Team Building: what is it and what are its benefits

Teamwork is one of the most important skills of a worker in most jobs, and that is why many organizations positively value this ability. To be effective and pursue the common goals of a company in a joint and coordinated way, individuals must work more than in a group, as a team.

An effective work team is achieved with good communication, coordination, complementarity (mixing individual strengths), trust and commitment, which is called the 5 "C". Teamwork favors creativity and learning, reduces stress, improves worker performance and, as a consequence, company performance.

And… How can we achieve these advantages for our work team? A good option is Team Building.

• Related article: "The 5 benefits of teamwork”

What is Team Building?

Team Building could be defined as a set of activities aimed at team building, a systematic process designed to improve relationships between participants, group cohesion, problem solving, decision making. conflict resolution and other aspects that influence the performance of a team.

That is, it is a training for a group of people, whose objective is to build highly effective teams, whether in sports, students, business, military, among others.

Benefits of Team Building for companies

One of the fields in which this intervention is most applied is that of the company. But, what benefits does Team building bring exactly in this area? In the following lines we will see it for you.

1. Increase worker motivation

Employee motivation is one of the key psychological variables when it comes to achieving business goals. But it is not only important for the good running of the companybut also for the well-being of workers: employees with a high motivation in their occupation are happier in their job.

Motivation initiates, guides, and maintains behaviors aimed at achieving a goal and meeting a need. It is a force that makes us act and keeps us moving, and it is key to overcoming adverse or less favorable situations.

The Team Building favors the feeling of identity and belonging to the group, which in turn increases motivation to achieve common goals. This is what is commonly known as team spirit, and it has a great impact on the success of a company.

Related article: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources"

2. Improve communication

Communication is key in the business environment and is essential for it to function and develop properly. Some of the effects of effective business communication are: keep employees motivated, engaged, promote an inclusive work environment and, of course, improve the competitiveness of the company.

Team Building dynamics improve personal communication between workers and increase emotional interaction between them, because it achieves a connection that goes beyond that of work.

3. Improve relationships between workers

And the improvement in communication, of course, brings with it an improvement in the interpersonal relationships of the workers, something that has a very positive effect on their occupational health and, in turn, favors the feeling of belonging, adherence and commitment to the organization.

In fact, scientific studies show that the positive relationship between workers even reduces the number of sick leave that can occur in a company.

4. Helps reduce and prevent stress

Research also suggests that positive relationships in the work environment and social support from peers help reduce and prevent stress. And, as suggested by Robert Karasev in his "Demand-Control-Social Support Model", the latter variable acts as a mediating factor in the appearance of stress and can reduce its impact on the workers.

Since Team Building is key for a team to feel united, its application positively affects the well-being of workers, which also affects the good performance of the company.

• Related article: "8 essential tips to reduce work stress

5. Improve trust and cooperation between employees

For the relationship between employees to improve, trust is essential. This is key to teamwork. With Team Building, employees have experiences outside of the routine of work that promote trust and cooperation between them, which affects the performance of the work team.

6. Increase team creativity

The synergy that occurs between employees, thanks to the intervention with Team Building, also affects creativity and problem solving. The Team Building not only causes growth for the team, but also for the workers, which maximize your individual potential. The team is more than the sum of its members.

7. It allows to analyze the areas of improvement and correct them

If these dynamics are well developed, it is possible to analyze the relationship between workers (for example, to know if there are problems in communication), and it is possible to increase the self-awareness of the group and its strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks to this analysis, it is possible to know what to work on to take action and thus correct those factors that affect the work environment and interfere with the smooth running of the company. In this sense, Team Building activities can also be a good opportunity to develop new skills and competencies in workers, such as organizational capacity, leadership or communication

8. Improve the work environment

Although a toxic work environment interferes with the well-being of employees, when the environment is positive, employees enjoy their work more and, as a result, their performance gets better. In this regard, by promoting communication and interpersonal relationships, Team Building improves the work environment, which affects the productivity of the company.

Instituto Mensalus: Experts in Team Building

If your company is located in Barcelona and you are interested in benefiting from the above points, the Institute Mensalus, a Psychology clinic located in Barcelona, ​​has a team of experts in Team Building.

This center, which has more than 35 years of experience in the sector, carries out different recreational-training activities for companies with the aim of increasing and improving some variables that affect the performance of work teams, such as trust, communication, integration or leadership, among others.