Team building, too important to be left for others

The proper weather for getting out and having fun is here so let's talk about our approach on getting the team connected and how the things are working smoothly when all the members of the team are really knowing each other.

Is that so? The good employees are leaving the managers not the company?

There are a lot of voices saying that good employees are leaving the managers, not the company, but I think that the employees migration between companies, in IT sector is more than that, it's more about the influence, the perfect dream  that pushes people in such a manner that they can't refuse a salary increase opportunity, no matter how many sacrifices they should make and even more, unfortunately, about fake promises.

But let's focus on how, as a manager, you can do your best for your people to feel free, to feel safe, to feel happy together as a team, because I think the team building is too important to be in charge of an extern. Even if, from time to time it's good to see another point of view, it's good to always be involved in your team’s development.
Team building is not for doing one or two times a year but every minute and every day with everybody, otherwise yes, employees are leaving the managers, because managers are not connected to each person’s needs.

Team building starts from the beginning, from the first time when you choose someone for your team

Every time when I meet new people that want to join us I ask myself "is this person right for our team?". This part is really important for us because we are not such a big team, and the connection between team members becomes stronger if the people can match. And because we invest a lot in our people we want to build a long term relationship.

Beside that I think, that in a time of high numbers, we need those people that really want to be part of our team and because we don't need dozens of new employees, we have the luxury of picking the best that fits our needs.

Team building will make your clients happy

Some of people might say: “What team building has to do with the clients? It's just about your employees." Not quite, as Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) said "Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients!", so our most powerful resource is our team.
For example, if you have a difficult client, but you have a project manager that has trust in his team and the team trusts him, that project manager can transmit that trust to the client, so that the client may be transformed in the most powerful promoter for your company.

So, team building needs to be made in-house

I don't want to say that team building companies are not useful or productive, I’m just saying that they are not necessarily the best solution for every company. Their team building are good for masses but not that good for individuals.
But, anyway, I don't want to talk about team building companies, I want to talk about how small companies like ours could connect their team more by organizing this aspect internally.

Each member of the team is:

• An important member of the team
• Responsible for the team to be connected
• Responsible for something not just in working projects but also in team buildings
• Sustaining an important opinion
• In right to assume his acts

So, because of that, team building has to be made every day, because the most important moments for the team to bond are in apparently small and non-significant moments:

• when one of them is late to an important meeting in the morning because he worked late to fix a bug
• when the developer doesn't understand the bug reported by the tester
• when the one that is responsible to order lunch forgets about sending the order
• when one of them wants to leave the company and other convince him that it’s a bad idea
• when the guys prepare the salad and the girls prepare the barbecue
• when one is a sleepy head and other calls him every morning to wake him up

What is important for you as a team player?