Team Development – Why Your Office Is Different from the Office
Bosses always want to boost morale, increase communication between staff members and ultimately increase proficiency, so why don’t all companies send their staff on team development events?
Is it because some of these events can suffer because they conjure up negative connotations – many connected to the humorous events depicted on television shows?
For certain, the words and wisdom of David Brent from TV’s “The Office” have forced middle management to look in the mirror and wonder if that’s who they resemble.
Among Brent’s many, now infamous, quotes the one that most accurately shows his thinking about working as a team reads: “There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there’s a ‘ME’ if you look hard enough”.
If you watched the show, you may remember the funny show in which a team development expert visited the Wernam Hogg offices. David Brent promptly took control, and changed the course into essentially a celebration of himself, including a rendition of his seminal 1980s pop ballad “Free Love on the Freelove Freeway” on the guitar.
However, team development events in real life are nothing like the cringe worthy and destructive nightmare depicted in The Office.
Many organisations across the UK now offer business organisations the chance to take their staff away from the office and out on a team building day.
Team building allows staff members to learn and develop the tools and skillsets essential to push business growth as well as sustain development and improvement.
And despite worldwide economies being in the midst of a recession, staff development remains important to business growth. In fact, it is even more important, as when the recession ends there will certainly be chances for the best-run businesses to take advantage of the developing marketplace.
Team development can take many different forms, from in-house education to getting out into the wilderness and taking part in adventure courses, high ropes trails and personal challenges – which will certainly inspire and be memorable for staff members.
All these events are fashioned to encourage staff – regardless of age and background – to work as part of a team for the common aim of your company, and they all contribute to the common long-term goals of your organisation.
That’s why team development events are essential to the growth of any business. Just don’t follow the example of David Brent, whose hiring policy was simple: “Avoid employing unlucky people – throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them”.
