The key to cohesive work and collaboration is to know each other, know your strengths and weaknesses as a team. Who is the creative person and who is the methodical one? The concept of team activities originated in the early 1900’s, Hawthorne Studies found that some of the most important traits in building a team included social support, pride in your work and developing interpersonal relationships.

Today, many organisations to implement these traits through arranging social activities, and team-building exercises, however more often than not this does not always meet the desired outcome to build a cohesive team and a strong foundation. 

Reason? Perhaps, the emphasis ought not be on the activity & trying to make people fit together and be friends, but to spend time with each other where they get to know one another, their interests & what sparks their enthusiasm – most importantly what makes work something they enjoy doing – rather than an unavoidable pastime.

Last Friday, our CHITS team decided (without notice) to visit an exhibition by Dale Chihuly, a glass sculptor who intended to have all of his work exhibited within nature. His focus is to make his glass sculptures unique, authentic & pieces of art which if found within nature (on the beach, within a forest or fields) could be mistaken for something that has come from nature.

Of course, our team had different views of it, some of us enjoyed the pieces and were fascinated – others thought that they didn’t fit well with nature. We looked, walked and laughed taking many pictures on each other’s phones and sharing each other’s ideas of creativity & art.

Did this outing on its own strengthen our relationships and build a stronger team? We would say no, these relationships are built on the everyday exchanges we carry out as a team – our morning greeting, collaboration at work & sitting with each other for lunch.

Our relationships are built from experience and knowing that the people we are working with are there with the best intent at heart, are willing to share their thoughts & views and are jointly dedicated in delivering professional work to ensure the company continues to grow which can then share its success with the team members.

There are no magic tricks as to how a company builds successful teams, it’s all about trust, honesty and hard work. When every person on the team has the same goal, purpose and intent, the team grows stronger and the work flows through.