INTHEBLACK May 2022 - Magazine - Page 59
“PERHAPS IT IS TIME FOR A SHIFT IN LANGUAGE.
RATHER THAN CALLING AN ACTIVITY ‘TEAM
BUILDING’ – WHEN IT IS NOT ABOUT THE WAY
THE TEAM WORKS TOGETHER AND MORE ABOUT
CREATING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE
– WE COULD REFER TO THESE ACTIVITIES AS
‘COMMUNITY BUILDING’.”
AMELIA TWISS, COACHING PSYCHOLOGIST
Above: Bethan Winn,
team building facilitator
and critical thinking
consultant
shall remain nameless used the wrong timber and
a bunch of people went away in ambulances with
burned feet,” he says.
“It was also very fad-driven. People quite often went
for ‘bells and whistles’ over substance.”
An enduring complaint about team building is that
the activity is chosen without giving due consideration
to the preferences of the participants.
For example, Miller recalls a CEO who loved
mountain biking, so he organised a day’s cycling for
his executive team.
“Those who weren’t particularly enthusiastic about
it put on a good face,” recalls Miller. “Two hours later,
the CEO and his close friends were around the bar
celebrating. The sun started to go down as people were
still coming in from the track, some of them with
bloody knees and a lot of them seriously disgruntled.”
At another organisation, staff were taken whitewater rafting.
“One of the team members had a fear of water that
they’d kept hidden. The person didn’t want to look
weak, so they said nothing – until they were on the
raft and it became a major issue. It really killed the
day, not just for them, but for everyone else.”
Miller suggests being mindful of physicality and
inclusiveness.
“Make sure to avoid thrusting a purely physical
activity on a team. It could exclude highly valued team
members, and it’s not providing a level playing field.”
Above: Julien Pollack,
University of Sydney
School of Project
Management
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EVIDENCE-BASED ALTERNATIVES
Miller devises Sabre’s team building programs using
the evidence-based Belbin model, which is used in
more than 30 countries. It is a way of measuring the
strengths and weaknesses of individual team members
and assessing the chemistry of the team before
devising particular activities.
The model is named after English researcher
Dr Meredith Belbin, now 95, who is widely considered
the father of the modern Team Role Theory.
Miller says a critical starting point in designing an
effective team building exercise is to distinguish between
leisure-based and business-focused team activities.
“A lot of people are justifiably cynical of ‘fluffy’ team
building that doesn’t really have a workplace focus,” he
says. “They are looking for something that will benefit
business performance.”
A high-functioning team with good working
relationships and high-calibre leadership can
undertake purely fun activities as a reward – and that
will likely keep morale high. However, should the
team be suffering from some degree of friction, such
activities can actually do more harm than good.
“Some of the critical thinking professionals may
start thinking about the ‘elephant in the room’,”
Miller explains. “They may believe that a ‘fluffy’ team
building exercise is being used as a Band-Aid fix over
the issues that are deeply affecting the culture, such
as conflict or poorly structured roles. It could actually
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au May 2022 59