By Vishnu Doerga
Vishnu Doerga is the President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Putting together the dream team for your business can be as easy as taking an ‘action’ approach rather than the ‘information’ approach. With a plethora of training options open to employers, it can often be puzzling when trying to find the strategies that are going to achieve results.
There is one basic rule to apply when considering your next team building exercise. Dream teams are not built through information or training alone. Seminars, competency training, reading books and watching videos are all helpful strategies, but as the age old adage goes “action speaks louder than words”. Being able to perform tasks during training is not the same as applying them on a day-to-day basis, just as information does not automatically change behaviours. For example, we read about the dangers of smoking but many people still engage in this behaviour.
Environment is one of the key factors in influencing your team’s success. People base their behaviour on their beliefs about themselves and their environment. Can they have a positive impact on their environment? Does this environment support positive behaviour? Team members should feel that they have the capability to contribute in their environment. This means it is essential to give them the right equipment and environment to be effective. It also helps if they feel safe to contribute their opinion and feedback in a supportive environment. But how do you find this out? You simply have to ask. Ask your team if they think there are factors in their environment which could be improved to help them be more efficient, productive or happy. Perhaps they may prefer music while they work, better light or flexible hours. Many organisations have realised the importance of employee satisfaction on the bottom line. Workplaces can now include facilities such as childcare or the benefits of ergonomically designed work stations.
Beliefs are the key motivators in peoples’ behaviour. However, changing your team member’s beliefs is not an easy or swift task. Recruiting the right people through personality instruments and team interviews can be one strategy but understanding their beliefs can be important in identifying other strategies. Common beliefs limiting team performance include:
Feedback: “I have some constructive feedback but expressing it may cause a confrontation – best to keep it to myself.”
Delegation: “The only way to get the job done properly is to do it myself.”
Sales: “Real salespeople are dishonest, pushy and arrogant.”
Changing beliefs such as these can be a daunting challenge. Team leaders need to facilitate change by designing flexible experiences for the team to learn that maybe there is a different way to look at this. Experiential learning, such as climbing trees and playing games aren’t just used because they are fun and help build relationships. They are used because they work. Multiple and varied experiences must be used to inspire new ways of seeing and thinking about things. Reframing opens the mind to new beliefs and behaviour. However, information and ideas are not enough; they need to be ingrained in day-to-day activity. The strategies and ideas that are identified during training must be implemented back at the workplace.
Team building is not an exact science but a journey to find the best strategies available to bring out the potential in your team.
If you would like to learn more about team building contact the team at ACTIONCOACH Guyana on 223-5583.
