Successful organizations recognize the importance of high performance teams in avoiding wasted time, wasted effort and wasted money. This does not mean, though, that the folks in these organizations are responsive to the various team building myths that have gained acceptance over the years. Here are 5 common myths that you should recognize and resist:
MYTH: Team building is an event.
FACT: Too many managers and team leaders believe that holding off-site team building events is all there is to putting together an efficient team. But, while a number of these events will be useful in strengthening team bonds, they are however one component of an efficient team building strategy. The key here is to never forget that team building is a method created up of many discrete events.
MYTH: Team building is intended to eliminate conflict and disagreement.
FACT: Eliminating conflict and disagreement ends up in a "group think" mentality that ultimately stifles innovation and achievement. An effective team is one that has learned to manage conflict and disagreement in a very constructive manner.
MYTH: Solely managers and team leaders are responsible for building teams.
FACT: It's true that managers and team leaders are accountable for assembling team members and for his or her output, but they're not solely accountable for turning those people into a team. Each team member contains a stake in the process of building an efficient team. They must master the abilities necessary to operate as a team, even when the manager or team leader isn't present.
MYTH: Team members should like each other.
FACT: In an exceedingly perfect world, that might be true. However in the real world it's entirely probable that some of your team members can not get along on a private level. The bottom line is to recognize and acknowledge these conflicts and to work with these team members therefore that they can maintain a workable professional relationship
MYTH: A team that starts sturdy can stay that way.
FACT: Whereas you may succeed at building a team that excels in the primary 2 stages of team building - forming and storming- that doesn't mean that the team can continue to excel because it moves through the last two stages - norming and performing. Groups typically fluctuate amongst the four stages, particularly when new members are introduced or when faced with unanticipated challenges.
Accepting any one of those five myths as reality will have an incredible negative impact on your chances of team building success. Recognizing them for what they are and taking appropriate steps to eliminate them from your team building beliefs, on the opposite hand, will lead you to focus on a lot of effective ways for building a sturdy, high performance team.
Author Resource:
Riley Jones has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Team Building, you can also check out his latest website about:
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