What Is Real Team Building? Why Activities Work Better With Behavioural Insight

When people hear the words team building, they often think immediately of team building activities: challenges, games, problem-solving exercises, retreats, Amazing Races or perhaps an enjoyable day away from the workplace. Real team building goes further than activities alone.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  We often offer these activities to clients in tandem with a Belbin workshop.

A well-designed team building activity can create shared experiences, strengthen relationships, break down barriers and give people an opportunity to interact outside their normal workplace roles.

But is completing an activity together really the same thing as building a better team?

Not necessarily.

Real Team Building Goes Beyond the Activity

The lasting value of team building comes from understanding how people actually behave and interact when working with others.

Who naturally generates ideas?

Who turns those ideas into workable plans?

Who questions whether the idea will actually work?

Who notices that an important detail has been missed?

Who connects people, maintains relationships, drives progress or ensures that something actually gets finished?

These behavioural interactions happen every day in real teams, all too often without people consciously recognising them and giving it much thought.

That is where Belbin Team Roles can add considerable depth to team building.

Rather than simply giving people an enjoyable shared experience, Belbin helps teams understand the real behavioural strengths that individuals bring to collective work and how those different contributions will interact.

The Activity Creates the Experience. Belbin Helps Create the Meaning.

Experiential team building can provide an excellent practical laboratory for teamwork.

Place a team into a well-designed challenge and familiar workplace behaviours often emerge surprisingly quickly.

Some people take charge. Others analyse. Some generate possibilities. Some organise resources. Others focus strongly on relationships, standards, deadlines or detail.

The activity makes those behaviours visible.

Belbin then gives the team a practical language with which to explore them.

Individual Belbin Reports can help participants understand their preferred behavioural contributions, while Observer Assessments add valuable feedback from people who have actually worked alongside them. Team Reports can then reveal the broader spread of strengths, possible overlaps and potential gaps across the team.

Suddenly the debrief can move beyond:

“That was fun.”

or even:

“We communicated well.”

Instead, teams can explore much more useful questions.

Why did certain people naturally assume particular roles?

Did we have plenty of ideas but struggle to implement them?

Did several people compete to perform the same contribution?

Whose strengths weren't being used?

Who changed their behaviour when pressure increased?

And most importantly:

Does this happen back at work as well?

From Team Building Event to Team Development

This is where team building can generate greater lasting value.

The objective isn't merely to become better at completing a manufactured activity. The activity is simply a vehicle for uncovering patterns that may also influence meetings, projects, leadership, communication and everyday teamwork.

A strong team building programme might therefore combine:

• Individual behavioural insight;

• Observer feedback from colleagues;

• A Belbin Team Report;

• Engaging experiential team building activities;

• Facilitated reflection and discussion; and

• Practical actions that transfer the learning back into the workplace.

  
  

The result is a bridge between team building activities and genuine team development.

People don't just remember what happened during the activity. They gain a language and framework for recognising what happens when they work together every day.

Fun and Purpose Don't Have to Be Opposites

There can sometimes be an unnecessary divide between “fun team building” and “serious team development”.

The two can work extremely well together.

Fun creates energy, engagement and memorable shared experiences. A strong behavioural framework creates insight, relevance and practical application.

Combine the two well and an off-site, conference session or team building event can be both highly enjoyable and genuinely useful.

The important question therefore isn't simply:

“What team building activity should we do?”

A better question might be:

“What do we want this team to understand or do differently afterwards?”

Once that purpose is clear, the right activity can bring the behaviours to life, while Belbin provides the evidence, language and structure to help make the learning stick.

Building Teams That Work Better Back at Work

Ultimately, real team building isn't measured by whether people successfully complete a challenge on the day.

It's measured by what happens afterwards.

Do people understand one another better?

Are strengths being used more effectively?

Are roles clearer?

Can differences be discussed more constructively?

Does the team communicate, collaborate and make decisions more effectively?

That's where behavioural insight turns a memorable team building experience into something much more valuable.

The activity may create the moment. Understanding team behaviour is what can make that moment last.

NOTE: Australian Sole Belbin Distributor Sabre Team Building also has many quality experiential learning and team building approaches, many of which are paired with Belbin workshops and reports.