Leadership and management are integral in the functioning of a successful business team.
Very simply, all members of a company’s senior management or executive team need to be aligned with the company’s culture, vision and processes for the company to operate effectively.
If there is no team unity at the senior level, this will resonate through the entire company creating conflict, confusion, insecurity, low morale and the list goes on.
If there is team unity and cohesion at the top, a platform is set for strong morale, high productivity, good communication and even plenty of fun in the workplace.
A traditional method to develop effective senior executive or senior management teams is a ‘corporate retreat’ or ‘executive retreat’ – a developmental team building program held away from the workplace.
Some recent articles and commentary have highlighted how corporate retreats are once again becoming a trend and not perceived as a lavish recreational getaway.
Particularly given business today is evolving and moving faster than ever before with technological advancements, senior management has to ensure the effective operation of their teams and adaptation with their changing environments.
Now, more than ever before, team building has become integral for senior executives.
The four areas where team building plays such a vital role for these key leaders and decision makers are:
1. Leadership
Key questions that a structured executive team building program will answer include: what style of leader are you, what style of team do you lead, and, what leadership qualities currently exist in your team that you may or may not know about?
A team building program incorporating self-awareness activities with exercises to create a greater understanding and application of team dynamics will help you identify how to get the best from your team.
2. Innovation
Empowering your team to identify and propose new opportunities will keep you one step ahead of your competition.
Team building programs can be tailored to challenge and teach your team to embrace innovation and develop an environment that could generate your industry’s next great product or service.
3. Agility
One of the buzz words in corporate New Zealand at the moment is ‘agility’. Brought over from the sporting world, it means how fast and flexible is your organisation to move with and adapt to a changing world.
Team building programs with a focus on agility will stretch your team and provide the qualities and knowledge on how to change whilst maintaining your core vision. Agile thinking will help you provide your customers with what they want more quickly.
4. Creativity
Have you ever thought you had the next great invention, only to do some research and discover it already exists? Well by empowering creativity within your team, you could find that there are many great ideas yet to be developed.
Creativity and lateral thinking have long been skills left to a select few. Team building programs can be designed to provide your entire team with the tools to think ‘outside the square’. What new opportunities or ideas could this create for your business?
In conclusion, I believe the best and most effective team building programs for senior executives to embrace a changing business world are where ‘science meets adventure’ – combining the science of team development with the adventure of experiential learning.
Whether it’s a corporate retreat over a few days or a structured team building program over a shorter or longer period, you can develop significantly and quickly in leadership, innovation, agility and creativity for our fast-changing world.
As Plato once said, “you learn more in an hour of play than a lifetime of conversation”!
Dwain Richardson, Managing Director, Corporate Challenge Events
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