Team building can be highly energizing and effective or very disappointing to both the meeting leader and the participants. As you know, team building programs can run from the old 'Stranded on the Moon' to activities in the woods to desert forays to cooking programs to scavenger hunts. You have innumerable choices from paper and pencil to the kitchen to adventure land and as a training professional or meeting leader, you want to make certain that you avoid not only a disappointing waste of time but also to ensure that your money and time spent effectively meets your objectives.

Here are some tips to help you have a productive and exciting team building program:

SET GOALS AND OBJECTIVE UP FRONT

Be clear about your objective- is the event just an ice-breaker for groups who don't know each other? Do you want people to learn creativity? Do you want to improve their communications? Do you want them to be more collaborative as a group? Be as precise as you can and relay this to both the participants and to the training consultant you are selecting. Then ask yourself, if I reach this objective what else will change as a result? What will be the effects of reaching the objectives. This is a very important step to take as the following example proves.

AN EXAMPLE OF TEAM BUILDING GONE WRONG

This is a true story - a friend of mine recently went to a four-day (yes, four day) team building program in which all of the managers in the company were obligated to attend. The objective of the program was for "all of the participants to really get to know each other so that they could work better together". So what is wrong with this? Well, to start-a four day any-kind-of-team-meeting is way too long. Who can afford to keep people away from their jobs for this amount of time? And it would be a miracle to keep anyone's attention/energy up for that long.

Secondly, the objective of "getting to know each other' was way too vague and difficult to measure. You need to be more precise in defining your goals and why you want them (statement of issues to be solved or improved).

Thirdly, the entire program was very tactile and personal - and this can be a loaded gun and quite questionable in the workplace. For example, many of the activities involved touching and trust: you know- fall into someone's arms blindfolded. Be careful of these kinds of activities - many people are really uncomfortable with this.

Then the participants were supposed to share something really personal with other individuals. And what seemed to start out as a fairly interesting question actually backfired. Such personal information came out in that meeting that the result, back in the workplace, the individuals are now embarrassed to see each other. Sure, the objective of 'getting to know each other' was met, but a quite a cost. So instead of becoming closer as a team, the group now tries to avoid others because they have information they really don't want or now regret that they shared. No one asked the question about what are the effects of the effects. Not only was there a lot of time and money spent, but now there is some real cleaning up to do.

CHOOSE A CONSULTANT WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING

Make sure your consultant is a professional - that they have done team building and are experts in the area in which they are providing. For example, if you are going to choose cooking as the activity, make sure your trainers have both the expertise in culinary skills as well as in team building.

CHOOSE AN ACTIVITY THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR GROUP

If your staff sits in an office all day and is not particularly the outdoors-types, stay away from mountain climbing or desert survival. If your group works in a manufacturing environment, don't just give them paper and pencil assignments. They will be bored stiff. You don't want to just provide them with the same type of work they already do - stretch them a bit and get them to be creative and try something new. Know your group and provide a balance of challenge and excitement.

Both scavenger hunts and cooking programs are two new types of events that stretch the participants and provide great learning opportunities for all. For example, cooking programs in particular appeal to many individuals - even those who never cook. People are given an Iron Chef type of program and it's amazing to see individuals quickly form a team, and produce such creative and delicious results within a short time frame and with limited resources. This type of cooking activity is 'real' work (cooking vs. paper and pencil) with definitive results (food was delicious or not) and a good illustration of a very effective and enjoyable type of team building activity.

So the next time you are planning your team building event, be sure to think through your objectives, choose and appropriate venue and experienced consultant. These steps will give both you as the leader and your employees real rewards back in the workplace.

About the Author:

Marybeth Gregg, who has extensive experience in team building for major international corporations and also culinary expertise, is a published author on cooking articles, and provides professional teambuilding programs in collaboration with Ted Kanterman, who is a Personal Chef, USPCA member, published author of food articles and who hosted a radio show on culinary topics. Want to learn more? You can visit Ted and Marybeth at www.teamchefs.com