More often than not, people and organisations or even events companies use the word ‘teambonding’ and ‘teambuilding’ loosely. Are they really the same? Or are they not? If so, what’s the main difference?
I would use two items to summarise ‘Teambonding’ and ‘Teambuilding’ respectively, they are ‘rubber band’ and ‘jenga blocks’. Here’s why:
Team bonding:
Team bonding is being described like a “rubber band”, as they bind people together. Leveraging on games and activities, people get bonded together. More often than not, the real effect of teambonding is that participants have lots of fun and get to know each other through games and laughter. Teambonding is shorter in duration most of the times, normally half-day to 1-day event.
Teambuilding:
Team building is described as jenga blocks because in the process of building the ‘jenga blocks’, not only the participants can have fun, they also build on their teamwork, communication, leadership and other intangible areas where participants will not have a chance to do so in their area of responsibility. I.e a clerk can also become a leader through team building activities, whereas in the office, clerks are always perceived as ‘backend’ people.
Teambuilding activities takes a slightly longer time to conduct as the activities have to address a certain outcome as requested by the company’s management. Typically, a teambuilding programme will take a minimal 1 day or 2 days and more to be effective. Participants will have more takeaways after going through a teambuilding retreat.
There you go, next time if you are tasked to plan for a Teambonding or a teambuilding programme for your company, think of the Rubberband and the Jenga Blocks, they will help you in your decision!
Have you planned for your teambuilding or teambonding activities yet?
