Team Building in the Workplace: Why It's Important and How To Do It

Ask someone what’s the best thing about their job, and a lot of the time they’ll say it’s the people. In many modern workplaces, the introduction of hybrid working means teams are becoming geographically dispersed, but that physical distance makes it all the more important to build connections and cultivate team cohesion.

Team building might be a challenge, but better teams create stronger businesses. Bringing individuals together can boost productivity, help make heavy workloads more manageable and improve problem-solving. It can also create the sort of company culture people want to be a part of and make it easier to hire and retain the best workers.

With that in mind, we’re going to share a few team-building ideas and provide some compelling reasons as to why it’s all worth it.

What is Team Building in the Workplace?

Team building in the workplace is a series of planned activities that are designed to get coworkers to open up to each other, build trust and connect in a personal and professional way.

Some of these activities have had a bad rap, with many workers having had awkward and uncomfortable experiences. But, when done well, team building can be very effective, as long as you read the room and choose activities that suit the personalities and preferences of your teams.

The Importance of Team Building in the Workplace

Building highly effective teams takes effort, time and the deployment of thoughtful group processes. But whether you lead a small team or are part of a large organisation, making the effort to develop your teams is well worth it, and here’s why.

1. Increase productivity

When it comes to getting work done, two heads are better than one, and recent research shows that the greatest impact is felt when the task your teams are working on is complex. Team building can help your workers bring their unique skills together to produce work that they complete faster and to a higher quality than one person could do alone.

2. Boost motivation

Morale and motivation go hand-in-hand, and employees who are happy at work and feel like a valued part of the team are more likely to work hard and get results. When people feel like their employer cares about their happiness and general wellbeing, they’re more motivated to perform at a higher level.

3. Build closer friendships

Team building activities help employees form closer friendships and get to know their colleagues on a deeper level. This can lead to more productive relationships, with a study by Gallup finding that people with a best friend at work are 50% more satisfied and seven times more likely to fully engage in their work.

4. Encourage creativity

Creative and innovative businesses rely on people with different perspectives and skills. However, there’s little benefit if they don’t talk to each other. Team-building activities that encourage colleagues to communicate and collaborate can help them develop fresh ideas and approach problems in new ways.

5. Discover new strengths and weaknesses

Team building in the workplace can help managers identify new strengths and weaknesses in their teams. For example, you may see that certain employees have leadership qualities, while others might come up with creative ideas. This can provide new insight into characteristics and skills that may not have come to light in the normal work setting.

Team Building Ideas

Team building activities at work don’t have to come in the form of escape rooms, all-expenses-paid night outs or potentially divisive paintballing trips. You can do things in the workplace daily to help you create stronger teams.

Create a collaborative office environment

The simple act of changing the layout of your office can have a big impact on your teams and your company culture. Agile workspaces, where dedicated desks are replaced with a variety of shared spaces — think huddle rooms, social areas and collision areas — can boost collaboration and get people talking and working together.

In agile workspaces, teams might be assigned clusters of desks, but they are also encouraged to work in different areas that are best suited to the tasks they do. This promotes conversations between those in other departments and can lead to the generation and sharing of new ideas.

Use technology to connect remote teams

Technology can connect remote teams, help employees build stronger relationships and improve employee productivity, engagement and morale. When you’re not together in person, those all-important team elements of support, communication and joint goals can get lost. That’s why you need to use technology to help you keep them alive remotely.

Some remote team-building ideas include:

• Virtual breakrooms where staff can log in and chat over their lunch or tea breaks. With encouragement from the leadership, this can become part of the normal remote working day
• Holding virtual company events, such as team lunches or recognition sessions, that bring your team together and create a sense of a shared goal
• Setting friendly challenges, such as fitness competitions, which bring fun and rivalry to the remote working day while boosting wellbeing

Encourage communication

Whether it’s informal team lunches, watercooler chats or an active digital chat stream, good teams must be given the freedom and the platform to communicate personally and professionally.

Team building activities can help employees get to know each other, build trust and encourage communication. An important part of that is making sure everyone feels heard and acknowledged.

Here are a few team-building activities to encourage communication that you could try.

The Best Teams Start with the Right Workspace

Having a workspace that promotes collaboration and communication and makes it easy for your teams to thrive can play a big part in your team-building efforts.

At Knight Frank, we can help you find the right flexible office space for your team. Just tell us what you’re looking for, let us arrange your viewings and we’ll negotiate on your behalf to get you the best deal. And better still, our service is completely free. Get in touch to discuss your requirements with our team.