You know team building is important to your group. Everyone in your group knows how team building can help. After all, you all know how much there is to resolve, how much help you really need, and how you're all crying for smoother working relationships. Over time, you might have taken baby steps towards building a stronger team, and figured that obtaining the services of professional career consultants would greatly contribute to your success.

But what do you do if your team isn't receptive to attending team building workshops? You can't very well force them to attend, of course, but having only a handful of people coming to the team building seminar defeats the purpose of team building, and it could also show that you are unable to engage their interest in the activity. Here are some tips that could help you out.

1. Find out why your team members are resistant to the team building exercise. Learning what their reasons are will help you figure out how to address their concerns, reassure the worried individuals, and work hard to make the team building workshop truly helpful and effective.

2. Don't exclude people in the planning process. If they think that the team building course is built solely around your interests and ideas, they'll think they have no say at all and will simply be complying with your own vision.

3. Ask the team building consultant to clarify any issues with the team before starting the workshop. Also, make sure that the program is tailored to your group's personality and culture.

4. Get their input on what they think makes an excellent team building workshop--then make sure the workshop follows through on their insights.

5. Assure them that the activities in the team building course will not include any trite sharing and forced fun.