subject: Team Building Basics [print this page] My personal definition of an effective team is "a joining together of assorted individuals who are united by a shared trust and motivation to meet a challenge utilizing their best qualities and skills."
The last component, motivation to meet a challenge utilizing their best qualities and skills is often the component most teams are missing. It then reduces the 'team' to merely a group of people mindlessly going through the motions. Without the challenge component, often teams are merely maintaining the status quo.
One of the most memorable periods in my profession has been the time I spent cutting survey lines in northern Canada. A small group of us would pile into a Beaver or Otter aircraft, be flown to a remote area of land, ice or a lake and be dropped off to work. At that moment we had to become a team to survive- especially on some of those unpleasant 30 or 40 below camp move days!
We'd have to clear an area for the 14x16 tent, cut down straight trees for stringers, lay the floor, set up the stove, cut firewood, start a fire, build an outhouse, cut a hole in the ice for water- all before we even started the job. And had to be a team to do the job: starting a baseline in the right spot, cutting the mile after mile of section lines, taking turns cooking dinner, keeping the fire going, and all the duties related to running a bush camp.
At the root of it all, we had no choice. We had to work as a team. Our clear and undeniable challenge demanded it.
Does what you are trying to accomplish require a team? Does your survival and your people's rely upon the formation of a team to get the job done?
If this isn't the case, aim higher! A unifying challenge can be found everywhere. It is not limited to the physically hostile Canadian North.
Recently I read a vision statement. It was for a small town financial institution. It read: "We strive to be the finest financial service provider and the best workplace in every community in which we serve."
I thought "Wow! These folks get it!"
If you think you can form a strong team without the element of a clear and compelling challenge, you are sorely mistaken.To be blunt, the existence of the team is inconsequential for the challenge itself forms the ONLY team building prerequisite.
