Pros & Cons of Team Building Activities

Being market leaders in the events industry we don’t see any cons to teambuilding! We don’t say this frivolously, we say this because of 30 years’ experience in the events sector, the continual excellent feedback we receive from our clients and repeat business we have year on year. However, we will always stay balanced and can appreciate why some companies may, if they haven’t considering teambuilding before, wonder what positive effect it may have on their business.

Pros

• Increased self-esteem, efficiency and understanding within the individuals who form the team. People can understand through teambuilding each other’s strengths, weaknesses and get to know each other on a more personal level – therefore breaking down any walls that may have formed through miscommunication in the office
• Increased willingness to share ideas with colleagues and knowledge of who to share them with for maximum impact.
• Reduced stress levels, taking time away from the office to refocus and primarily have fun together can be underrated!
• Increase in overall group functioning
• More unity within teams towards common goals and aspirations.

Cons

• Time out of work: The trend towards shorter team building events has gathered pace and the majority of our teambuilding events only last a maximum of 3 hours. However most companies will use this time to add in other agenda therefore costing the majority of them a  day away from the office
• Cost: The cost of team building activity days is not just the actual cost of doing the day but the cost of having a team away from work while they are doing it.
• Return to baseline: Many studies, such as the one by Hatch & McCarthy, show that there is a rise in team cohesion lasting from just before the activity until just after, but then there is a decrease, or return to baseline, as soon as two months following a team building activity. Team building is therefore an ongoing process.

The studies mentioned here can be read on our ‘Evidence that team building events work’ page and also on our page ‘What is cohesion?’

To learn more of how teambuilding can work for your team or to see some of our feedback from previous clients, please contact our events team on 01590 676599 who will be happy to help!

The studies from which these lists derived can be read on our Evidence that team building events work page and also on our page What is cohesion?