“Team building” is an old term. Maybe you had to solve a problem in elementary school. Or during camp when your bunk had a scavenger hunt or trust falls.
You've undoubtedly done teambuilding activities (including icebreaker games) at work. The correct team-building activities may bring individuals closer together, help teams work more successfully, and discover individual weaknesses and strengths.
Why Team building Activities are Important?
Team building helps individuals learn each other's interests, strengths, limitations, and communication styles.
Teambuilding exercises develop camaraderie and trust, which are crucial for success.
Teambuilding exercises remind employees that work is about the group, not just them. When you're encouraged to work together, it shows that the group's success (and the company's) is a priority.
Solve a Puzzle
This might be a 500-piece puzzle or a mental challenge that demands brainstorming out loud. Give your crew a task and a deadline if you're feeling ambitious. Everyone must help the initiative succeed.
Reflect on the experience after they're done or time runs out. What's your team's solution? Why? What prompted your choices? Allowing everyone to think through their approach may reveal distinct viewpoints or talents or spark an eye-opening dialogue.
Try a Compliment Circle
You may vary this to foster team appreciation. You can spend five minutes having people congratulate each other (if you're the boss, get the ball moving!). This might be as simple as stating, “I enjoyed Gina's proposal this week” or “Big shoutout to Danny for bringing doughnuts last week when we were all heads-down.” Or you may have everyone address the employee to their right.
Have a “Show and Tell”
This might inspire your employees to boast about their triumphs and remain up-to-date on others' efforts.
The Muse calls this “Sip it and Ship it.” Our engineering team conducts a monthly open meeting where anybody at the firm may see and test our newest “shipping” or finished products while “sipping” alcoholic or nonalcoholic drinks.
Small-scale farming is possible. If you're a team of two or three, meet weekly or monthly to showcase what each member is working on and to ask questions, provide recommendations, and offer positive comments.
Share your Personality
Fill out a personality test with your team (here are several favorites), then discuss. The key is for each employee to know their coworkers' talents, limitations, and quirks. Group comparable personalities and have them discuss how their attributes manifest in the job, or have them construct their “dream” office based on their personality and share it with the group.
Optional? Share your “user manual” results with the team.
Play Team or Board Games
Board games bring people together (just read this article on the benefits of networking over games). Many office-friendly alternatives exist.
Apples to Apples, Code Names, Pandemic, and Jenga need collaboration. Celebrity or Heads Up (iOS and Android) need just a phone or pen and paper.
It may seem odd to play games in the workplace, but doing so may loosen up your team and drive them to work creatively.
Create a Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts may help new recruits get to know the workplace and their team by asking seasoned workers questions like “When was [Company] founded?” or “Who was our first client?”
They're equally successful with seasoned teams. You may challenge staff to find X facts or artifacts at the end of the day. Or split the group into teams and race. Whatever you choose to do will inspire team members to work together on something outside of their normal job and team.
Untangle a “Human Knot”
This camp favorite also encourages teamwork to tackle an issue. Everyone should form a circle and shake hands with individuals they don't know. Once everyone's hands are linked, disentangle without breaking the chain. You may make it more difficult by limiting people's speaking time. Crawling over each other needs leg space and an office atmosphere where employees are comfortable holding hands, but it can be a fun puzzle.
Do a Silent Line-Up.
Have a Hack Day
Hack days are popular in IT and engineering, but any team may benefit.
Everyone should spend the day working on a team or company-beneficial project. If possible, have personnel from many divisions (or the full firm) work together. The goal is to get people think beyond the box by inventing something fresh.
Whatever it is, it should cost $0 to construct and be something you can manufacture (or imagine) in a workday.
Volunteer
If your team cares about a cause, consider volunteering. You'll connect while helping your neighborhood. Here's how to bring volunteer opportunities to your workplace and how to volunteer based on your degree of commitment.
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