YES! Team building does work. And it works very well.

Team building activities are a part of the modern corporate landscape.  But as you and your colleagues outstretch your arms to catch a coworker for yet another trust fall, part of you might start to wonder: Does this actually do anything for productivity?  

Team Building Works

A large body of research suggests team building is worthwhile for a variety of reasons – a few of which you might not have anticipated.  

In the 1920s, an organizational theorist named Elton Mayo began studying how different work conditions affected employee productivity.  His studies, conducted at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric in Chicago, became known as the Hawthorne Studies. The studies provide us with a lot of what we know about office-based productivity and teamwork. 

One of the experiments observed two groups of workers. The first group had the lights turned up brighter in their office, the second group didn’t. Productivity was higher in the first group. The interesting thing is what happened when the lights were turned back down – the first group remained more productive. Mayo concluded that the boosts in productivity in the first group were not due to the changes he had made to the working environment (changing lighting and humidity), but rather the workers became more productive simply because their employer was paying attention to how the employee was doing and attempting to help them increase productivity. 

More relevant to team building was another part of the Hawthorne Study. In this study, 7 female workers from an assembly line were selected to form a workgroup. One of the workers was chosen to supervise the group while they worked. They were observed over a period of five years. For comparison, a control group of randomly selected female workers was also observed. The women were asked to assemble telephone relays, with the number of relays made each day being a measure of their productivity. Throughout the experiment, physical factors were modified:  shorter workdays, more breaks, and free food during breaks. As expected, productivity increased. Once again, however, Mayo concluded that the increase in productivity was not caused by the changes to their physical environment, but was the result of other factors.  In this case, it was that the women were part of one team. The women had become close and they didn’t want to look bad in the eyes of the “supervisor” due to poor output. Once the experiment was over, the women were interviewed. They stated that the close and intimate atmosphere of the “team” created a feeling of freedom, which they couldn’t enjoy on the big assembly line. They also noted that since they were able to talk to each other, they formed a strong friendship. The team was informally followed even after the experiment concluded and it was noted that their productivity continued to rise. 

The Hawthorne Studies results are fascinating, especially as they relate to the effectiveness of team building.  Employees who are encouraged to work together as a team (versus working as isolated units) are often more productive.  This should be good news for companies because it is very easy to incorporate team building exercises into your next company meeting, whether it is held in-person or virtually. Cheeriodicals offers turn-key team building events that are designed to encourage your employees to work together as a team, as well as to give back to their local community.  During our in-person events, your employees work in teams to follow instructions (with one person acting as a supervisor to observe them) to assemble 100’s of cheer-up gifts that are then donated to children hospitalized at local children’s hospitals, Veterans hospitalized at local VA facilities or frontline hospital workers managing the care of COVID-19 patients. During our virtual events, we ship supplies and instructions to your employees’ homes, and the Cheeriodicals are assembled simultaneously on your virtual platform before being shipped to the hospital.

How does it work when you partner with Cheeriodicals?

Where ever your corporate event is held (in-person or virtually), the Cheeriodicals team comes to you. Cheeriodicals supplies a coach and all the supplies needed to assemble the cheer-up gifts.  We manage all of the logistics involved in shipping the supplies to your event location, transporting the assembled gifts to the hospitals, and coordinating with the hospital staff to receive and distribute the gifts.  We can even create a video of the assembly and distribution of the gifts for you to share with your team and clients.

To learn more about Cheeriodicals’ team building services, contact us!

Source: HR Review, The Hawthorne Effect, and the Origin of Team Building, Lachezar Stamatov.  9/2/14.