1

Table of Contents

To achieve growth and significant development, an organization will use its activities to build trust amongst the members, which is essential (Maukin, 2014). Team-building and trust work together in order to help congeal a business. The achievement of a team atmosphere enhances cooperation among the members and creates a more effective workforce (Lilly, 2011). Developing a team takes time, and while it can be slow, it is important to help foster that growth and mindset. Team dynamics can be difficult due to the differing visions, opinions and ideas. To help influence the development of the team cohesivness, allowing for open interaction and communication among the members will often lend to the building of a trust and effectiveness of a team. Developing a sense of trust and influence can be time consuming to achieve. There are activities that focus on communication that work to build trust and create an environment that will likely last beyond that activity. These can also help lend to positive relationships (Lilly, 2011). Creating a scavenger hunt for small groups of varying length of employment can be a great way to learn of each other and an organization, while creating an environment that work together. This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on how lengthy the facilitator would want it to be. The team may look for items or organizational information (like from an employee handbook or company literature), as well as goofy or silly activities-such as take a picture with a stranger. Each team should have similar but not necessarily the exact items to complete on their list. Establish a time limit or ’fastest time will win’ type of friendly competition. The objective to the scavenger hunt is to create bonds within differing departments, to break up office cliques, and to learn more of their organization. The bonding does allow for new relationships to bud.Times of trouble or fear are some of the best times to build positive and trusting relationships. Even though it would be difficult to recreate a difficult time of need or trouble, it can lend itself to great things among team members. Challenges within an organization will exist. However, it is imperative that individuals work effectively as a team, when addressing these types of situations. Creating a sense of urgency or a survival type situation will help teammates consider what to do when things become serious or in a time of survival (Maukin, 2014). Ideally, Survival scenarios force individuals to have better communication with each other. It is also important that mistakes during the exercise be used to demonstrate how the team could be put into further problems. Survival scenarios are a type of activity that influences the building of trust among members where every individual is in a position of being put to the test for trust and communication (Lilly, 2014). An activity that this can be demonstrated is called the Minefield. This activity can take anywhere from 15 min-an hour or more. Place large and small objects in an open field or parking lot. The items should be of varying sizes and placed randomly all over, or like an obstacle course. The teams are broken up into even numbers. There are several ways to accomplish this. One: Have all members of a team blindfold themselves, except one. The one that is not blindfolded will give verbal commands to each team member to get from one side of the area to the other, or each member through the obstacle course. The object to this activity is to build trust, communication and effectively listening. Creating an environment of communication and trust, an organizations’ team becomes much more united and effective (Gailey, 2010). Another activity is the Human Knot. This activity works to improve communication. This can be played with 6-30 or more people. Have everyone stand in a circle facing each other, shoulder to shoulder. Have everyone cross their arms and put their right hand out and grab a random hand of someone across from them. Then, tell them to put their left hand out and grab another random hand from a different person across the circle. The idea is for the group to untangle the knot of arms without releasing their hands. If the group is too large, make multiple smaller circles and have the separate groups compete. The object to this exercise is that team building relies heavily on good communication and teamwork. This can take about 5 minutes for a smaller group or up to 20 minutes for larger ones. Group members will all help each other to achieve the goals of the organization. With building trust and allowing for relationships to be nurtured, allowing for an organization to be more effective (Amblos, Herdrick, 2015). Missed deadlines, lost opportunities, quality issues are all unfortunate by-products from poor communication (Amblos, & Herdrick, 2015). For efficient team dynamics, there must be appropriate communication parameters in place. Many teams fail due to lack of effective communication among all levels of an organization. If a team minimizes or avoids discussing problems during team activities, then there is a greater likelihood of issues within the organization as a whole (Butlerfields, 2012). One major obstacle in team dynamics is exclusion and stereotyping. In order for effective team building, there has to be inclusion. Diversity is an important aspect in a team in different situations and different perspectives on a certain task (Gailley,2010). Diversity results in the elements of stereotyping and labeling. This can lead to how individuals build trust and meaningful relationships others. If team members embrace the differences of their colleagues, it will allow for more creativity in problem solving and working together. This can allow for higher achievement and performances from every member (Butlerfields, 2012). Group thinking is one of the common challenges while working with teams. Individuals are just that-individuals. Their own level of understanding, communications, willingness and receptiveness are all contributing factors to group thinking barriers. With effective team building activities, members of an organization are better positioned to influence others from different perspectives, ensuring trust and relationship development without the group thinking mentality. ReferencesAmblos, M. A., & Herdrick, C. A. (2015). The impact of team building on communication and job satisfaction of nursing staff. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 21(1), 10-16. Butlerfields, J. (2012). Illustrated Course Guides: Teamwork & Team Building-Soft Skills for a Digital Workplace. Cengage Learning. Gailley, J. W. (2010). Integrated theoretical model for building effective teams. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12(1), 7-28. Maukin, D. (2014). The team building tool kit: tips and tactics for effective workplace teams. AMACOM Division American Management Association. Lilly, B. S. (2011). The effects of conflict, trust, and task commitment on project team performance. International Journal of Conflict Management, 7(4), 361-376.