The art of teamwork: the artistic experiences of team building

Martina Brunetti - Marketing and Training

Art, as a fundamental technique for team building, fits in wonderfully in the corporate environment.

It may appear difficult to imagine art within a company that is not concerned with creativity or, in the first place, with artistic activities in their various forms, but in reality, artistic expression has always been a significant means of communication that may convey more than words alone.

Although it is an almost essential component of any training initiative, its importance in the organization of a company and its collaborators is not always recognized.

Through the creation of content, artistic activities are able to make the cognitive and emotional sides interact synergistically, presenting itself as an appealing dynamic that succeeds in engaging without lapsing into the boring and banal.

Anti-stress par excellence can be a great ally in relieving the tension accumulated by the team during working hours and allowing the team to return to their work tasks with more energy by venting creativity.

Activating the right mindset

Of course, as with any team-building activity, it is essential to bring participants into a mindset that successfully and efficiently maximizes the activity's potential.
Prerequisites include:

• Collaboration
• Getting involved
• try to activate alternative communication channels
• expressing thoughts and ideas trying to stimulate dialogue

Creating an artistic workshop

Artistic team building activities can be realized with any form of art (collage, sculpture, painting, dance, creation of multimedia projects, etc.), establishing teamwork dynamics that can subsequently be translated into a chain of good consequences in work management.

In general, the workshop proceeds as follows:

1. Choose the theme or goal of the project that will be implemented, deciding between corporate cultural ideals and firm management demands.
2. Create teams, divide employees into small groups, or form a single team.
3. Start the creative process by 'warming up' creativity through brainstorming on some artistic concept or technique that will be used.
4. Do not disturb the team during work.
5. Create an exhibition moment of the work in which the person who created it can explain the creative process.
6. Creating a moment of confrontation on the experience.

When there is more than one group, you can set as one of the objectives to build a work that can be merged with the others, alternating times of execution in autonomy to moments of comparison, in order to help generate a process that brings more connection inside the work team.

Art as a tool for innovation and business improvement

Bertolt Brecht once said:
“All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living”

This quote is perfectly described by the positive effects of artistic team building, following the fundamental principle that the emotional charge generated by art becomes the driving force of personal and corporate progress.

The strengths of this group growth tool are:

• Create, in a collaborative effort, new innovative ideas, new tactics for improvement, new challenges, and new stimuli to become a team of excellence
• Encouraging participatory methods
• Promoting efficient skill integration processes
• Develop reality analysis and problem solving skills
• Consolidate a sense of belonging and positive relationships between different team members

At Tonidigrigio, team building is fundamental and we have experimented with many other team building techniques. How about you? Have you ever thought of organizing an art workshop in your company? Have you already experimented? Send us an e-mail to info@tonidigrigio.it. We are always happy to hear about your techniques for strengthening team cohesion.

Sources:
www.corpisensibili.com
www.teambuildingitaly.com
www.teamworking.it
www.beyondtheboardroom.com.au