subject: Improve Your Team With A Team Building Exercise [print this page] A team building exercise can foster a team player attitude while it simultaneously serves as a leadership development exercise. Team building requires a great deal of work, patience and sacrifice and leaders must spend the time necessary to build their teams.
Since fitness is important in the military, physical fitness training was a great vehicle for developing the leadership qualities we wanted from our students.
Here is an example used in the military to develop leaders and utilize the benefits of teamwork.
Physical Fitness Scenario
Imagine your team going for a 4-mile run. Of course, some members will be faster than others and your goal is to increase each individual's speed and strength.
Paramount, however, is improving the collective team.
So, how do you maintain the interest of the top performers without discouraging the weaker runners?
One technique we used: take the team on a 1-mile group warm-up run, get to a predetermined area for a 2-mile "release run," and then finish with a 1-mile group run back to the start point.
The 2-mile "release run" is critical in accomplishing individual goals and part of the overall team building exercise.
Learning the Importance of Teamwork
During the 2-mile out-and-back "release run," individuals push each other to run as far as they can during the allotted time.
Some will run more than two miles, others less, but the key is to push each other to be better and provide encouragement along the way.
At the end of the allotted time everyone returns to the release point, but if you returned before the others, you did not stop running.
Instead, you circled back until you found the last person on the return leg and matched your pace with that individual, encouraging them along.
Helping your teammates was not an option; it was required and expected of aspiring young leaders.
Everyone knew the rules, that is, the values we were attempting to instill in our future leaders.
The faster runners helped those who were slower and everyone knew the group would finish together, just as they started, highlighting the importance of teamwork.
Leadership and Teamwork: They Go Together
Part of the leadership development exercise was to have everyone encourage their peers instead of allowing teammates to find reasons to get discouraged, slow down, or stop.
Every team building exercise served as a leadership development exercise, and vice-versa. Depending on your area of strength, roles might be reversed in the next exercise.
In this environment, these future leaders learned to be team players as well as team leaders.
Consider Exercises for Your Team
Review the opportunities your business can leverage to exploit the benefits of teamwork.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. When people have the opportunity to contribute, they use their strengths to help others and everyone benefits.
Consider implementing programs where different employees have the opportunity to lead in areas where they are strong.
It will nurture leaders, develop teamwork, improve morale, and increase the overall performance of your business team.
by: Thomas M Crea
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