We’ve all heard the phrase team building at work many times – usually during team meetings or an office-wide get-together. In basic terms, team building activities are a way to get together with our colleagues and connect on a more personal level. However, team building initiatives also serve a valuable purpose in any organization’s success, and AEC is no different.
Our passion is to find better ways, and we’re committed to developing the best solutions for our clients and partners. That’s a pretty broad goal, especially when you consider that AEC has more than 200 employees in five locations across the world. Despite belonging to different departments and working from separate locations, though, every AEC employee is on the same team, working towards the same goals, just like a sports team. And team building activities help us both recognize and actively feel that, even when working from home, from on the road, or from different countries entirely.
So how exactly do team building activities help us achieve our shared goals? The first step is simple, really: they bring us together. A convivial Zoom happy hour or office-wide barbeque can boost morale and improve office-wide communication by allowing you to meet colleagues you may never have seen. This already can have a dramatic impact on inter-office communication: it’s always easier to email or connect with colleagues when you have actually met them in person and know a bit more about who they are.
Completing fun activities and challenges as a group also encourages collaboration, teamwork, and creativity. Collaborating with others can open your mind to new perspectives, ideas, and attitudes, especially when it’s in a different type of environment. As you tackle new scenarios together, you may come up with creative solutions that you would not have thought of otherwise. This transfer of ideas is especially valuable to international organizations like AEC, who have employees from all over the world who each bring their own unique insights and cultural backgrounds.
However, the most significant impact of team building is likely a boost in employee morale. At AEC, we are driven by passion: the passion to find better ways and the passion to adapt to ever-present challenges and changes in our industry. When a team is unmotivated, productivity goes down and it is harder to feel passionate about what you do. This is where the importance of team building activities really becomes tangible and clear. Team building events create a sense of camaraderie among colleagues, leading to greater enthusiasm at work. Showing your team members you appreciate their efforts by rewarding them with fun outings and activities that also foster making more personal connections can lead to a more open and positive work environment and increase motivation.
A team is only as strong as its weakest player, so fostering growth, adaptability, creativity, and collaboration through team building is a crucial part of any organization’s success. At AEC, our core values of adaptability, growth, kindness, leadership, professionalism, and reliability guide our goals, and team building activities are a great way to emphasize those ideals – so we can head back to work reenergized, passionate, and excited to tackle the next challenge.
Fostering team spirit and cohesiveness is incredibly important to AEC’s CEO, Andrew Pilsworth, who believes that authenticity and kindness among team members is crucial to any business’ long-term success. In that spirit, yesterday our Munich office got together to visit the Oktoberfest, which returned after two years’ postponement, as a team! Read what else Andrew has to say about developing a successful company culture.
