Are there benefits in having teams ?

In brief, a team of people can achieve far more than the sum of the total of the individuals skills alone. Wikipedia states that a 2003 survey (HOW-FAR) revealed that Americans think that being a team player was the most important factor in getting ahead in the workplace.

What exactly is a team?

Well this depends on the definition you use. It can be a group of people united by a common business goal, a group of people committed to achieving common objectives. Teams can achieve so much and this is the reason so much time and effort is spent on building teams and developing teams. Surf the net and type in “team building” on a search engine like Google and you’ll get 33,300,000 results – the majority of which will be trying to sell you team building events.

Why the interest in team building?

Well, look what teams in a business environment can achieve:

• They can generate a wider range of ideas and innovation than individuals;
• They are able to motivate themselves;
• They can bounce ideas off each team member;
• They often take more risks than individuals;
• They have a range of personalities such as workers, thinkers, leaders who contribute the right balance of skills necessary to achieve high performance;
• They support each other and are not just task-orientated;
• They can be a support mechanism which provide mentoring and allow others to grow in self-confidence

If you have the individuals with the potential to create a high performing team, just imagine what they could achieve for your sales, productivity or bottom line!

However, it is important for people to recocognise that there is a difference between team building and team development or team working. Team building involves bringing together new teams and giving them a sense of direction, a period of getting to know their colleagues, recognising skills and abilities. Team development is the next stage, which involves teamworking skills such as sharing ideas, co-operating, being open and supporting one another. A common mistake our clients make when they first approach is to confuse the term team building with team working. We believe that if you cannot define the problem, then it is difficult to fix it.

A 4-stage process in team development

B W Tuckman expresses this as a 4-stage process in team development:

1. Forming

• The group gets together for the first time
• Formal rules of working are yet to be established

2. Storming

• Following the forming stage members grow in confidence and an amount of in-fighting is likely

3. Norming

• Now the group moves onto establish norms in the form of systems and procedures

4. Performing

• Finally the group becomes far more of a cohesive unit and starts to perform as a team.

How do you build a successful and high performing team?

This is a good question and if you look at all the 33 million search results on Google, you’ll find many people professing to know the answer. Our advice is to consult the experts as they have the experience to help. However, be careful as you may not be able to see the wood for the trees. You know what you need from your teams, you know the individuals. What you need from an expert is not for them to preach to you but to help individuals learn for themsleves through experiential learning. Let the experts give you the structure and context within which you can build your teams back in the workplace.

A final thought on building teams

Just one final point to think on – successful teams are led from the front by people who know what they want and can inspire others to achieve greatness.

For more information on building high performing teams visit the Call of the Wild websi

The Importance of Team Building & Development

Strong and productive teams don’t happen by chance. They require the right blend of skills from leaders and employees alike. Call of the Wild use an experiential team building model to illustrate the various stages that teams go through to achieve successful outcomes. We aim to maximise the effectiveness of both the team and the individual within the workplace through creating tailor-made team building activity programmes and corporate fun events.

Call of the Wild are an award-winning corporate development company.

Our approach

Each team building or team development course is tailored to your specific needs – matching content to specified outcomes. We don’t impose solutions, rather we build bespoke solutions which blend programmes with our specialised team development methodology. We ascertain whether it is team building or team working skills that need to be improved. They are not the same. When combined with expert feedback and facilitation from our trainers, this creates a powerful method of transferring learning back to the workplace.

The “I do” philosophy is the one we adopt. Through experiential learning we have found that knowledge retention is far greater than using traditional classroom methods alone.

Why come to us?

Having worked with 100′s of clients – like Vodafone, Panasonic, Carphone Warehouse, Barclays Bank, the Welsh Rugby Union, John Lewis, Network Rail, Cable and Wireless, Orange and Credit Suisse – we have the experience and capability to develop effective team building and team development courses for your organisation. We can deliver programmes either at our own centre in Wales or at a venue of your choice in the UK or Europe .

10 Reasons why companies and organisations come to Us

We highlight how a team can co-operate in such a way that it achieves more than the sum total of its individuals.

We help them to:

1. Improve communication.
2. Address tensions, raise morale or increase motivation.
3. Raise their level of performance
4. Become united by a common purpose
5. Develop their people skills for working with others.
6. Gain right team leadership skills
7. Focus on team goals and how to achieve them
8. Clarify team roles
9. Review what they are doing
10. Have fun

Businesses often come to us when new teams are brought together so that they can develop goals and identify team strengths and differences. Or it may simply be that the team has achieved their goals and the organisation is looking to reward them.

Maximising your return on investment (ROI) through lasting results

Our philosophy is that through cost effective team building programmes we can help your organisation facilitate long lasting behavioural change in the workplace. This, we believe, is the only way of delivering a measurable return on your investment. This is fundamental in the current economic climate.

Team Building Solutions

There are a number of areas where our team building and team development programmes can help your business. Here are some of the solutions that we have helped clients bring about:

• Effective communication and listening
• Trust within the team
• Support
• Goal setting
• Collaboration
• Shared responsibility
• The value of review

In addition, if you’re looking for accreditation we can help you work towards a qualification from the Institute of Leadership and Management.

A Selection of Our Team Building Programmes

• Building High Performing Teams
• Motivating Teams
• Team Building UK
• Team Building Training Course
• ILM Award in Team Leading

“Experience plus reflection equals learning” – John Dewey

Image courtesy of © 2011 Dan Santillo, www.dansantillo.com

Creating a Space and a Place for Personal and Organisational Development

Multi-award winning Call of the Wild prepare and deliver research based leadership, team and personal development programmes to a range of public and private sector companies across the UK. Our goal is to improve the performance of individuals and organisations. Our expertise lies in creating a space and place where individuals can experience deep and lasting learning which is transferable into the workplace.

Accredited and Bespoke ILM Leadership and  Management Training Programmes

Call of the Wild offer personal and professional development programmes. Our objective is to create powerful learning and development experiences to bridge the gap between potential and high performance for your individuals,  teams and organisations. We seek to unlock that latent potential to allow people to achieve and sustain high performance. Our purpose is to create positive behavioural change within the workplace, which delivers lasting results. A real return on investment. We concentrate on behaviours to facilitate change.

How do we do this? With less chalk and talk and by adopting a blended approach using mediums such as experiential and online learning.

We specialise in areas such as management training, developing leadership, developing teams, coaching, developing talent such as apprentices and graduates.

Focusing on Desired Outcomes

Do you want to obtain maximum productivity from your staff? Would you like to develop top performing leaders and build high performing teams? We at Call of the Wild know that strong teams and leaders will make the difference between success and failure. View our clients testimonials to see why.

Improve Your Bottom Line

There’s less chalk and talk from us with a focus on your bottom line. We seek to make a difference in the workplace by measuring outcomes and delivering a return on investment.

Just imagine a workplace where:-

• Leaders and teams share a common vision
• Open and honest communication is positivley encouraged
• Individuals and teams work within a supportive environment
• Individuals are encouraged to explore and develop their own capabilities
• Individuals are aware of the success factors that create high performing teams

Delivering Maximum Value

We place considerable emphasis on our Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR). Similalry we are always looking at ways in which greater value can be obtained from our clients invetsment in learning and development programmes. One of our aims is to align programmes with the CSR strategies of clients to attain benefits for the communities within which they operate.

Contact us as you maybe eligible for a grant covering up to 50% of the cost of your training and development

Image courtesy of © 2011 Dan Santillo, www.dansantillo.com