Was your teambuilding event a success?

When the team building event has been completed how do you know that it achieved what it was designed to achieve?

The process of evaluating the effectiveness of the team building activity should be designed during the planning phase as explained in Getting started

Think about:

  • how and when the success of the event will be measured
  • how the development need presented itself in the first instance
  • what behaviours were observed which the event was designed to address

Evaluation can be conducted and various stages after the team building event:

  • immediate – what new knowledge, skills or attitudes should team members be aiming to acquire to help them change their behaviour?
  • intermediate – what changes in behaviour will team members be expected to display
  • ultimately – what performance issue will have improved as a result of the team building event?

A reaction evaluation should be conducted with team members at the end of the session. The timing of a follow-up evaluation needs to be decided at the design stage and should take place approximately three months after the event.

Immediate evaluation

In order to evaluate the reaction of the team members to the event:

  • a post course questionnaire could be developed based upon the outcomes designed and issued to individuals at the end of the event for completion and analysis.
  • a more informal evaluation of the event would be to use an activity at the end of the event e.g:
    • post flip charts around the room headed “things which went well” “things which could be improved”, “things I will do differently are...” “three words which sum up the session are....”
    • invite delegates to work their way round the flip charts and add their comments under each heading.

When conducting an exit evaluation from the event it is important to allow time for team members to consider their replies to the questions when designing the event.

Intermediate evaluation

Changes in behaviour do not happen overnight and measuring the impact of the team building activity should be planned for approximately 3 months after the event. This can be done through:

  • re-issuing the Team Member Survey‌ used to decide if team building was a concern can be re-issued to team members to ascertain if there are changes as a result of the team building event
  • one to one meetings between the facilitator and team members using a structured questionnaire based upon the planned outcomes of the event
  • observation

Ultimate evaluation

What evidence exists that the team building event has achieved the ultimate aim?

This can be measured by answering the questions:

  • does the team meet targets?
  • have action plans been successfully implemented?

And through feedback from colleagues, students and customers.