Why team building (team building)

Team building is a relatively new term in the field of personnel management. Are team building events for business really good?

Whatever the personnel management experts say or write, the creation of a team entirely depends on the personality of the leader. A good example is the football team Manchester United. One of the best teams in the world has sharply reduced her champion level with the departure of the legendary coach - Sir Alex Ferguson. It would seem that there is everything - super-players, team spirit (playing in the great Manchester United is the dream of any football player), role distribution, worked out interaction, motivation (oh yes, the motivation beloved by HR specialists!). And the results with the new coaches are not the same. Why? Yes, one ingredient is missing - Ferguson magic.

The word "team building" came into the sphere of personnel management from sports. Sport, like business, is a tough thing. Only in sports, the result is faster. Twice 45 minutes each in football - and you either lost or won (even draws are often perceived by the parties as a loss or vice versa). In business, the result of actions does not appear immediately, leaving the opportunity for unnecessary manipulation.

For example, for "team building events." This is one of the worst words. The combination of Soviet window dressing with specialized pathos. And also - the word "corporate" somehow tightly entered office lexicon (abbreviated from "corporate", apparently). Even if the “corporation” has less than a dozen employees, all the same - the joint celebration of the holiday is proudly called this word.

I pay attention to the words, because certain things must stand behind them. And things should lead to a result. If your organization enthusiastically promotes corporate culture, conduct corporate events, undergo team building trainings, create a team spirit, and at the same time a frantic turnover of personnel at all levels - stop doing nonsense and spend company funds on it.

At the forefront of business is the goal. To achieve the goal, a team is formed (organization, workshop, department, department, unit, etc.), capable of performing certain functions and achieving results. The work of the team is directed by the leader. From him, first of all, the result is required. He forms a team. How?

Each leader assembles a team for himself, in accordance with his ideas about doing business. Even if the initial selection of employees is carried out by the personnel manager, the last word, as a rule, remains with the head. He distributes the functions in accordance with the posts, he also sees a portrait of the ideal performer of these functions. And one way or another, he will strive for maximum closeness from employees to the ideal he has drawn. On the other hand, employees also evaluate whether they want to work under such leadership. Each person is a person, with his own cockroaches in his head. Who knows why relationships are developing or not developing. To assemble (and save) a team of only two people - a family - and oh, how difficult it is. And here is a workable team!

In any case, when building relationships in an organization, the parties evaluate two characteristics - professional skills and personal qualities. Which one is more important is hard to say. Rather, their combination is important. Moreover, if professionalism can be improved (through training, mentoring), then the nature of an adult, as a rule, is not subject to change. Is it possible to build personal relationships through training? I doubt it. So, the leader is primarily focused on functionality. Its task is to distribute clearly defined functions between employees so that it remains only to add together local results to obtain the whole. The main thing is the certainty of the responsibilities of each individual and the dependence on the overall result.

Note the fundamental difference: the leader is obliged to achieve the goal from the team, and employees have the right to work or not work under such leadership. Popular wisdom - you will not be forcibly sweet.

Suppose a manager nevertheless has the necessary specialists. Not the fact that this will be a team. There will necessarily be contradictions within the team. There is no perfect team where everyone cannot live without each other and is constantly illuminated by Western smiles. You can, of course, try to establish internal relationships with the help of trainings and joint activities, spending either personal time of employees or work. Which option is more painless for business? The employees' working hours are for fulfilling their duties. The whole team, by the way. Is it necessary to separate them from a joint business in order to learn how to carry out the business together? Personal time is for relaxing from work problems and from a professional environment, too. It is unlikely that obyazalovka to be with the team even after hours helps to strengthen the team. And the family, for example, how? And indeed, the ability to have personal time (Ocium) determined in ancient Rome the difference between a free man and a slave. This means that personality problems in the interaction of personnel must be solved in the course of work.

So it turns out that the formation of a team from a team depends entirely on the leader. Firstly, it determines the composition of the staff according to their ability to perform certain tasks. Secondly, by all available methods (labor organization, personal influence) it prevents conflict situations that can interfere with the performance of tasks. Thirdly, it leads to the achievement of goals.

In my opinion (and I have been acting as a leader for 25 years), if the idea of ​​team building arises, then the leader should look first and foremost at himself. Not to teach people how to be a team, but to learn how to manage their own team so that you can say about it (the team) - the team. Hard to cope on your own? Then, perhaps, the best option is the presence of a personal coach (trainer) at the head. Ideally, the task of a business coach is to help build work so that the team performs its functions independently, without the direct participation of the leader, perceiving him (and this is very important!) As an ideological leader. And this is the team. So in sports. So it is in business.