An opportunity that increases engagement and improves teamwork

by Andrew Fieldhous, BIZ Events

BIZ Events is the representative of the largest teambuilding license in the world, in the Arab Emirates. Catalyst Teambuilding is represented in Romania by UNIVERSUM Events.

Plato said that “You can learn more about a person in an hour of playing than in a year of conversations”. The reason why I chose to start with this quote is because Platon emphasizes the importance of games, especially the “serious” ones, and how important and useful they are when we talk about employee engagement and the development of teamwork in an organization.

What do we mean by “serious games”? I think it is important to establish a limit between sports games, purely fun games and the ones we are talking about. There is certainly a purpose behind the sports games, but the ones we are referring to are those which, although they have fun elements, have the objectives of developing skills and learning opportunities. The attribute of “serious” does not necessarily mean that the entire content of the activity is serious, only that the approach is based on the engagement of people and the increase of teamwork.

It is clear that teamwork is what every organization wants; above all man needs socialization, to work with other people and to interact with others. Teams as composition can be diverse and like any other skill, teamwork can be learned and developed precisely so that the teams become better and better at what they do and to bring results.

One of my biggest passions is this ability to work in a team; I have always been a “team player”, since I was a child and played in the school sports teams until I became the Commercial Director of the teambuilding division of Biz-Group. Over the years, I have noticed how teamwork-based activities have grown, evolved and become a valuable tool in the modern world.

Ever since we started running teambuilding activities and business simulation programs in the United Arab Emirates, we have noticed a massive increase in the number of clients who choose these programs. In 2010, we organized approximately 175 teambuilding activities where 14,000 people participated. In 2014, these numbers reached 360 activities with 32,000 participants. As part of the Catalyst Global Network, I can say that the other 32 partner companies also achieved a similar growth.

Why have these activities become popular? Here are some reasons:

Evolution – the times when a team building meant a few planks, strings and barrels and a team that had to cross an imaginary river are gone. The increase in needs led to much softer, more “wow” requests. This resulted in much more innovative, creative and engaging experiences that bring a memorable impact. Lines like “I did this, what else?” from customers have inspired companies to create creative and improved activities. This factor together with an industry in which the competition is increased raised the level of expectations. People have become more attentive to details, more experienced and have higher expectations, therefore the activities created must rise and exceed these expectations.

(For example, the team building activity Orchestrate – turn a Team into an Orchestra in two hours. Don’t you believe me? Look here< /a>.)

Communication – MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory conducted a study that shows that, with great consistency, communication within teams is the most important indicator of a team’s success. So much so that it is as significant as the other factors – intelligence, personality, talent. Spending time developing your communication skills with your colleagues in a team building activity is far more valuable than working alone. Companies began to place even more value on improving communication.

Practice makes perfect – most companies use examples of people with unique experiences in sports or the military for inspiration. In both fields, teams spend 90% of their time training, and only 10% doing the respective activity, in business things happen the other way around. More and more often, people realize that team building activities such as business simulations are an opportunity for practice, even if they are for a short period of time.

Make mistakes in a safe environment – we all agree that we learn from experiences – “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. The same applies to employees who have the opportunity to work in a safe environment, where the implications of the actions and their results are not so severe. A team building activity gives you the opportunity to experiment, try new ideas and test. Even if errors happen, they can bring valuable lessons in the debriefing session.

Technology – the evolution of technology has also brought impact in the corporate events industry, adding many elements to offer. Internet access, smartphones, easy-to-use applications, even drone technology; all these have created a creative environment that offers many valuable experiences for people’s engagement, things that were not possible a few years ago.

Gamification – goes hand in hand with technology. It involves using game mechanics and thinking to learn, engage and entertain participants to solve certain challenges. In business, it has implications beyond the boundaries of the game, becoming an increasingly popular tool in the team activities we propose.

Undoubtedly, there is an increase in demand for learning-based activities due to the reasons outlined above. Science validates these activities and the impact they have on improving teamwork. Not just doing something as a team matters; a lot of time is wasted in inefficient, boring or even unfavorable experiences. Teams should look for the right opportunities that match the desired objectives. These opportunities are right here; they are extremely valuable and it is worth investing the right resources to get the desired results.

Article translated from Capital Business.