Team Building Strategies That Work for Your Organization
Many strategies exist to build effective teams. This article will outline just a few ideas for strategies to build on for your organization. There are two main approaches to managing your own team building strategies; formal and informal approaches. Author Jon Katzenbach, author of "Leading outside the Lines," writes that both must be present in an organization. Formal structures include organizational charts, vision, mission, and operating guidelines. These formal mechanisms provide a framework for the informal processes that complement them. Informal processes include the way that people interact, the leaders they informally chose to follow, the relationships they forge to get their work done. An effective team building strategy can include both to ensure that gains are made on both fronts.

Formal Team Building strategies include training workshops, agenda-driven meetings, and written processes and procedures. Effective team building strategies here can include a high-level look at how you want your organization to team. For example, many corporations have developed a "matrix" driven approach to work-expecting individuals to link across departments and other boundaries. A matrix organization allows more work to flow.  This results in increased focus on the products development and services that clients or end users need. This collaborative structure should include formal team building strategies and training for increasing collaboration, communication, problem solving and innovation across the organization. Project management skills and work flow charts are also helpful formal team building strategies to help people function in this way.

Informal team building strategies include things like workspace redesigns that allow people to connect more directly. Small break-out rooms, co-located desks, coffee break rooms, and fewer walls can bring people together more often in a casual way. Research supports that casual contact has a significant impact on teaming and collaboration. Other informal processes include shared lunches, off-site get-togethers, and other meetings of an informal nature.

Creating a team building strategy for your organization is imperative for future success, and can include things that you are already doing.  Combining both formal and informal team building strategies allows you to take advantage of both options.  For more information click here





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