The top 3 reasons why team building is a great investment

Having an ongoing strategy for developing a strong and effective team can lead to as much as 51% higher productivity rates and a team that not only works better together, but actually enjoys it.

Perhaps intuitively you’ve come to think about doing a team building activity within your company but still not totally convinced if it’s worth the effort… or the money. Here are 3 top reasons why you are on the right track and you should consider doing that team building activity soon:

1. Effective team building boosts employee engagement

Harvard Business Review referenced employee engagement as “The holy grail of today’s workplace”. Engaged employees are those who are committed to their work and to the goals and values of their company, not only because they are getting paid but because they are proud to work for the company and what it stands for. Let’s face it, employees spend more time at work than they do with their families, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they want to feel engaged and passionate about their jobs. However, it’s not only in the employees’ interest to feel engaged. According to a Gallup poll, engaged employees are 21% more productive than their less engaged counterparts, and according to a study by Harter, J.K Schmidt, F.L, & Hayes, published in 2002, businesses with more engaged employees have 51% higher productivity.

2. Team building strengthens relationships and collaboration

One of the goals of a team building activity is to strengthen relationships and collaboration among those members of the team. When relationships between employees are strong, they are better able to communicate and work together. This helps not only to get the work done, but also to solve and manage those inevitable conflicts that may arise in the workplace. After all, employees are only humans and where there are multiple humans, there are multiple egos. However, good team building activities, help change the mindset from a “me” mentality to a “we” mentality. That’s why it’s also important to avoid competitive exercises that produce winners and losers, because it may backfire and lead your team members to work against one another.

3. Team building helps reduce employee turnover

According to Deloitte’s Josh Bersin, employee turnover can cost up to 2.5x the employee’s salary, considering: The cost of hiring, cost of onboarding, loss of productivity, loss of engagement, training costs, and cultural impact.  In proportion to what employee turnover costs, team building activities can be a very inexpensive way to retain employees by increasing employee engagement, raising morale and strengthening relationships with other team members, provided these activities are fun and collaborative. “Companies that play together stay together” affirms Amelia Wilcox in an interview in Forbes.  In fact, further Gallup research has found that employees that are “engaged and thriving” are 59% less likely to look for a job with a different organization in the next 12 months. Now, that’s quite a financial incentive to invest in team building!

So, what issues led you to consider the need for team building activities in the first place? What good or bad experiences have you had with team building activities? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.