6 Secrets of Successful Team Building

Building a productive and efficient team is not an easy task, as it may seem to those who haven't tried it yet. Team building process involves a lot of energy and dedication from team leaders and people responsible for making a great crew. When you try to handle many different individuals with diverse backgrounds, education, and character, you will see that it is a very demanding task. This job involves:

finding the right person with the necessary skills and traits which will fit the team’s needs;
a proper delegation of work, so that no one would be overloaded or feel left out;
maintenance of information flow to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
handling many unpredictable situations that you will get into.

Yes, it is a handful, but it can be done! The real question is where to start? And what you should do to build a successful team that will create something new and exciting together?

We have the same question, and we're trying to resolve it for quite some time. We have figured out a few useful tips along the way, and today we want to share it with you. Here are our secrets of successful team building, that we believe every company should bear in mind:

1. Be clever when hiring

When selecting your team members, keep in mind that IQ is not the only thing that matters. Instead of evaluating just how polished are his/her technical skills, check what kind of a person he/she is and how would they fit into the team. If you want your team members to be tolerant, communicative and sociable but also ready to help and praise each other, you should look up for this kind of people.

At the end of the day, you will see that social skills are those that matter the most. One can be an excellent worker when working alone, but with difficulties when working in a team. Remember this when choosing the people for your team. By selecting the right team members, your team-leading will be much easier, and the whole team will make much more success. Because - it’s all about the right people.

2. Clearly define team goals

If you want your team to work energetically towards achieving goals, you must first identify the goals well. You can't expect them to know where they are headed to if you don't explain to them what is the place they should reach at the end. So, make sure that you always explain the goals and write them down in a place where the entire team can see them. BlogIn is a place where we have all our goals written and explained, and we're highly recommending it to you, as well.

But, it is not enough just to set a target - you need to find a suitable way to explain it to your team. Have you ever heard for the SMART goals? Our tip is always to use SMART goals as a shortcut. SMART is an acronym for goals that should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-framed. In this way, your team will be clear with what you expect them to do, when, how they will see results and the most important they won’t be discouraged with hard tasks they believe they cannot complete.

3. Provide your team with necessary resources

Your team members might be enthusiastic, clever, hard-working group of individuals, but if they don’t have enough time or money to achieve the goals you have set for them, they will be discouraged. To prevent this, make sure that you provide them with the necessary resources. When you're planning team activities and set goals for your company you should also plan resources and distribute them properly.

The most important thing is to be realistic when setting the time framework for your goals. Give your team enough time to do the tasks thoroughly, but don't allow them to get too relaxed because it may backfire. Also, prepare enough money to support their ideas and make them come true.

Why is this important? Because a lack of resources certainly kills creativity.

4. Present benefits of achieving goals

Your team members maybe passionate about a company or a new project, but still, they like an opportunity of making something for themselves through their work. So, tell them clearly how they could benefit from the project professionally. It could be a chance to meet influential people, learn new skills or travel to an interesting place. In this way, your employees will be highly engaged in team projects as they will see that as an opportunity to develop themselves.

Personal gain is not a bad thing for your team. If each person can see that they are earning more than just money while working on your staff, they will be much more passionate and hardworking. Knowing that there is something for me here as well, will motivate people more than just a raise. Passion will boost enthusiasm and good energy flow in your team in no time.

5. Avoid showing favoritism toward specific team members

A good leader strives to build trust with his team members, and he/she should have strong integrity. Always bear in mind that people see if you favor one person over others – they see it, and they don’t like it. Such behavior can decrease their loyalty, enthusiasm, and commitment to the goals.

Therefore, make sure you provide an equal opportunity for everyone and include them all in a particular task, allow them to be a part of making important decisions, and enable all of them to participate in exchanging ideas for a new project. This will give your team members feeling that they are all important and that there is no favoritism. Having a great company culture can really help in establishing these principles. Nevertheless, never miss to award and recognize an extraordinary commitment of some members, as it will certainly boost their motivation.

6. Organize an excellent team building event far away from working place

There is a thing can energize and motivate your team when they are feeling down or after they have reached an important goal. It is team building activities at an exotic place. Pick a mountain resort, the seaside, lake or some other interesting place far away from the office and organize a team-building event. When doing that, make sure that everyone is comfortable with such activities. For example, don't make people go to a paintball fight if they are not comfortable with guns (even the ones loaded with paint).

When you get them all to the team-building place, don't just organize meetings, but also arrange some activities where your team can socialize, have fun and connect with each other. This could be sports activities, camping or just a simple competition. After that, they will come back to the office with recharged batteries, and the atmosphere in the team will be more active and motivating. Such an act will show your team that you appreciate them and that you are willing to spend some resources on them.

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We hope these tips will be useful for you, and that you will try some of them with your team. So far, we have seen the actual benefits of making an effort to build a quality team – loyal, dedicated and committed staff, happy with their work and enthusiastic about achieving team goals.