Ernesto Verdugo

Common sense tells us that happy, collaborative teams are productive teams.

Research backs it up, too.

But when leaders or managers utter the words “team-building,” most people want to run for the nearest exit. Visions of cheesy bonding exercises and trust-building games can induce a collective bout of nausea.

Twelve years after launching JotForm, I’ve learned to take a different approach.

Instead of worrying about how to optimize our teams, I want to nurture them.

What do they need in order to thrive?
How can we help them to grow?

In essence, I think of our multi-functional teams as living, breathing beings.

Yes, they are a collection of diverse and talented individuals. But at their best, they also operate like a single body. And just like plants, animals and people, teams have several basic needs.

Some team-building exercises can be useful but they won’t make your team more productive unless you nurture these five basics:

1. Nourishment

Developers often joke about running on pizza and coffee, but creative teams ultimately need exciting problems to solve.

They need a reason to stretch and strive for innovation. That’s their fuel.

In a Harvard Business Review article about leading creative employees, authors Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight explain that …

“… creative people work for the love of a challenge. They crave the feeling of accomplishment that comes from cracking a riddle, be it technological, artistic, social, or logistical. They want to do good work.”

They also cite a major Information Week survey that showed “challenging work” ranks considerably higher than even “salary” and other financial rewards as people’s top source of on-the-job motivation.

Your teams are eager to flex their creative and strategic muscles. Feed them tough challenges and watch them thrive.

Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to literally feed them well, too. We have fully-stocked kitchens with a wide array of snacks, drinks and treats.

Recently, we’ve also brought in a chef who makes huge salads (with oil from my family’s olive trees). Everyone loves them, and we’re all learning that…

… lots of fresh vegetables = no post-lunch crash.

2. Independence

Hovering and micromanagement don’t encourage meaningful growth.

We give our teams a lot of independence. They can make decisions without constantly seeking approvals.

And with over 100 employees and more than 3.5 million users, we need our awesome staff to keep moving. We trust them, and they return that trust with smart, consistent work.

As Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace write in Creativity, Inc., which takes readers inside the wildly successful Pixar Animation Studios:

“The antidote to fear is trust, and we all have a desire to find something to trust in an uncertain world. Fear and trust are powerful forces, and while they are not opposites, exactly, trust is the best tool for driving out fear.”

“Fear” might seem like an odd word to use in a professional context, but creative endeavors are never easy. Continue reading here.

Team-Building Activities Your Employees Won’t Hate

If you’re like me, the words “team builder” or “ice breaker” cause you to break out in a cold sweat. Sure, the intent behind these activities is usually good, but they often end up feeling forced and awkward—like something you participated in as an 11-year-old at summer camp.

As a manager, there’s no doubt you want to proactively build morale and camaraderie within your team—but how do you do that in ways that people are actually excited about? To help you out, we’ve pulled together a few secrets for leading successful team activities and making the process a lot more productive and a lot less painful.

1. Take a Field Trip

Sometimes, the best way to get to know the folks you work with is to just let everyone interact freely, without a formal plan. One company I worked for had an annual field day, complete with food, silly games (that were all optional), and prizes. At another job, my team went on quarterly trips to the movies. Depending on how much time you can allocate to an activity, consider getting offsite and encouraging your team to get to know each other free from the confines of their cubicles.

2. Get Together to Give Back

Working together on a cause that the people on your team care about is a great way to bond. My company facilitates a lot of volunteer outings with local non-profit organizations that employees love. Around the holidays and back to school seasons, we spend days collecting and delivering school supplies for children in need, and we’ve also participated in programs to build bicycles for kids and have taken part in Habitat for Humanity builds. These types of activities create an opportunity to do something meaningful for others and provides a break from the typical work routine.

A great way to kick off this process is having the team decide, as a group, what type of volunteer activity they’d like to participate in. Take suggestions from your employees, and have everyone vote on which they’d like to do—you’ll get a chance to learn about what causes people care about before you even get started.

Can’t get out of the office for a full day? Try setting aside an hour for a simple charitable act, like writing letters to service members. Continue reading here.

Project Management Team Building Ideas

Tags: build morale, creative people, productive teams, team builder, team-building exercises, trust-building games