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It’s common knowledge that high performing employees are key to a successful organisation, while boosting and maintaining team morale is an integral component for a thriving team.
Social events during out-of-office hours offer the best opportunity for team members to get to know each other on a more personal level, build trust and create relationships that’ll feed unto the development of a strong and productive professional team.
In this blog, we focus on the importance of team building to enhance employee morale and relationships and the benefits of social events that can further promote team building.
Team building refers to various activities and occasions that encourage social engagement and/or teamwork between employees in a business. Essentially, these activities involve an element of collaboration, and focus on building trust, boosting cooperation and improving relationships between a team’s members.
Team collaboration is vital for the overall success of a business, especially following the implementation of hybrid working patterns, where employees don’t spend as much time physically together as they once did.
Along with that, employees get to know their colleagues a little better through team building events, giving them the opportunity to understand and appreciate each other away from their desks. This can, in turn, lead to increased productivity and job satisfaction.
At its core, team building inspires team members to think and operate like one harmonious unit in the workplace.
Team building can carry many benefits, so it’s important for managers, team leaders and supervisors to understand how their teams could benefit from it.
According to a survey, 82% of participants stated that they’d enjoy the office more if team building activities were more frequent, while 62% said the most important outcome of team building is that it creates a friendlier work atmosphere.
Commenting on the survey and the effect of team building on businesses, Robin Dunbar, Psychologist at the University of Oxford said: “It has huge knock-on consequences for your health and mental wellbeing, by virtue of forming friendships, In addition, it fosters a sense of loyalty to the organisation”, further explaining that it “creates a sense of belonging”.
Dunbar also added:“However, you can’t make people engage. The best thing you can do as an organisation is to provide the opportunity”.
Whether it’s dedicated team building activity days, networking events, social outings or simply grabbing a coffee with colleagues during lunch break, occasions like these can prove immensely beneficial to workplace relationships.
It should, therefore, be a top priority for managers to build teams outside of work environments, regardless of whether those teams are remote, hybrid or office based.
But what are the actual benefits?
It’s no surprise that when teams share a common goal and have a collective vision, it dramatically boosts employee morale and provides individual employees with a sense of self.
Studies suggest that engaging in team building helps up to 80% of employees feel more motivated as they share a common mission with their colleagues.
As a result, motivated employees show higher levels of productivity, improved job satisfaction and better overall performance in their roles.
Good communication is undoubtedly an essential component of a successful team.
As most team building activities include collaboration and require good communication among team members, it can help break barriers and make employees, as well as managers, feel more comfortable with each other.
This is also true for social events, where team members can socialise and communicate away from a professional setting, having the opportunity to get to know one another on a personal level, and to understand their colleagues’ personalities better.
In fact, 63% of industrial leaders reported that communication amongst their teams had improved following team building activities and social events.
This supports the narrative through improved communication, employees feel more comfortable to seek support from other team members or raise issues with their managers, thus improving the team’s overall output.
Building trust in the workplace is crucial, especially between team members that work together regularly. According to the Harvard Business Review, employees at high-trust companies reported 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement and 40% less burnout, compared to those at low-trust organisations.
Therefore, team building enables employees to establish trust amongst their teams, making them feel safe and supported, knowing they can lean on each other if needed.
Along with that, through building trust, team leaders and managers can enable open communication with their teams, eliminating micromanaging tendencies that could lead to employee stress and work dissatisfaction.
Relationship building is a crucial part of any workplace as it increases employee engagement and job satisfaction. As such, social events provide a great opportunity for working relationships to be developed.
According to Gallup, having a best friend at work is strongly linked to business profitability, safety, inventory control and most importantly retention.
In fact, the survey conducted by Gallup, 44% of employees who said they’re likely to recommend their company as a great place to work admitted to having a best friend at work, while 49% of employees who reported a likelihood to leave their job don’t have a best friend at work.
Therefore, hosting social events where employees can interact, connect and discover common interests, in a relaxed setting, will surely foster colleague relationships that will generate a positive company culture and improve how staff work and communicate.
LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2022 report identifies company culture as one of the top priorities amongst job seekers when picking a new job, with a staggering 40% of the survey participants selecting it as one of the most important factors.
It’s, therefore, evident that good workplace culture has a huge impact on how successful a company is in attracting and retaining top talent, supporting the case that team-building activities can prove worthwhile.
Such events provide the opportunity to break down barriers between team members and management, helping build respect and trust amongst an organisation’s workforce.
Moreover, this can also help better mitigate potential conflict, as employees become more understanding and sympathetic with one another, reducing workplace toxicity, improving the company’s culture and making the organisation a desired place to work.
When planning social events, it’s important to focus on creating meaningful experiences to bring employees together and making sure they’re events that everyone will enjoy.
Social events can be an invaluable tool for building stronger teams and boosting team morale, so creating opportunities where everyone feels comfortable is essential, to guarantee participation and ensure everyone feels included.
Nevertheless, there are different types of social events to choose from, depending on the company’s objectives, needs and budget, but here are some ideas to consider:
This can include anything from scavenger hunts to team relays and escape rooms, where team members are encouraged to work together, employ collaboration and problem-solving, in a more fun environment. In turn, this can greatly improve their teamwork skills by communicating and helping one another.
Providing employees with opportunities to attend networking events isn’t only beneficial for their professional development, but also for their employer.
Through networking events, employees can build connections which could lead to business opportunities and career advancement, as well as develop interpersonal skills they can utilise in their roles.
It’s vital for employers to recognise their staff’s achievements and show appreciation for their hard work, so celebrations like staff parties or extended coffee breaks allow employees to enjoy their colleagues’ company in a more relaxed environment.
Whether that involves meeting targets, company anniversaries or milestone birthdays, no matter how significant the celebration is, marking these moments is a great way for employers to show their staff that they care.
Although not everyone might want to come along, creating opportunities for staff to socialise outside of work is crucial to building stronger teams. Consider after-work drinks or meals, cinema nights, book clubs or (for the active individuals) running clubs. These are some fun ways to get employees away from their computer screens to socialise, mingle, and connect.
Keep in mind though that the choice of outing should include most, if not everyone’s preferences. For instance, not everyone enjoys drinking alcohol so a more inclusive and accommodating location should be considered so that everyone feels welcomed.
All things considered, attending social events can undeniably bring employees together, make them feel more comfortable with each other and as a result, build stronger teams that can work more effectively.
Take sports teams, for example. Continuous practice between the players helps teams become stronger and perform better. The same goes for corporate teams. While sports teams systematically practise to improve their athletic skills, team building enables employees to build on and practise essential skills such as collaboration, communication and teamwork to work better with other members of their team.
Learn how to make your team stronger by enrolling on a 100% online CMI course with us.