Team Building Events May Be Replaced By Team Re-Building

While some companies, particularly those in technology, eCommerce, and residential real estate, went full-speed ahead during the pandemic, others hit the pause button.  Even if business was good, normal day-to-day operations were put on hold and employee cohesion and company culture suffered. This has had an unexpected impact on team building events.

As more people worked from home, they lost the human connection with each other and may have become disengaged with their fellow employees and the organization in general.

A recent article in Forbes laments the decline of the proverbial “water cooler” conversations. Forbes reports that employee engagement suffers when there are no in-person interactions with team members. Summarizing a survey of more than 2,300 remote workers conducted by Buffer, 12% said that staying motivated was the biggest difficulty for them, and another 16% said overall communication and collaboration suffer.

A recent article in Axios highlighting a Gallup survey came to a similar conclusion. The biggest problem leaders are facing—employee disengagement. What are the implications for team building?

“The conventional wisdom that more people across the board are more likely than ever to leave their jobs is wrong,” according to Gallup. “What’s really happening is that self-identified ‘disengaged’ workers are ditching jobs faster than ever.” It turns out that engagement, not pay or perks, is the leading indicator — and chief reason — for the record turnover many companies are experiencing today.

It’s Time To Think Like a Recruiter When It Comes to Team Building Events

According to Axios, companies doing the best tend to have a higher purpose than mere profit, first-rate internal communications on a weekly cadence, and a culture with a heavy emphasis on diversity, inclusion and transparency.

One answer may be team re-building events. But what does that mean?

Think about recruiting in a broader sense. Invite prospective employees and recruits to a corporate team building event and treat them just like you would an existing team member. Show them what you are all about.

At these events, pair happy engaged employees with new employees or recruits. Start to germinate the seeds of engagement using people who are truly engaged.

Consider team building events like cooking classes from Team Building with Taste for this type of re-building. Everyone gets involved. Engaged employees are easily paired with new or disengaged employees. Essentially, you use the inherent strengths of your own organization to rebuild your culture.