Team building is often seen as an evil necessity. However, the truth is that, if you do it properly, it can be fun for everyone. At the same time, it will boost the productivity of any team, improve morale, and even help to build trust between your team. In other words, it’s essential that you choose one of these ultimate team building activities, not only will your team thank you for it, you’ll feel the benefit yourself!
So, take a look at this list and choose your favorite activity today, you’ll be improving your team in no time.
Enter a Race
This can seem extreme but, if you book a race and challenge every member of your team to complete the course, you’ll find that they bond together ensuring this actually happens. The trick here is not to put them in competition with each other, you want them all to be focused on completing the race, this is a great example of corporate team building done right.
In fact, this time of team building can often be the catalyst for your team to start taking their health more seriously. If it leads to regular team exercise and better productivity then you’re winning on two fronts, and your team will be much happier and healthier for it!
Cooking A Storm
Try a different approach by nominating one day a month where all staff brings in a dish they’ve created themselves. This may boost their cooking skills, it will certainly boost team morale. Simply give them an afternoon off, or an extended lunch to enjoy sampling each other’s food and make the most of their time together.
Soaking Balloons
You’ll need to pick a nice hot day for this one, but it can be a lot of fun! Simply get a lot of water balloons, fill them with water and decide if you want small teams, pairs, or individuals. That’s it, there are no rules except perhaps to limit the distance they can be from each other, let the balloon tossing start and see who manages to remain dry at the end.
Scavenger Hunt
This is becoming an extremely popular but a great option. Your team will need to be split into at least two teams, they’ll have clues to solve in order to find the ‘treasure’. The first team to do so wins a prize and gets to boast about it until the next time.
The Human Knot
If you just have a few hours spare and want to do something impulse then this is the one for you. Arrange your team in a circle, they all need to put their right hand in their air and then lower it into the circle, grabbing another right hand in the process. Repeat this with their left hand and then challenge the team to unravel the knot, without letting go of each other’s hands!
Show & Tell
Show and tell isn’t just something you should be doing at school. Set a day a week and give at least 2 or 3 members of the team an opportunity to bring something in that they want to show and tell everyone about. Change the team members each week to ensure everyone gets a shot, you’ll be surprised at how well this helps them bond. There really is no limit to the number of activities you can do with your team, you just need to use your imagination!
Mine Fields
This is an easy challenge to set up in your building, the car park, or the local park. It is worth noting that getting the team away from the office helps to ensure they are all focused on the task in hand. Split everyone into teams of two. It is best to choose them yourself to avoid workmates pairing with the people they already know well, that will partially defeat the object of the activity.
Simply scatter objects in a space and have one team member blindfolded, the other must stand on the other side of the objects and direct them through it, they can only issue verbal instructions and the blindfolded person can’t say anything. You can make it into a tournament by pitting the teams against each other to see who does it the fastest. Through a process of elimination, you can get an ultimate winner. It will be a lot of fun.
Bartering
Bartering makes people talk to each other and is a great way to break the ice in a new team or another event. Simply split everyone into at least 4 teams and give each team a jigsaw puzzle. They should all be the same difficulty level.
The challenge is to finish the puzzle first, but, some of the pieces will be with the other teams. Each team will need to barter with the others to get the pieces they need and finish the puzzle first. It’s frantic, fun, and effective at building a team.
The Bottom Line
The ultimate aim of any team building exercise is to get your team talking to each other and listening to each other. Any activity that does this will help, just let your imagination run wild.