Let’s face it: nobody likes being forced into an awkward team building session. You know, the one where everyone is made to dance like a trained monkey, or you’re handcuffed together, or some other thing designed to “bond” a group of coworkers, yet just ends up mildly embarrassing everyone involved and confirming why aliens don’t want to contact Earth.
That’s not to say that team building activities are useless — they just have to be done in the right way. And maybe your organization isn’t in a place to plan these activities or pay the big bucks to hire outside facilitators.
Building relationships between team members is crucial, but the old approach of getting everyone in a stilted, artificial environment is unnecessary. Thankfully, there is a way to encourage bonding in your workplace in a way that feels more natural — and the good news is anyone can do it!
Below, we’ll discuss why it may be a good idea to ditch the old-school notion of team building and focus instead on team bonding.
People often use “team building” and “team bonding” to mean the same thing, and the terms certainly go hand in hand, but for this article, we’d like to make a distinction:
In one Finnish study, researcher Kaisa Henttonen and two colleagues found that the more connections there were within a team of employees, the more efficient and productive the team was.
In the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest studies of adult life, researchers found that close relationships have the biggest effect on happiness levels — more than money or fame. They found that having high-quality relationships is good for your health, and loneliness is so damaging that those who experience it at chronic levels tend to live shorter lives.
Since most of us will spend upwards of 40 years working full-time, it makes sense to nourish work relationships as we will spend much of our lives around our coworkers.
In the report “The Value of Belonging at Work,” researchers at BetterUp Labs surveyed more than 1,700 full-time employees and found that when employees have a strong sense of belonging, they:
Help your employees feel like they belong by encouraging team bonding, and they’ll be much more likely to show up to work.
Okay, now that we’ve seen why team bonding is good for your company, let’s examine why those fancy team building activities everyone seems to be planning sometimes don’t pay off.
An introvert’s worst nightmare is to be put on the spot, or have to get up and do something in front of a gawking audience of peers. It’s really not motivating for someone to be put through something so uncomfortable for them — and it could be avoided with a clearer understanding of different attitudes within the team so that a more tailored approach can be developed.
People are not “one size fits all,” as evidenced by human analytics, and this is crucial in the future of work — where we can effectively design teams suited to their roles and each other based on intrinsic attitudes.
Some team building exercises are designed to get people out of their comfort zone — think survival exercises or a talent show. These can be fun for some, and getting individuals out of their comfort zone can be stimulating and rewarding on a personal and professional level. However, this can truly strike fear into the hearts of shy folk, or those with a genuine fear of public speaking. The fallout from that is the intended development might only really benefit the outgoing extroverted, while others will be left feeling like outsiders.
A team event like going for coffee or lunch is different from a planned team building exercise — there’s nothing wrong with socializing, and it can really help the team dynamic to find common ground. The more casual, the better. And no one will feel too exposed or pressured.
Prioritizing these team bonding experiences can actually help the introverts on your team to feel more comfortable to participate in those planned team building activities, so it really is a win-win.
Sometimes, for whatever reason, a team just doesn’t get along. It could be a personality clash, it could be a series of misunderstandings that manifest into something much greater, it could be a workplace bully.
It can seem that there is an expectation that after a team building day, all the problems are fixed and everyone is suddenly dynamic and energized. Sadly, it’s a bit like cold tablets: If anything, it just treats the symptoms for a short time, and the real virus remains.
A team with problems is a team where individuals perhaps haven’t felt heard, and throwing them together to “sort it out” is unlikely to give them the “a-ha” moment that team leaders might be expecting.
If you’ve built a team that doesn’t gel, you will need a tool to work out the common working ground, and where individuals can complement and appreciate each other based on their set of skills, experience and attitudes. With the power of people analytics, you unlock the ability to foster a deeper understanding of how others approach their work (or, match candidates to teams with something much deeper than a resume from the get-go).
Before chucking them in the deep end of worn-out escape room dysphoria, take the time to have a discussion with each person, and see where paths of mutual respect can be forged.
Our twenty years of research has allowed us to really get inside the mind of individuals, and our analysis and suite of tools is perfect for putting together profiles of each team member, where core work attitudes and motivations will be illuminated.
We know that every person has elements that are unique and incredibly valuable in a complementary team, and we can help drive understanding between team members and the way they work together.
Team building events tend to happen when time, budget and calendars all magically align — so, maybe once a year if you’re lucky. They will never be the silver bullet that fixes underlying cultural issues within teams and the business. It’s simply not enough.
One of the biggest strengths of any company lies in their effective, high-performance teams, and it is vital that you work toward a cohesive, complementary team in the recruitment process. But, how will you know the right fit? Well, it comes back to that tool we mentioned earlier: Fingerprint for Success!
Our toolkit isn’t just for individual entrepreneurs, it is a critical engine for improving culture and building effective teams right from the start, or detecting issues in an existing team (and righting the future course for them).
Again, not to rag on team building exercises (they can be useful!), but if you want to be relieved of the pressure of planning intricate activities, focus instead on creating a culture where team bonding can happen organically.
How? Here are four ideas:
Fostering psychological safety is crucial if you want your team to be productive and to have healthy coworker relationships. It removes shame (a relationship-destroyer) by creating a culture where failure is okay.
What is psychological safety? The term was introduced by Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson, who, in her book The Fearless Organization, defines it as "a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves.”
According to Edmondson’s book, there are three steps you can take to create psychological safety in your workplace:
Additionally, Edmondson points out that if the information you receive involves a clear violation, then it is appropriate to discipline accordingly — and you don’t have to worry about undermining psychological safety. She writes in The Fearless Organization: "Psychological safety is reinforced rather than harmed by fair, thoughtful responses to potentially dangerous, harmful, or sloppy behavior."
Okay, I know I said earlier that team building is planned, whereas team bonding is not. But social events, unlike team building activities, are less structured. Where a team building activity has a clear objective or desired performance outcome, social events have no objective other than to be social.
So whether that’s a potluck every Wednesday or a Happy Hour every Friday, hosting social events creates an atmosphere that encourages team bonding. Sometimes, it’s easier to get to know a coworker when it’s a non-work-related context.
It’s tough to collaborate if everyone is confined to their cubicle and afraid of being reprimanded for socializing. Creativity often arises from a flash of inspiration derived from a spontaneous conversation. To encourage team bonding, consider creating a shared space where coworkers can mingle and chat.
When digital news outlet Quartz moved into its new office, it put thought into the way design affects work. By incorporating mixed-use shared spaces into its open-plan office, Quartz encouraged its employees to take new paths, sit by coworkers they wouldn’t usually sit beside, and have chance encounters that could spark new ideas.
And if you’re a remote team that can’t physically get together, create opportunities online for spontaneous collaboration:
Research shows that adversity creates strong bonds. One study led by Markus Heinrichs and Bernadette von Dawans at the University of Freiburg found that stressful experiences (in the study, it was public speaking followed by mental arithmetic) increased prosocial behavior, such as trust, trustworthiness, and sharing.
Now, of course, I am not advocating for you to intentionally inflict stress on your team so that they bond. Rather, I’m encouraging you to be transparent and vulnerable with them so that instead of feeling isolated when things are stressful at work, everyone can come together and shoulder each other’s burdens.
For example, if you find out that a vendor fell through at the last minute, and you don’t think you’ll be able to pull off the big conference you’d been planning, instead of sweeping it under the rug, bring it to your team. Doing so will build trust, as it shows you’re willing to be open with them. Plus, it’ll allow them to brainstorm and work together to find a solution.
If you’ve built a psychologically safe workplace like we talked about above, then being transparent and vulnerable with your team should come naturally.
There’s a time and a place for planned team building activities, but if you want to create an engaged workforce that performs at its best every day, bake team bonding into the culture at your company.
Our programs were designed by world-renowned coaches. Sessions only take 5-15 minutes. Get started for free with your personalized program now.
Our expert coaches have designed hyper-effective programs that will help
you build trust and bonding in your team.
Coach Marlee (your amazing AI-powered personal coach) will analyse your unique traits and goals to let you know which program to start with (and if there are any you should skip)!
Your recommended programs include:
“What profound and exciting coaching. Brilliant!”
“The new Team Building program by Coach Marlee is amazing! I always believe in team work, and understanding your team dynamics does the magic!“
“Trust Your Gut coaching program helped me build deeper levels of self-esteem and how I valued myself vis-a-vis the greater world. It also taught me courage to believe in my beliefs, and that it is not about success or failure, but that we give it a go, a try”
“This program helped me kickstart my journey to wellbeing. Never could I have imagined an AI coach being this good - as if you're talking to a real human and how Marlee made me accountable to my goals. Super awesome experience that you definitely got to try!”
“What an awesome way to get better at collaborating with my teammates! Thumbs up Marlee!“
“What profound and exciting coaching. Brilliant!”
"I have learned how to communicate better using every tool I have in myself, especially in learning how to use my tone of voice"
“Quite amazing how many things get done when they are initiated!”