Collage and the Art of Teambuilding

Every hiring manager, every human resources specialist and in fact every boss will wax lyrical these days about the importance of teamwork in the workplace. Every resume that crosses their desks probably includes a line or two about how well the candidate works within a team as well. But it takes a great deal of work to build a truly successful business team and in many cases it is talked about more than it is actually worked on.

A lack of teamwork – or worse still a team that cannot come together – can sink any business venture, no matter the niche. For instance there may be a great deal of enthusiasm and creativity within a team that could propel the business to a whole new level, but a lack of trust between team members or an inability to communicate with one another effectively means that those brilliant ideas may never see the light of day, let alone be acted upon.

There are hundreds of books, workshops and training courses available on the subject of team building the workplace many of them offering the same advice. In order to make a team really work sometimes though it pays to think outside the box a little and engage the team in an activity, or activities that while they may not seem business related on the surface actually can bring a team together more successfully than anything else.

The art of collage has been around since paper was first invented in China somewhere around 200BC. Cultures from all eras and across the globe have used the technique to express their artistic visions and believe it or not creating a collage can be an exercise in team building that works wonders.

Why does it work? Every team member has a role and can participate. The personal choices that each individual makes as the work is created can reveal much more about their individual thought processes and feelings than a weekly board room meeting ever could and once the collage is finished it also serves as a lasting physical reminder of what the team can achieve when they pool their creative resources.