Team Building Activities
Team Building Activities
Introduction
Team building is necessary in creating a health environment for employees. In team building, an organization may take different approaches depending on the situation the company wants to address. In my final project, there are several activities I would like to use for effective results. My project activities will take three phase approach where I will have some activities at the beginning of the project, some at the middle, and finally some at the end of the project. These activities won’t be the same for all phases simply because I have different ideas I would like to address during my project. I will have two main activities at the start of the project, three at the middle of the project, and towards the end I will use two activities. All these activities will have their meaning and will also take a different approach all together.
Discussion
Beginning Stage
The first activity will be an ice breaker where everyone write three things about themselves on an index card without their name then distribute the cards to each member (not their own card and the group try to guess who is who. This activity is common in team building programs or in counseling programs. Team members will be required to write three things that they have an on the index card they should not include their names. The rationale behind this activity is to help team members understand themselves. In most cases, members of the same organization know each other. It is simple to know who is capable of doing what, and by the above activity, team members will prepare enough for the program. Psychologically they will be prepared enough where each of the members will have a rough idea about the other member in the same category, (Thelen, 2011). In this situation, I know myself and also know what other people know about me. What I will do is to develop things that I believe are difficult for some people to recognize me. This activity is among the best for the project, but it has a problem. Some team members know that they are known thus they will tend to write what does not resemble them. To overcome this challenge I will advise team members to provide accurate information, (Dunbar, 2009).
The second approach will entail developing a knot in more than six team members. In a team building exercise, there are different activities that help the team members achieve their goals. A team building exercise called the human knot where two teams of 6-8 members must join hands (crisscross from each other where each person’s left and right hand are not touching the same person. The group has to figure out how to unknot them without letting go of their hands with each other to form a circle. The rationale behind this method is to create trust among employees. Apart from trust the method will help in creating team work because team members will be required help each other come up with a solution to overcome the challenge. The method will help parties involved in the activity see the importance of working together, (Hackman & Craig 2009). Team work is the importance in any given situation simply because it helps parties involved share and develop a common knowledge to solve a given problem. In this activity, I will seek help from my team members on how to solve the challenge. With the help of decisions from each member, I believe we shall develop ways on how to solve the knot challenge. Some of the key challenges in this case are that some team members will just await decisions from others. This is a great challenge that affects most organizations when developing team work building programs. In order to solve this challenge I will educate or show my team members the importance of working together, (Dunbar, 2009).
Middle Stage Activities
The first activity for this stage will be role play exercise. In the middle state, role play exercise activity will play a vital role simply because this is the time when members will have to show his capability to handle a given position or situation. Role play exercise will help team members in different angles because every member of the team will be required to lead a given role. It will act as measure activity where members will be required to show their leading potentials by leading others in a given situation. This team building activity helps team members see the importance of each other in an organization. For a given organization situation, employees requires each other in order to realize goals and objectives. Role play exercise may have challenges of team members refusing to cooperate, but I will have to direct them on how vital the exercise helps develop an understanding among them, (Povah & Povah, 2011).
The second activity in the middle stage for my final project will be a written exercise on self esteem. At this stage, this exercise will help each one of the team members develop a clear understanding of who he or she is to the organization. It will help create an environment that allows team members understand themselves and roles they play in the organization. By a written exercise on self esteem, team members will be able to develop the aspect of affirmation on what they are and what they are supposed to do for the organization. Evidence shows that this approach is technical simply because some team members may not understand what they are required by the situation. I will help members draw a clear picture on a different aspect of self esteem, which will help out in the exercise, (Thelen, 2011).
The last activity that will apply in the final project for this stage will be a creative prop exercise. In a creative prop exercise, team members will be required to develop a creative idea where the rest of the group will engage in the activity and develop ways on how to build on the idea. At this stage, the activity will help the entire team learn how to support each other when developing ideas for an organization. A team member may come up with something that is ideal for the organization, but without the help of other members the idea may fade and help the company in any way. Some team members may not develop creative ideas simply because they believe that it is not their role to come up with decision for the company. Anybody in an organization may help develop sound decisions whereby the rest of the team members will either approve or disapprove the idea, (Hackman & Craig 2009).
Final stage
Final stage is the most necessary stage simply because it prepares team members understand their importance in an organization and what they are expected by the organization. The first activity for this stage will be developing rounds activities. Rounds activities improve communication among employees in an organization. During the team building activity, I will select one member from a group of four people and allow him delegate duties to the rest of the group. Every group will discuss a different topic and the leader will lead the group. This is necessary in team building program simply because the team leader will help improve communication of other individuals in the group, (Povah & Povah, 2011).
Dyads activities will be the final activities in the final project. For this situation, two members of the team group will be required to develop an activity and generate desirable results. Evidence shows that in an organization, dyads help create a friendly environment for a multipurpose situation. With dyads, teams members will have to share their commonness skills hence develop strategies on how to handle specific situations. It is necessary to have such a group simply because an organization may need services of a given type, but a person in charge is not around. The other party will stand in and provide appropriate services, (Thelen, 2011).
Conclusion
Team building is necessary in creating a health environment for employees. In team building, an organization may take different approaches depending on the situation the company wants to address. My final project will have the above activities which will help develop the best team building activities for the intended purpose.
Reference:
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2009). Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4): 681-735.
Hackman, M. Z. & Craig E. J. (2009).Leadership: A Communication Perspective.Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, In
Povah, N. & Povah, L. (2011). Succeeding at Assessment Centres For Dummies: John Wiley & Sons
Thelen, H. A. (2011). Group Dynamics in Instruction: The Principle of Least Group Size, School Review p. 142.
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