speaker, I stress that team building, the forging of great teams doesn’t start with T-shirts, engraved pens or imprinted water bottles. Team building starts with inspiration. It starts with people who are willing to step up and to inspire everyone around them.
Management and Communication
Inspiration doesn’t come from the guy with the loudest voice but from those who manage the team’s resources the best and who can communicate the most effectively.
Unfortunately, when teams are randomly thrown together and someone directs them to “pick a leader and make it work,” what is often the case is that the team either divides into the workers and the slackers, or those who understand what needs to get done, or those who could care less. The “team” will fail without management and communication.
Unless management brings everyone together and communication is clear-cut as to what needs to get done – and why, the team won’t get built, but it will spin its wheels.
As the pandemic ends and our workplaces achieve a blend of in-person and remote models, managers will re-discover that its not just the workplace that has undergone change, but the goals and values of the workers themselves. How will you bring a group of people together who have spent the year in a virtual box, gotten used to it, who must now undergo yet another change?
If organizations want to go forward and to succeed in this emerging, post-lockdown economy, teams are going to have to build and re-build with many goals in mind. Organizations will need to learn at least 8 important skills. I teach these skills in my motivational talks on team building and they include:
1. To learn how to work with different generations.
2. How to get unbelievable results by maximizing intergenerational strengths and talents.
3. Getting whole team results in less time through team building.
4. Setting goals that create a sense of strong commitment.
5. Understanding the stages of team development and knowing what to do at each stage
6. How to promote team harmony and eliminate feuds
7. Assessing teams for greater productivity – and measuring it.
8. The leader’s checklist and how to use it.
Team Building is a Skill, Not a Game with Prizes
What it comes down to, of course, is that team building is, unfortunately, often treated like a party game, and it’s not. Team building comes about because of a critical mission that must be achieved. Whether it’s the development of a new product, accomplishing a sales goal or opening a new channel of distribution, failure can’t be an option.
Great teams are the life-blood of a great organization and they must be encouraged. While tie-dyed T-shirts might be fun, they don’t achieve results.
What realizes great team building results is understanding that each member of the team has important strengths to contribute and those strengths must be cultivated. If that mission can be achieved, the organization can exceed expectations.
Finally, team building may be a challenge, but it is not impossible. Your organization can do it, and I promise that with intention, it will succeed.
To book Mike Hourigan, Team Building Motivational Keynote Speaker, for a virtual or in-person presentation to your organization, contact Mike today at (704) 875-3030 or fill out the form below.
