How Small Teams Benefit From Team Building Activities

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Small teams can arguably benefit most from team activities when they are carried out properly and with clarity of purpose. Large teams have the problem of possibly becoming unwieldy with too many potential leaders, all vying for position.

Teamwork activities within a small team are easier to manage and assess. A group of four or five people can quickly find its feet, deciding on who does what without the confusion often found within large teams. This alone gives the them an advantage.

Team building activities for a small team work best if they are kept simple, straightforward and are not overly complex. They should not be generic in nature, but rather highly specific and completely relevant to the work place environment. There should be a clearly defined goal that all team members understand and are dedicated to working towards achieving.

These activities for small teams should always incorporate clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member. The team itself should decide democratically who does what, when, where and how. In this way team members can see where they fit in. They can then easily appreciate their individual contribution to the team's activities. Before engaging in any kind of group team work, members should be made aware of the essential difference between a group and a team. In this way they will know what they have to become in order to achieve their goals.

A group is merely several people who chooses to be together, while a team is a similar group, but one with clearly defined objectives and goals that each member is committed and dedicated to working towards. It is this commitment to a goal that every member shares that makes the essential difference between a group and a team.

The main reason for engaging employees in team building is to increase motivation and productivity in the work place. Small teams can benefit from such activities through becoming re-focused on their work goals. Working together as a team can break down distracting barriers between people.

Barriers may be political, racial or merely personal. Engaging in team activities can help enormously to create a closer bond between individuals that forces them to reassess their position within the team. When they have the chance to evaluate the overall picture properly, they can see more clearly where they fit in, thereby better appreciating their true worth and value, as well as that of others.

Many companies, corporations and organisations have found team building to be of immense importance and value. In many cases they have incorporated team based activities into their training programmes. It has been demonstrated that taking part in structured team activities has multiple benefits for small teams. These include a significant improvement in individual leadership skills, as well as a significant improvement in overall team morale.

Barriers that can be a block to creativity are broken down, and organisational productivity increases. Additionally, the strengths and weaknesses of the team are exposed, allowing them to focus on the areas they need to build up. Overall, there are many real benefits to be gained from ensuring small team's have access to team building activities.

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Effective Team Building for Stronger Teams

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TEAM LEADERS WORKSHOP

Alice asked Cheshire cat "which road should I take?" (Cheshire cat) "Where do you want to go?" (Alice) "I don't know"
(Cheshire cat) well it doesn't matter which road you take.

How do you tell a good leader? "By how many people will follow them into battle"

What is Coaching?

A discussion process between members of an organization aimed at exerting a positive influence in the motivation, performance and awareness of areas for improvement and development of another person to help them be as effective as possible

What is transformational Leaders!

A literature search of over 200 books and articles confirmed that successful organisations had more innovative and productive teams and team members who were more loyal and committed. They also had leaders who exhibited characteristics that "transformed a group of individual into a high performance team." Our first research question was: If successful organisations had more innovative and productive team members, and if loyal and committed team members were more productive and innovative....what role does transformational leadership play in creating and sustaining individual team members loyalty, innovation, commitment, and productivity?
Yet there existed no valid instrument for identifying those people who exhibited transformational leadership behaviours. We can identify transformational leaders by the way they exhibited these transformational characteristics;

1. Sharing the vision

2. Building a learning environment

3. Being a positive role model

4. Recognising individual abilities/values

5. Reinforcing self-confidence/independence

6. Supporting their team members

7. Driving out fear

8. Encouraging participation/self-expression

9. Fostering continuous improvement

10.Fostering initiative and responsibility

11.Encouraging persistence

12.Emphasising intrinsic outcomes

13.Advocating shared leadership

Acrostic - Leadership - Team

Lead by

Example

Accelerate,

Duplication,

Encourage

Relationships

Show

Honesty

Interest and

Praise

A great philosopher was once asked what his style or way of leadership was. He said, "There isn't one style or way of doing things. Success in leadership comes from taking a bit of all the things you have learned from every style and way you have learnt it, and then adapting it to what you need for the environment, time and person you are dealing with." In other words there is no one-way to do things.

I have chosen to take the good parts of many different leadership styles, and I have created my own blend of mix, so that I can implement what suits the occasion I am in, whenever and wherever it is needed.

The best way I have heard it stated was by John Maxwell when he said, "No matter how much you learn from the past, it will never tell you all you need to know for the present."

My Ice-burg Leadership Theory

Team - above the water, this is what everyone sees.

Leadership - keeping the team afloat

If what you see above the water is excellence, it's only due to the capacity of the teamwork and leadership below - this is what makes the team stable.

As we get stronger spiritually we add support, commitment, ownership, passion loyalty, and growth to our team. If you want to be served you need to serve. If you want to be a good leader you need to be the best servant of all. Emulate what you wish to see in others.

Value Verses Idea - What is the value of leadership?

Why are you in leadership?

Is it because the idea of becoming a leader sounds great? When times get tough an idea will not keep you going, if you value nothing your commitment will fluctuate.

What is the value of the things you do? We need to be Consistent. Ask yourself if you are the same at work as you are at home and whether you work because you enjoy it, or you work because you need to. If you work because you need to, you are working for an idea; this type of person will clock on and clock off at the minute.

Seven Leadership Mindsets;

1. Sow to grow not to survive - (don't just do what you have to, invest in development and growing yourself)

2. No glass ceilings - (seek to exceed, don't be the best - be better than the best)

3. Don't compromise - (do unto others as you would like done unto you)

4. Take responsibility for your actions and decisions - (Be they positive or negative, take responsibility face to face with your team)

5. Accept no surprises - (hear everything your team has to say, good and bad)

6. Don't accept that it "can't be done" - (can't, is an acceptable challenge) use cup eg;

7. Build your credibility before, you sell your credibility - (don't speak before you have achieved, hope is a confidence - but action is substance)

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