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FEATURE ▪ Human Resources Team drumming, skydiving and rock climbing are just a few of the unique teambuilding activities taking employees to new heights Attracting and keeping top employees is often the rationale behind team-building events. Doust says there’s more to teambuilding than simple retention issues but does acknowledge that there is pressure to keep ahead of the curve. Hot air ballooning, taking a comedy improv class, fire walking — just another day at work, right Not at all — and that’s the point. By taking employees out of their comfort zone, physically and emotionally, companies are counting on unfamiliarity to create deeper working relationships, particularly during reshuffling or periods of change. What companies hope to gain from team-building and what employees actually get from the experience may be very different. Professor Gerard Seijts, associate professor of organizational behaviour at the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, suggests coherence is a key factor in an event’s effectiveness. Businesses need to make sure employees are briefed on the true significance of the action to insure the benefit. They need to answer an employee’s unspoken question: “Why the heck am I here instead of doing my job” Here, Seijts says, a good facilitator is essential. ”The facilitator needs to clearly explain how [the employees] are going to take these lessons to the boardroom or onto the factory floor. If they don’t do that or if they’re not interested then it’s a waste of money.” NOT A PANACEA A trust fall — when you fall back into the arms of a colleague — may act as a dramatic metaphor for building team confidence, but the reality is that genuine trust and respect between coworkers doesn’t spontaneously develop. Professor Lynne Purvis, a psychologist who specializes in workplace issues at the University of Surrey in the U.K., points out good working relationships develop in the daily encounters and experiences of the workplace. “Team-building exercises may at the very least furnish opportunities to get to know colleagues better; however, trust is something built up over time through behaviour. If there is no infrastructure in place to support teamwork back in the workplace, then there will be no teamwork — however expensive the intervention,” says Purvis. Team-building exercises play with metaphors of the workplace, but a workplace culture needs to be built on concrete realities, such as competitive compensation, decent vacation time and investment in training and skills development, says Seijts. LOOKING WITHIN Thinking inside the box may also have benefits when it comes to team building. Daniel Torchia, managing director of Torchia Communications, a small communications firm in Toronto and Montreal, allows employee 14 STATEMENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011
personalities and interests to determine appropriate team-building excursions. “We look at what our colleagues do on their own free time: what passions they have, what keeps them busy outside of work. For example, one of our colleagues loves theatre and belongs to a theatre group, so we took the whole staff out for dinner and to a show,” says Torchia. The small staff size — there are only six people in the Toronto office — is an advantage, but larger companies may benefit from seeing the individual in team building. Flannery Dean is a Toronto-based writer and editor. Cultural differences can also be the cause of some inadvertent slips in civility. While a multicultural workforce is an asset to an organization in many ways, some actions perceived as rude by coworkers may simply be the result of cultural differences. Act quickly Addressing issues when they first arise is key. “What we think, is what we feel, is how we act,” says Allan. “If small annoyances are not addressed, employees’ thinking can turn into emotion and then turn into action.” In many cases, says Allan, it is appropriate to address a concern verbally, during a company meeting. “I would suggest keeping the commentary anecdotal, reporting comments from a client visiting the office, for example, so as not to single out any one person or department.” Follow the code Allan recommends adding a “respect in the workplace” piece to existing codes of conduct, requesting input directly from employees, so it can reflect what staff members would like to see — and avoid — in the workplace. “If codes of conduct and expectations for behaviour and communication are clearly outlined, it’s easier to hold people accountable,” says Bayer. Go back to school At Aegon Canada, Fiona Betivoiu, senior manager of training and development, offers training to all employees on a regular basis about respect in the workplace, business and meeting etiquette, and communication skills. “We offer a leadership certification program to our managers focusing on the value of coaching, asking questions and adapting our communication styles. Three months after the program is over I check up on all graduates to see how they are doing, find out if they’re asking questions of their staff and if they’re adapting to different communication styles,” she says. Defining a culture for new employees as soon as they walk through the front door is one approach to preventing trouble in the future. Allan recommends a day of training for new employees, during which HR spends time talking about what expectations are for culture and civility. “This kind of investment,” she says, “pays handsomely in terms of newcomers taking the messaging to heart.” Model behaviour “Much of the time workplaces make the mistake of preaching about the value of civility or spend months trying to define it for their specific workplace in an effort to get buy-in,” says Bayer. “My experience has been that talking about it is rarely effective. You just have to do it. Focus on the benefits and just start making changes.” Betivoiu agrees. “From a training and development perspective, we can offer lots of courses and coaching and create policies to support a respectful workplace.” But for an organization to have a truly respectful culture, she says, “it has to be from the top down. If each senior manager coaches his or her direct reports, adapts their communication style and encourages asking questions, there’s a better chance that a respectful culture will permeate.” She advises HR and the training department partner very closely with senior management to create a respectful coachingbased culture. Melissa Campeau is a Toronto-based freelance writer AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011 STATEMENTS 15
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