Health & Medical
A course in communication
How to use team-building activities to improve communication
By Brooke Bates
Smart Business Cleveland | December 2008
Darryl Greene’s search fora team-building exerciselanded him here: helmeted and harnessed, staringstraight up at a wooden towerthat soared more than 40 feetabove him.
Greene wanted to unite Cleveland Clinic employees who were unfamiliar witheach other before they beganworking together regularly.So he took more than a dozenof them to the high ropescourse at Camp Cheerful, theAchievement Centers forChildren’s Strongsville location. They left as a cohesiveteam that communicates morefreely and, as a result, workstogether more efficiently.
To decide whether a similaractivity could patch gaps inyour team’s communication,look for indicators that employees aren’t meshing as well asthey could, such as employeesasking you to referee instead oftalking to each other directly orrefusing help from another coworker, says Greene, executivedirector of performance andservice improvement forCleveland Clinic.
“If you hear in conversationwhere people are dismissive orbelittling or emote less of aregard for the skills of another,there’s an opportunity,” he says.
There’s also an opportunityfor team building if you’re taking on a big task and you needto work closely with peopleand learn to trust them.
To promote team building,Greene says you should seekout an activity in which everyone has the same goal, ratherthan pitting people against eachother. With activities such aspaintball or video games, whichGreene also considered doing, “you’re going to have toomuch individual activity,” hesays. “Shooting each otherwith paintballs isn’t exactly away of forming unity.”
On the other hand, with thehigh ropes course, employeeshave to talk to each otherbecause they are responsiblefor their co-workers’ success.For example, in one activity,each employee must lead ablindfolded partner to the topof the tower.
“The course has a teamdynamic in terms of creatingunity,” Greene says. “We’re alltrying to accomplish the samething, but we have different skillsets to get there.”
The physical factor may intimidate some employees, but challenging them in nonwork-related tasks can help bond employees on a social level beyond theconference room.
“What we saw happen is theirpeers help talk them through it,”he says, explaining how employees encouraged a woman with afear of heights. “There wasencouragement and empathy inthe dialogue.”
After the experience, debriefyour employees to relate thephysical lessons to an office setting. Encourage them to pushcolleagues toward goals at worklike they cheered them onthrough the activity. And remindthem to trust co-workers withtheir input like they trusted themfor guidance on the course.
“You had people say, ‘I reallydidn’t know what you wereabout, but I could see where Ican call you to work on things,because I think we could solvesome things together,’” Greenesays of his debriefing session.
Greene has seen communication open up in his office sincecompleting the course a yearago. Employees who wouldn’teven discuss work-relatedissues are now chatting socially.
“People are giving feedbackmore often, and people are listening to that feedback because theytrust the individual enough to say,‘I value your opinion,’” he says.
Green suggests repeating thistype of activity annually or moreoften, like when new employeesare hired or you notice problemsin the office. And in betweensessions, continue to referencethe experience as a motivator.
“Now you can talk to peoplein the context of high ropes,”Greene says. “‘This is one ofthose high rope events. ... Yousay, ‘It’s a big goal. It’s going totake you awhile to get up there.There are alternative paths, andif you don’t get there on yourown, someone else is going tohelp you.’”
HOW TO REACH: Cleveland Clinic, (800) 223-2273 or my.clevelandclinic.org
An exercise in teamwork
Companies seeking a team-work overhaul come to Tim Fox,director of recreational servicesfor Achievement Centers forChildren, where he customizesactivities for different facets ofgroup development.
He says the key to development is emphasizing collectivity,so he assigns goals that can’t beaccomplished individually.
“If you can put your full trustinto your partner, you canaccomplish the goal and yourlimits can get broader,” he says.“Otherwise, you may only endup 50 percent to where you trulycan be.”
If everyone has a specific role,people will be less likely toattempt success alone.
“It’s not just the communication [that’s important in an activity,]” Fox says. “It’s the support.It’s the encouragement. It’s thewhole team aspect of identifyingwhere everybody’s roles are.”
With the high ropes course,not everyone has to reach thetop for the whole team to succeed. The climbers wouldn’t getvery high, for example, withoutboth physical and verbal supportfrom teammates on the ground.
And discovering each other’sroles in the team-building exercises will help employees locatetheir prime positions in businessprojects, Fox says.
“It really comes down to a better understanding of eachother,” he says, “which is thenrelated into their approach withthe entire team.”
HOW TO REACH: Achievement Centersfor Children, Camp Cheerful, (440) 238-6200
