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CREATING TEAMBUILDING ACTIVITIES THAT ACTUALLY WORK
Andy Gillham, PhD, CSCS,*D, CMPC
Sanford Sports Science Institute
Roadmap for Today• Who is it for?
• Why are you doing it?
• Some examples…
Roadmap for Today
• Who is it for?
• Why are you doing it?
• Some examples…
Different Groups
Parents
Preschool Coach
Rec CoachTeam Coach
Rec Athletes
Club Owner
Team Athletes
Office Staff Support Staff
Ways to Identify a Group
1. Common Fate of Members
2. Mutual Benefits
3. Status, Roles and Norms
4. Cyclical Influence
Group Size• How many individuals are needed for...
– Productivity
– Morale
– Cohesion
– Satisfaction
– Efficiency
• Social Loafing
Factors Promoting Social Loafing• Individual output cannot be evaluated.
• Low task importance.
• Low personal involvement.
• Lack of comparison from individual effort vs. team effort.
• Contributions by strangers to group production.
• Elevated expectations of others on the team.
• Individual belief his/her outcomes are already contributed by other group members.
Key Points
• Key 1: Must know who, and who is not, part of the targeted group.
• Key 2:
• Key 3:
Roadmap for Today• Who is it for?
• Why are you doing it?
• Some examples…
Role Ambiguity• Role: the expectations of a player on a team.
• Role incongruence:
– Player does not accept coach’s given role.
– Coach does not give role.
– External sources do not agree.
– Internal, team sources do not agree.
– Monetary factors.
Role Ambiguity and Research• Increased role clarity is positively related to
increased role execution.
• Increased role clarity is negatively related to competitive state anxiety.
• Increased role clarity is positively related to increased athlete satisfaction and enjoyment.
• I saw bats
• I saw bats
Group Norms
• What is a norm?
• Norm for productivity?
• Positive vs. Negative norms.
• Modification of norms depends on 2 factors:– Who is wanting to modify?
– What do they want to modify?
Team Correlates• Elevated levels of cohesion early in a season result
in improved performance late in the season.
• Significantly more important for female teams.
• Equally important for coactive and interactive teams.
Cohesion Components
Individual Attractions to Group-
Task
Individual Attractions to Group-
Social
Group Integration–
Social
Group Integration-
Task
Carron & Brawley, 2008
Key Points• Key 1: Must know who, and who is not, part of
the targeted group.
• Key 2: Must have a specific purpose and outcome in mind.
• Key 3:
Roadmap for Today
• Who is it for?
• Why are you doing it?
• Some examples…
Some Examples…
2
1
C
B
A
1. Only move forward2. Only move one spot at
a time3. No sharing of spots4. No jumping your own
teammates
3
D4
Some Examples…• 1 True = jog in place
• 2 True = jog in place + clapping
• 3 True = raise both hands
• 1 False = no movement, hands cover your mouth
• 2 False = sit down
Key Points• Key 1: Must know who, and who is not, part of
the targeted group.
• Key 2: Must have a specific purpose and outcome in mind.
• Key 3: Anything can be a teambuilding activity.
