{"id":13242,"date":"2022-02-10T13:50:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T18:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/?p=13242"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:57:07","slug":"team-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/team-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuous Team Building Provides Significant Advantages"},"content":{"rendered":"

As defined in Merriam-Webster\u2019s online dictionary, a team is<\/h2>\n
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\u201ctwo or more draft animals harnessed to the same vehicle or implement.”<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Okay, this may not be how you think of your team, but think about it–it\u2019s a great description of what a successful team looks like. A group of individuals who, by working together, will achieve far more than one individual would working alone.<\/h3>\n

Empirical evidence<\/a> supports this simple fact: working teams can accomplish more together than individuals acting separately. Team building<\/a> through the combination and interaction of experience, abilities, knowledge, commitment, and creativity gives teams a powerful advantage for advancing business change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Team Building and Building Teams Drives Success<\/h3>\n

\"Continuous<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of our series on Product Innovation (and our Catalyst Product Concept Management<\/a>), we recommend the use of\u00a0facilitated workshops<\/a>\u00a0that bring stakeholders, thought leaders, and implementors together with key designers and planners, under the guidance of\u00a0professional facilitators<\/a>. The network of individuals required in the analysis, design, and implementation of new products can be overwhelming. The guidance of trained professional facilitators in Catalyst, new product development, and voice-of-the-customer assures the highest integrity. We rely on a proven method that may be adapted to your organization when seeking to support your mission and objectives through product development or process improvement.\u00a0If you have suggestions about how we can improve this or other Best Practice<\/em>s<\/a>, please reply or contact us at (630) 954-5880, or by email at info@mgrushfacilitation.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Facilitators significantly contribute to organizational effectiveness when they support cohesive teams. The following provides some valuable tips on continuous team-building techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Character of Teams<\/span><\/h3>\n

Teams have the characteristics of working toward a common goal, having shared experiences, and sharing work products for the good of the organization as a whole. Teams produce much more than a collection of individuals when assembled in meetings, sharing information, and following a common agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Effective teams develop their own lexicon<\/a>, memory, respect, and trust among members. Teams share responsibility, accountability, and glory for their shared output and behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Teams may be built through their time together \u2013 or broken. We advocate a deliberate effort to build teams among the participants of your workshop, some obvious and others not-so-obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Team Building<\/span><\/h3>\n

Successful team building can be facilitated despite the obvious challenges of separate priorities, individual goals, and variability of commitment among team members. Yet team building is rarely accomplished as the result of a single staged exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Team building needs to be continuously supported by structuring appropriate events with open and safe exchange of individual biases, ideas, and constructive criticism.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perform these team-building steps as appropriate:<\/span><\/h4>\n