How Can I Foster Team Spirit in a Small Software Development Team?

Hi Friends,

I am working in a software development company with 12 colleagues. They are all very cooperative, but there seems to be a lack of team building spirit. I have reviewed some presentations available on CiteHR, and they have been very helpful. However, I still need more insights on how to deliver a presentation on team building to my colleagues, especially when the team is small.

It is crucial for everyone, including my seniors and bosses, to understand the importance of team building in a software development company. One approach could be to introduce small indoor games to foster team bonding.

I would appreciate it if you could provide me with some points or tips on this matter.

Thanks,
Sapana

Hello Sapana, What is your role in the company and why are you taking this on if your senior management is not interested? Team spirit starts from the top and not from the HR department. Games on their own will have little to no lasting effect.

Creating a team spirit includes the following:

-senior managers and supervisors talking continuously about the company goals

-clarifying for each employee how they contribute to achieving the company goals

-providing timely and honest feedback to the team and each employee

-celebrating team achievements

-setting up rewards for team accomplishments and not just individual accomplishments

-providing the needed skills training and resources to accomplish team goals

-giving the team and team members the appropriate authority

What we find is that “team building” sessions with little attention paid to the above factors are just a waste of time and effort and will lead to further disillusionment by employees. You can find out more about team success factors at http://www.businessperform.com/html/...nd_change.html

Vicki Heath

Human Resources Software and Resources

http://www.businessperform.com

Hi Vicki,

Thank you for your suggestions. I am working as an HR Manager in this company. However, I feel that my colleagues do not trust and believe in each other. My seniors are not interested; they feel that these people will understand and learn things by themselves, whereas I believe that we should help individuals understand if they are going wrong.

Please suggest some stories that will boost individuals for team building.

Regards,
Sapana Kale

Thanks Sapana. When you talk about trust, you are talking about an aspect of interpersonal relationships that is deep-seated and formed over a long period of time. Trust is fundamental to a good working relationship and is not really amenable to a “story” or even a “workshop”. Building trust is dependent on:

-transparency (knowing the person's actions and true intentions)

-honesty (self-disclosure of beliefs and feelings)

-integrity (acting in the interests of the wider social group)

I suggest you sit down with the CEO of your company and get him/her to first acknowledge that there is a problem, agree to perform a diagnosis to find out the causes of the distrust and to set aside resources to develop an action plan and to fix the problem. You may find that there is more than one cause and that you will need a multi-point solution. I hasten to add that without the support and commitment from your CEO, your efforts are unlikely to get very far.

I'm happy to talk about specific instances of distrust in your organization if you would like to share these. Doing this may give you more insight into your problem and the questions you need to ask in your diagnosis. You may also find helpful the answer I gave to another post on a related topic at #89481

Vicki Heath

Human Resources Software and Resources

http://www.businessperform.com

Hi Vicki,

Thank you for your response :) As you said, let me have a conversation with my seniors about this and let me have some feedback from them also. I have to do some kind of presentation to foster team spirit among my colleagues. I will pick up some presentations on the same from our citeHR. I will definitely keep you posted about my progress.

Thanks & Regards,
Sapana Kale

Dear Sapna,

Definitely, as an HR professional of the company, you can take up team-building initiatives on your own, keeping in mind the objectives that need to be addressed. There are certainly programs and modules that can help in addressing a few of the stated objectives; however, it would be even better if people at the senior leadership levels are also engaged.

Working in the corporate training and leadership development sector, we come across many clients, and most of the time, the team-building inquiries come from the HR head only! So, I would suggest preparing a module based on Kolb's experiential learning cycle and proceeding with the initiative.

If you want, you can contact me at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] for any further details. I would be happy to share the plan with you.

Best,
Meeta Mishra