Everyone is ready to speak favourably of the team effort, but… sometimes is hard for it to work spontaneously. The teambuilding training is a technique that gets great results in improving relations between people.
Due to history and culture, in the Italian companies it’s hard to work as a team. Anyone working in a company could tell you that: lack of trust, high level of conflict, little will to accept one’s responsibility, lack of clear goals and scarce percentage of fulfilled tasks, make it very hard to work in a team.
Is it possible to learn to overcome the hardships and to make the group more tight-knit and efficient? Of course it is, it requires a great effort but it is definitely possible!
A group with internal problems can, through the right training, learn a new way to communicate and manage the conflicts.
The process is known with the name of “teambuilding“. To make it work, this conditions are necessary:
- that all the hierarchical levels, even the highest, agree on the program and its goals;
- that the head of the team (the leader) participate at the training as all of the other members;
- that at least 2 verification meetings are scheduled and carried out;
- that the group leader accepts to undergo an additional private coaching program;
- that the training meetings last at least 2 days at a time, far from the company offices.
The first condition entails that all the top managers are really convinced that this group is a strength for the company and that they ready to let their actions sustain this belief.
It’s important to understand that the relations within the group are developed both among the people and with the leader and that problems can be found at any point of the working network. That is why it is really indispensable the leader’s presence and participation.
During the course, the trainer will use practices (analogical and metaphorical experiences) that are different to the ones usually performed by the participants. All of the techniques will have aspects that will prove useful in the attempt of creating a process of collaboration and mutual trust. The activities can be extremely various, e.g. sailing, cooking, team sports, etc. During these activities, the trainer will comment the different situations and dynamics to highlight the analogies and allow the group to learn from the experience.
The training must continue and root in the everyday life and that is why it’s important to plan at least two successive moments (at approximately a month’s distance from one another) during which the trainer will help the group to face any difficulty that may have raised and to appreciate the results obtained.
In the everyday working life, it’ll be the leader’s responsibility to protect the new environment and let it grow. The task is not an easy one and the private coaching aims to help the leader in it, promoting his assuming new conducts that favor the new spirit of his team.
The location of the training experience has a fundamental role: bringing a team far from the working environment means to give them an implicit message of trust and to offer them the concrete chance to experiment in a free environment. The necessity for the experience to include an overnight stay enhances the concentration, allowing to use the time given at its full without distractions. In addition, le physical vicinity among the people helps to break down the incomprehension and favors a communicative empathy. The group becomes aware of its new possibilities and realises how they are connected to collaboration and mutual trust.
This sensation is exciting. The group is now ready to go back to work with a new awareness of their strength.
