Team Building Exercises

The best learning comes from hands-on team building exercises. Use engaging training to teach the core values of collaboration and communication to your team members.

27
jun
0
Team_effectiveness

Workplace Team Effectiveness: Success and Failure

Posted by Team Building ExercisesNo Comments

We often lose clarity rather than gain it in an area that enjoys a resurgence of focus and research. Team effectiveness is one of those areas that has gotten a lot of attention recently, and many professionals are still scratching their heads. Regardless of widely varying opinions, surveys and research findings, one thing we know for sure is that teams are both a success and a catastrophe. That is, their efficacy is polarized; they often lead to greater productivity, and just as often, their efforts seem to be all but wasted, and they diminish into one more empty campaign introduced by a popular leadership guru or author.

According to a psychology professor at Harvard University, work teams cluster at opposite ends of the success continuum. We also have a greater knowledge of what distinguishes the successful teams from the all out failures. Here are the findings:

What Are Team Effectiveness Skills, Anyway?

Successful teams favor consistent, periodic training sessions versus one intensive training session and just as important is time spent working together and gathering experience as a group. Team members also must be given the opportunity to stretch with each new project or phase of a project, and the responsibility for giving them the ability to grow lies with the leader.

Neither a Dictator nor Collaborator Be

Many leaders maintain their traditional, didactic boss demeanor when working with a team. The flip side is the ultimate collaborator, who gives up all authority to move the team ahead when it is hungry for leadership. The best solution lies in between; successful team leaders back off from the patterns of a traditional boss while maintaining a certain amount of leadership in the group.

Rewards for Successful Teams

One difficult part of the surge in teamwork mentality is that most American companies’ compensation programs are based solely on individual performance. If an organization is serious about building a team culture, then measurement tools (at least a cursory program) must be in place and compensation or other rewards should be tied to team performance.

All in all, teams are important and the results of teams can be remarkable. But if they are left on their own to develop and grow, they may not produce the desired results. They need to be fostered and led. Members need to know that their efforts at becoming a better team are valued by the organization.

Learn more about how to create your own team effectiveness with the HRDQ resource Team Effectiveness Profile, and attend the upcoming free webinar Team Effectiveness: What is it Anyway?

Register today!

13
mar
1
team_effectiveness_training

Improving Team Effectiveness

Posted by Team Building ExercisesNo Comments

Employees have to operate as a team very frequently in the workplace. But there are many areas they need to work through in order to perform at the highest level of team effectiveness. If anyone on the team has issues, the entire team suffers. Focusing on five core areas of competency will allow a team to function properly to meet goals and achieve success.

There are five areas of team effectiveness to focus on:

  • Mission, vision, and goals. The team should have a strong and unified vision of the future, while the organization should have a clearly defined and well-communicated mission statement and purpose. The group makes plans and all work is managed against the goals or objectives. 
  • Team roles. The team’s work should be organized to support the overarching goals, and each team member should have a clearly defined role and job description. If everyone knows what their own responsibilities are, the group can function well and move smoothly through complex projects. Each team member also needs to take accountability for the work they are responsible for.
  • Operating processes. Team members need to be aware of the organization’s operating processes. Policies and procedures can be used to manage the work or operations of the group, like problem solving, conflict management and decision making.
  • Interpersonal relationships. Team members must work well with each other. If they don’t, the team will likely fail. Trust is key in a team where each person is responsible for both their own tasks and the achievement of the group as a whole.
  • Inter-team relationships. Teams need to work with other teams in an organization. They must work cooperatively and collaboratively in order for an organization to succeed.

If these important categories are assessed and prioritized, then the team will likely succeed due to its strength and unity. But sometimes further help to get there is needed. Team Effectiveness Profile is a diagnostic instrument designed to assist groups in improving their output and work satisfaction. It was developed to help groups systematically identify issues and maximize the team’s productive efforts.

To learn more about team effectiveness, watch HRDQ’s webinar “Team Effectiveness: What is it Anyway?”  The webinar is based on “Team Effectiveness Profile.” Participants will learn how to identify issues that block effectiveness, reduce or eliminate problems that can drain a group’s energy, maximize the group’s productive efforts.

 

20
dec
0
Team_effectiveness_webinar

The Importance of Team Effectiveness

Posted by Team Building ExercisesNo Comments

Nearly every workplace requires employees to be part of a team. Each team member needs to bring forth their best efforts to communicate effectively and work together, which hopefully leads to improved team effectiveness and more success. If a team doesn’t work well together, it can impact the entire organization.

Unfortunately, sometimes teams simply do not work efficiently. There can be “blockages” which cause issues leading to failures in projects. If teammates don’t get along, the entire team suffers – deadlines are missed, arguments take place, and stress builds. When there is a problem in a team, the issue should be addressed by the manager or colleagues immediately to prevent any further fallout. But oftentimes the problems are ignored and tension begins to build. However, if a team knows about the most important qualities they should possess, it’s easier to prevent blockages and grow together.

There are five areas that should be acknowledged when working as a team:

Mission, vision, and goals – The team should have a strong vision of the future and the organization should have a clearly defined and well-communicated mission statement and purpose. Plans are created as a team and work is managed against the goals or objectives.

Team roles – Work should be organized to support the team’s goals, and each team member should have a clearly defined role. If everyone knows what their own responsibilities are, the team can function well and move smoothly through complex projects.

Operating processes – Teams should be aware of the organization’s operating processes. Policies and procedures are used to manage the work or operations of the group, like problem solving, conflict management and decision making.

Interpersonal relationships – Team members needs to be able to work well with each other. Trust is key in a team where each person is responsible for both their own tasks and the achievement of the team as a whole.

Inter-team relationships – Teams also need to work with other teams in an organization. When teams are competitive or hostile it is a drain on the entire company and this often leads to serious failures. Teams must work cooperatively and collaboratively in order for an organization to succeed.

Why Work to Improve Team Effectiveness?

One of the biggest priorities for teammates should be the effectiveness of the team itself. Each team member should know what their responsibilities are, and communicate with others when there are any issues – and they should also keep the team’s objectives and goals in mind at all times. If a team works well together, there are less problems in the organization overall. The team can handle any task thrown their way and this leads to a better bottom line.

To learn how to improve team effectiveness, watch HRDQ’s webinar “Team Effectiveness: What is it Anyway?” . You will learn about the HRDQ product Team Effectiveness Profile, and discover how to identify issues that block effectiveness, how to reduce or eliminate problems that can drain a group’s energy, and how to maximize the group’s productive efforts. Watch the webinar today!

3
aug
2

How to Use Games to Create Microlearning Moments with Lasting Impact

Posted by Team Building Exercises, Teamwork GamesNo Comments

I grew up playing lots of games. My siblings and I played (and fought over) Aggravation, Clue, Monopoly, Canasta, Tripoli, Old Maid, Spoons, and Euchre. Outdoors we played hide-and-seek, croquet, sardines, and Marco Polo. My passion for games stems from great memories of how much fun I had playing them as a kid.

But not everyone loves playing games. When I ask non-gamers what they don’t like games, the response I get most often is, “I just don’t see the point. Games are a waste of time.” This is unfortunate because games have the power to create a shared “ah-ha” for learners in a way that other tactics cannot. They teach without the preach.

Introducing a New Game

Last week I asked a group of teammates in the office to play a game I recently learned called “Kunja.” Kunja is an energizer game played by Boys and Girls Clubs by older kids and teens. You can see from the video that I enjoyed this game way more than my teammates. (I’m the one in red.) It involves chanting different phrases (Kun-ja, Bunny-Bunny, and Tokey-Tokey) in a specified order, depending on who is doing what. It gets silly fast.

My teammates humored me, but they were definitely not fans. They – without saying it in so many words – were in the “this is a waste of time” camp or the “this game is silly” camp.

Teachable Microlearning Moments

With a small amount of advanced thinking, I could have flipped this game into an ah-ha experience. I could have used those very attitudes (this is silly; this is a waste of time) to my advantage from a learning standpoint. Here’s the reflection I could have done to convert this from a simple distraction into a powerful ah-ha and microlearning moment:

  • “How many of you secretly worried about looking silly in front of your teammates?” Wait for responses and then point out, “Fear holds us back from lots of things. It might have held you back from simply letting go and having fun with others here. Other times it might hold you back from speaking up, sharing an idea, or doing something new that scares you.”
  • “How many of you felt silly – or thought this was a time waster that kept you from work?” Wait for responses and point out, “Laughter and shared silliness can build relationships. Strong relationships make for better teamwork. Better teamwork means better work product. Taking a break and cultivating laughter is often one of the most productive things you can do.”
  • “How many of you felt downright uncomfortable?” Wait for responses and make the point, “The more we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations the more confidence we gain that we can survive and thrive while being uncomfortable. You don’t grow when you are comfortable; you grow by deliberately making yourself UNcomfortable.”

Set up correctly, a game like this flips from “time waster” to powerful microlearning experience (for those who love the phrase). It takes five minutes to play. A good post-game reflection takes another 2-3 minutes, and the overall impact and retention of the learning points can be long-lasting.

Create Your Own Game

Don’t need a game of risk-taking? Then take the concepts from this game and alter the content to turn it into a learning game about something else. By swapping the chants in this game with ones such as “deadlines, emails, IMs” and shifting the game element from one of competition to cooperation, I could turn this into a great microlearning lesson on multi-tasking and its negative impact on productivity.

You get my point, here. Games can function as frames with you inputting content to reflect the learning need you have. Simple games. Powerful results. Minimal time required.

HRDQ-U and Sharon Boller hosted a FREE webinar you can watch here! 

This post was written by Sharon Boller.

20
jul
0

Does Gamification Actually Work? Yes, and Here’s Why

Posted by Experiential Learning Activities, HR Training, Human Resource Training, Leadership Games, Team Building Exercises, Teamwork GamesNo Comments

written by Sharon Boller

I’m a big Twitter fan; I use it to curate content and pay attention to people whose opinions I care about and the trends I’m interested in. I believe in hashtags (#GBL, #gamification, #UX, #ATD, #DevLearn) as they help me easily curate content and monitor those trends.

Last week, on the #ATD “back channel” (conversation that gets created when you diligently use hashtags to share info on a particular topic, person, or event), the topic of learning myths was hot and heavy, largely due to Clark Quinn’s newly-released (and excellent) book on the same topic.

Though gamification is not in Clark’s book, gamification came up on the #ATD back channel as part of a discussion on learning myths… and people were suddenly questioning whether it is a myth: “it doesn’t really work.”

Whoa.

As someone who has been immersed in the arena of learning games and the gamification of learning – and whose product and custom solutions have earned Brandon Hall awards because of the results they produce and who wrote a book on how to design effective learning games – I was understandably concerned by this line of conversation.

A Gamification Myth

In the instance of a recent Twitter conversation, truth emerged that some of the “myth” comments about gamification stemmed from a single study that one astute Twitterer, Shannon Tipton, called “full of holes as Swiss cheese.” The study authors did not provide any information about the two lessons being compared except for this: 1) the lessons were supposed to teach students how to divide fractions, and 2) one was called “basketball divide fractions” lesson and the other was simply called “divide fractions.”  The authors used their proprietary platform to conduct a controlled, randomized study to compare two lessons that teach students how to divide fractions.

The study suggests (but does not directly say) that one lesson was gamified in some fashion, but we aren’t told how. The other lesson was not gamified. The results overwhelmingly favored the non-gamified lesson. Kids learned faster and performed better on subsequent fractions tests that required them to divide fractions. The gamified approach resulted in lower test scores, even though kids spent longer in the lesson by choice. The authors indicate this increased amount of time spent on the lesson was 100% voluntary; the assumption they seem to want readers to have is that students had more fun doing one lesson than the other. From that single study that omits tons of relevant information, some folks conclude, “gamification of instruction doesn’t work.”

What’s Missing From this Study?

Let’s think about what we don’t know here:

  • The quality of the game/gamification design: How many game elements did they use? Were they used optimally? Was the gamified solution too complex so students’ expended too much brain power figuring out rules and too little learning fractions? Or was it motivating the wrong behavior? (e.g. Rewarding progress versus mastery. In scenarios that focus on rewarding progress, learners earn points simply by completing a problem. Getting the problem correct is not a criteria for earning a reward. Learners could also have been rewarded for speed, which could push them to guess the right solution rather than truly make an effort to solve for the right answer.)
  • The equivalency of the quality of the instructional design across the two solutions: Were both lessons, in fact, teaching identical principles and using some of the same techniques? Did they each have solid instructional design? (Example: did they both employ worked examples, which reduces cognitive load and increases learning efficiency?)

What the study illustrated was the basketball dividing fractions was less effective in helping students perform well on a fractions test than the lesson that did not include the gamified elements used in the basketball lesson. If I were a game designer on that lesson, I would want to go back to it and figure out what I’d done wrong in gamifying the lesson. I would not be ready to assume that gamification itself was the problem.

How to Effectively Use Games & Gamification

Bad gamification or game design is going to yield bad results just as bad instructional design is going to lead to poor results. That doesn’t mean gamification or games don’t work. So how do you use games and gamification effectively? Here are some principles that will help you maximize efficacy:

1. Keep game complexity simple, particularly when you are using a game to support relatively short lessons.
Do not over-complicate a learning game or gamified lesson with lots of game mechanics (aka rules) or game elements. Elements are things such as rewards, scoring, chance, strategy, resources, cooperation, competition, aesthetics, theme, and story. Doing so increases the cognitive load on your learner and makes it harder, not easier, to learn. (See this explanation of cognitive load theory, which was first identified by John Sweller in 1988.)

2. Reward players for performance, not completion.
If you are going to award points within the game, those points need to come from demonstrating knowledge or skill, not just progress. (See Karl Kapp’s book on the Gamification of Learning and Instruction. There’s an entire chapter on research studies and another on how to use rewards effectively – and what not to do.)

3. Be cautious with leaderboards.
Leaderboards can be fun, but be sure you focus on more than who is on top. Consider letting people see more about themselves rather than just what other players are doing. We are all very interested in ourselves so we like to see our rank relative to others, improvements we’ve made over time, personal bests, etc. We also like being part of a team. So consider team-based comparisons (e.g. by location, role, etc.) as opposed to just head-to-head individual comparisons.

4. As much as possible, align the game element choices you use to the learner’s actual job context.
In other words, avoid competition in a game if the job requires cooperation/collaboration. If you want to incorporate “chance” into a game (and this is a handy game element for balancing out gameplay), make sure you use it appropriately. This means matching the types of chance a player encounters in the game with the way chance occurs in the real world.

For example, if you are teaching project management, a great use of chance is to have it come up as a factor that requires the player to consider alternate strategies. “One of your teammates just called in sick. Identify two other viable strategies for meeting today’s deadline.” “Your client just called to say she’s going to miss her deadline. She asks, ‘How can we still hit the ultimate milestone. I don’t want the project to slip overall.’ What do you do?” (Play to Learn, the book I co-authored with Karl Kapp, outlines how to combine learning design and game design together to maximize the impact and efficacy of games.)

5. Make the in-game goal align with the learning goal in a reasonable way that “makes sense” for the learners who will play your game or complete your gamified lesson.
Again, mirror job context. If the real-world scenario is to achieve certain quality ratings for a medical facility, for example, mirror that goal within the game. This reduces cognitive load on your learners as they don’t have to distinguish what’s true in the game from what’s true in their job context. This blog post on playtesting features a game where we worked hard (via multiple iterations) to get our game goal and rewards just right to maximize learning.

6. Stop thinking you have to make the game super “fun.”
Fun doesn’t really matter if the focus is on optimizing the learning outcomes. What matters is relevance and a game design that reinforces and enhances the instructional design. A game needs to be “fun enough” to keep your player/learner involved in that game. You also need to re-think what “fun” is. Kevin Werbach of the Wharton School of Business does a great job of breaking down what people actually find fun and it includes things such as strategizing, problem-solving, and collaborating – all skills required in many jobs.

Additional Resources
Want more guidelines on effectively using games or gamification in instruction? Check out these resources:

HRDQ-U and Sharon Boller recorded a FREE webinar you can Watch here! 

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