If you’re planning on giving your employees a team building exercise to perform it’s important to understand the four different types of team building, not only for a particular skill but also for the size of your team. By understanding the goals you wish to gain from your team building, it’s easier to determine which task will have the most effect.
1. Personality-Based Team Building
2. Activity-Based Team Building
3. Skills-Based Team Building
4. Problem Solving-Based Team Building
Personality-Based Team Building
Personality based team building comes in various forms but one of the most common is a personality questionnaire where you not only learn about your own personality but also the personality of other members of your team.
This information can then be used for discussing different action steps and working relationships within the company.
Activity-Based Team Building
Activity based team building involves a carrying out challenging tasks, usually in an outdoor setting e.g. mountain climbing, trekking etc. These activities requite teamwork from all other members in order to be successful with the challenge.
The idea behind this type of team building is the success seen during the activity can be brought into the office through the new relationships that have been created. The lessons learnt during the challenges can also be transferred to the workplace.
Skills-Based Team Building
Skills based team building involves members of the team in a workshop developing a certain skills. Skills can include receiving criticism, dealing with conflict, effective team meetings and more.
By developing these skills during the workshop it’s possible to create a more effective team if the skills learnt are applied throughout the workplace.
Problem Solving-Based Team Building
Problem solving based team building is usually performed at an outside event but can also apply to an indoor task. The goal of this team building exercise is to help the team solve certain problems given by an outside facilitator. The group will then need to identify the challenges and possible solutions while trying to work as effectively as possible to solve the problem.