How team building can make a real difference to your business
In three weeks’ time, 12 Forward Rollers are tackling the muddiest Tough Mudder course in the UK. With 10 miles and over 20 obstacles to complete, it is certainly going to be a challenge! So why are we putting ourselves through this crazy encounter?
Team building activities have been popular in America for a long time and like so many other things, have made their way overseas and are being embraced by lots of businesses here in the UK.
There are many reasons why team building activities like Tough Mudder are great for businesses but here are my top 5…
Getting to know your colleagues better
The Tough Mudder gang includes a mixture of people from all of the different teams in the business. It is therefore giving us the chance to spend more time with those we might not normally, building new relationships and strengthening existing ones.
Improving your fitness
Our team includes people that work out every day, work out every week and some who don’t work out at all… but that doesn’t matter. We will be tackling the whole course as a team and helping each other to get through it, by pushing ourselves individually and also working together. In the run up to Tough Mudder, Forward Role has been running weekly Yoga sessions (because stretching is important - especially when training!) and I have been organising Circuit Training classes after work to give everyone that extra fitness push.
That feel-good feeling
We all know it is going to be hard, but the feeling we will get when we cross that finish line will be priceless! There is no better feeling than being proud of yourself and it’s that feeling that keeps me pushing myself to do more triathlons and races. Sharing that sense of achievement with your team is extremely motivating for a business and the positivity that we’ll bring back to the office on Monday will be great for the entire business.
Driving innovation
Team building is a great way to improve communication and tackle problems (in our case 15’ tall obstacles) together. These are great skills to bring back to work and there are many businesses around the world, including Apple, who talk publically about how teamwork and shared collaboration drives innovation. Who knows you could have your next big idea during a team building away-day!
Giving back
Finally, our motivations for completing the Tough Mudder course aren’t just for us. We are raising money and awareness for Forever Manchester who do so many amazing things to support community led projects in Greater Manchester. We want to spread the word of the awesome work the charity does and give something back to this incredible city we call home!
We’d love your support and to help us in our challenge you can donate here! Thank you :)
Sophie is an Analytics Recruitment Consultant and Forward Role Wellness Officer. Keep up to date with Sophie by following her on Twitter or connecting on LinkedIn.
