Team Building – A New Paradigm

Article created: 12-02-2008

Sometimes you don’t have the ability conduct team building strategies from the point of a business startup. When a new business is launched the owner has a couple of choices when it comes to filling available positions within the company. Your first choice is an obvious path of least resistance. In this scenario you simply place a classified ad in the biggest regional newspaper in your area and you find the most willing individual that has skills that are the closest to matching your job description. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but you don’t always get a team oriented staff this way.

The second approach may be a bit more costly and require more time and attention to recruiting. In this second approach you work statewide, nationally or even internationally to find the key players that will develop a team. These individuals may possess skills necessary for the job, but more importantly they will likely be a good fit for the overall team concept.

Where the second approach is not in place the primary view of the job is simply a staff of underlings that report to an overseer who dictates what they will do, how they will do it and when they will have it done – no staff input required.

In this scenario the only person that may be enjoying himself or herself would be the boss and even then it is doubtful.

You see there is something liberating about pulling a group of motivated team members together. When you work to ensure everyone is on the same page and willing to work together to forge something altogether new you will discover the passion your team may have for the core idea and principles of the organization.

Team building is becoming an art form for many businesses. The old saying, “Many hands make light the load,” doesn’t always address the fact that when the ‘many hands’ are happy the load becomes even less of a burden and more a game day adventure.

It’s probably safe to say that most of us have had jobs where we feel like no one wants our input and we are simply allowed to retain a job at the express will of the boss and in direct proportion to our willingness to conduct ourselves in a manner similar to servants. We have no passion for the job and the thought of a collaboration exists only in taking out the trash or moving office furniture.

Perhaps the lack of team building is the reason overall job satisfaction continues to decline. It may also explain why home-based and ecommerce business has seen a sharp rise in alternative personal finance.

Ultimately from both the employer’s and the employee’s perspective team building is a dynamic that can both improve job satisfaction and increase productivity. These can happen, but it requires businesses brave enough to change the way they think about their employees and the role those employees have in relation to the ongoing success of a company every team member is passionate about.