Unless you are someone like “Harry the Homeless Hermit,” you have probably had some experience with teams. Teams are frequently created because of the many advantages that team work yields. For example, teams are faster, more creative, stronger and smarter than individuals working alone and they cultivate relationships and trust that make communication easier as well. Unfortunately, team building doesn’t happen automatically. First a team must be organized and then team members need to get comfortable with each other, establish ground rules, share common goals and practice working together.

In school and business, teams are often formed in hopes of capturing all the benefits of team work, but fundamental team building steps never take place. First of all, team members rarely have the chance to get to know each other well before they start working together in a business or college setting. The environment is competitive, serious and sometimes even tense. The focus is on the work that needs to get done, not on getting to know each other. I would like to suggest that this is a huge mistake that affects every other step of the team building process.

When team members don’t take the time to get comfortable with each other, communication suffers and it is harder for leaders and individual strengths to emerge. Without sufficient knowledge about the team assets, it will be harder for members of the team to work together and establish ground rules too.

So how can you get employees and students to ease up and get more comfortable with each other? The answer: Take them out of a stressful environment. If you want people to work well together, teach them to play together first. Try team activities like scavenger hunts, ropes courses or sailing.

My cousin started her course work in one of the best MBA programs in the nation this year and within the first week of classes, all the students in the program headed into the mountains together for a day of adventure team activities. That business school has learned the importance of building teams through play. If you really want people to be unified and willing to put forth their best effort, they need to be comfortable with their team members. Establish those fundamental relationships, and you’ll be surprised by just how productive your teams can be.