Team Building and Teamwork. Unity Is Strength

Unity Is Strength

What's the relationship between Team Building and Teamwork? How can the former substantially help improve the latter's results? Today we want to talk about how we currently understand the concept of teamwork within a company, and which Team Building techniques are most in demand for building strong, cohesive and competitive teams.

The 5 C's of Teamwork

Different people, with different abilities, knowledge and points of view, but sharing the same goal. That could sum up the foundation of teamwork. As psychologist and personal coach Jonathan García Allen explained on the Psicología y Mente portal, "synergies come from putting different people to work together."

And to combine energy and achieve an effective shared result, what have been called "the 5 C's" of teamwork are essential:

• Communication: smooth, open and effective between every team member.
• Complementarity: a team will function if each member masters a specific part of the project, and there's a balance between the tasks each one carries out, all complementing one another.
• Coordination: for a team to be well coordinated, someone needs to take charge of it. This is where the leader comes in, responsible for organising, launching and overseeing the project. The leader's goal will always be to make sure the project succeeds, but they must always take the rest of the team and their points of view into account, avoiding unilateral decisions.
• Trust: every team member must trust in their colleagues' knowledge and good work. What matters most is the team's success, not any one member's skill or expertise standing out.
• Commitment: the foundation of any good teamwork is, without a doubt, commitment. Every member commits to the team to give their best and set aside personal glory.

Some Benefits of Teamwork

It's worth remembering that, today, teamwork is one of the skills most valued by recruiters when hiring for a new position. What advantages does teamwork offer companies and employees? Although there are many possible advantages or benefits to teamwork, let's highlight 3 that seem essential to us:

• A more creative team. Different points of view, shared together, lead to more effective solutions for reaching goals. Sharing knowledge boosts learning, both for the group and for each of its members.
• Less stress. Working as a team avoids individual responsibility and work overload. Sharing, communicating with the rest of the team, finding solutions together… all of this undoubtedly reduces stress within the work group.
• Better, more productive work. The foundation of a good team is that each member can focus on the tasks they're skilled at, where they specialise. They're like gears in a machine that work together. This way, everyone finds their place, allowing for greater productivity and higher-quality work.

The Importance of Team Building in Teamwork

So, how is a good team built? How do you make it run perfectly? It's worth remembering that, above all, a team is made up of individuals relating to one another, so besides communication, there are other factors that the company and the group need to work on to achieve the perfect cohesion we're talking about: trust, understanding between members, a sense of belonging, shared goals, commitment, responsibility…

And this is precisely where Team Building techniques come into play, improving communication and relationships between team members, and also boosting self-esteem and motivation.

As you know, there are many different Team Building techniques or activities, both indoor and outdoor. It all depends on the goal and the type of experience we want to offer the team, to work on aspects such as assertive communication, active listening, a good group atmosphere, leadership, diversity, proactive spirit…

At Kaizen Coach we develop original Team Building activities focused on boosting, for example, creativity, communication and teamwork (like Formula GT), fun and results/leadership orientation (like the corporate game we call Mini Olympics), a sense of belonging and unity (like our musical, team-cohesion activity called In Tune with the Team), or corporate values and culture within the team (like our original artistic team building activity, Painting the Future).

And all of this, with plenty of fun, giving participants genuinely unique, motivating experiences. As you know… Unity is strength!

Get in touch with us and tell us about your idea.