What happens in a team building activity?

There's something we know happens in every team, no matter if they don't know each other, if they've been working together forever or even if they are school kids.

They ALL follow Tuckman's stages. Bruce Tuckman was an American Psychological Researcher.

In 1965 he studied how people behave in a group and developed these 4 phases. Let's have a closer look and specifically see how these stages affect a team performance in our virtual activities.

When we enter the Zoom room and meet the participants, there's always a little bit of shyness. This is the phase when we introduce ourselves, the games and a few rules. We know that the first minutes will be used to understand what the goal is and how to interact with one another. It's our job as hosts and facilitators to create a safe environment where member feel like sharing. But in this phase, it's normal to stay silent, hoping that someone else will speak and take the lead. A few ice breakers will help us go to the second stage!

At this point things start to warm up: there's still no sense of team work but there's definitely something going on: a few people might take the lead and some might not agree with that. When trying to solve an enigma, most teams start working individually without sharing their ideas for the benefit of the group. In this stage we push members to divide tasks, speak their minds and actively participate in the game. We crack a few jokes to lighten the mood and decrease pressure.

We are now is the 3rd stages, where individuals realize how much more productive they are when they play as a team. Everyone feels engaged, focused and relaxed enough to speak up but also listen and accept other points of view as a precious help. Our job here gets a little bit easier as team members feel more autonomous and able to achieve their goal without our help.

The final stage is the completion of Tuckman's theory. By now everyone is somehow participating, and the team function perfectly. Members show more flexibility as they assume a specific role: there's who take notes, who recaps ideas, who divides tasks and who writes on the screen for everybody to be on the same page.

Pro-activity increases and the team can face challenges and solve problems using a combination of their soft skills and abilities. At the end of the experience everyone feels part of a team, relationships have been strengthen and we all feel successful!

Did you know about Tuckman's stages? Next time you book an experience with us you'll be able . This is the phase whenre we e es. Needless to say, depending on the team, they could get stuck in one of these phases longer than others, or quickly move from one phase to the next one. But we're always going to be there helping you and making sure you're having the best of time!