Team Building Can Change Processes Not Culture

Companies, like people, are hard-wired with a personality and that makes it difficult when trying to address issues of team building.  However, team building can improve processes and building on desired traits/persona of an organization.

I have long believed the term “Team Building” is a misnomer.  It just seems to be a broad catch-all phrase that can apply to just about any event that brings together 2 or more people to discuss most anything concerning the organization.  I did a book search on Amazon using the words-team building.  That search request returned 35,115 titles on the subject of team building.  A Yahoo! Search for “what is team building” generated more than even more results.  Granted, these numbers are misleading, but it is an indicator of just how ubiquitous the subject matter has become. The focus of this discussion is about “teaming” or team building in a commercial endeavor.  I believe teaming can also apply to any organization whether it be a service organization, non-profit, religious or commercial; any group that manages toward an end result.

Team building is a great tool and its implementation is always subject to tweaking; like most things, it is in constant change.  It does seem to fail when participants feel they are being manipulated.  But, like all business tools there are pitfalls to be aware of.  Here are some reasons for team building or teaming (as I prefer to call it): used as a reward/recognition, for communicating, improving morale, creating a sense of community, introduction of new concepts and people, conflict resolution, process improvements, brainstorming, instilling leadership, maintaining structure and imparting management enforcement/change actions.  One list of reasons for team building I have seen encompasses more than 100 specific reasons.  So start your own list, I am sure there are more.

Whatever the reason for a formal meeting of people for team building, there are some tenets I think are the underpinnings that structurally impact success.  A decision to use team building is fundamentally an effort that is about organizational development.   Wikipedia defines organizational development as: a conceptual, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. It is a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, practices, attitudes, values, and structure of an organization so that it can better adapt to leadership imposed changes.

The key word is “organization”, and this is the foundation for launching a team building plan.  Organizational dynamics must be understood.  If anything comes from this discussion, it is imperative the reader realize that a teaming or team building event must conform to the persona, personality and character of the overall organization.  Organizations, like people, have personalities.  The persona and character of a company is hard to change so work within that structure.   The personality of a company is perpetuated by its leadership, history, industry culture and community which the organization operates within. The personality cannot be changed through teaming exercises because it will not be reinforced daily.  People know the personality a company projects and most employees gravitate to organizations that compliment their personal styles and values.  Customers and vendors recognize a corporate culture; they work within that perception.

Also, in selecting a team building vehicle or process do not try to make a team that becomes one of sameness.  By vehicle I am referring to tools such as: games, exercises, case studies, outings, etc.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to be an officer in a large company. I went through extensive interviews throughout the organization.  My initial impressions were that the company was very cold and impersonal; did not want people to rock-the-boat; viewed themselves as intellectuals; and, were all about working within rigid processes.  The subsequent offer was contingent upon a day and a half of psychological tests and an interview with their organizational psychologist.  At the end of this process the psychologist told me I had the experience to do the job and I was motivated to do the job.  But, she went on to say, “your style of management and approach to problem solving will probably not be accepted within the company”.  She was right!  I could not build my team a change a corporate cultural.

Point being; teaming and team building must recognize the inherent ‘style’ of an organization and the practices of that company within its industry.  New managers, especially those that change industries, try to use team building to initiate rapid organizational change.  Change processes not culture!

Team building should not be about changing culture but rather putting the ‘we’ into the processes.  The ‘we’ can be achieved by improved morale, communication, brainstorming, etc.  These are all universally accepted attributes of success.

Lee Iacocca said, “Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people.  Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.”

Teamwork: Simply stated, it is less me and more we. Maybe we can call team building, Team Appreciation Meeting.