6 Ideas to Organize an Authentic Team Building Experience
Reading Time: 5 minutes Your employees spend a lot of time together at the office, making it essential to have a welcoming atmosphere to increase their motivation and productivity. After making sure you have designed the workplace to make your employees feel at home, another step in the right direction is helping your team bond.
Team building activities are meant to strengthen bonds between coworkers, improve teamwork and problem-solving skills. However, the mere sound of these words can make your staff roll their eyes and instantly think of some of the embarrassing experiences they had to endure.
Therefore, it is not unusual for the team members to dread these kinds of activities, or at least be reluctant about them. Such activities may feel forced and awkward if not well thought out.
There is a way to engage your employees in team building activities they will actually enjoy.
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The right set of games and activities will build a more cohesive unit, and help your employees work together more effectively and efficiently. They can be used as after-office activities, as well as at a team retreat or weekend team getaway.
It is important to make sure your employees find the activities you have chosen to be fun, so they can have a good time together and strengthen their bond. Here are a few carefully selected activities you can easily organize with your team.
Warmers aka Icebreaker Games
Icebreaker activities are a great way to relax the atmosphere, especially when people don’t know each other well. They set the mood and energize the group.
Two Truths and a Lie
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Number of participants: Any
Goal: Get people involved and build affinity
How to play: Each participant gives three statements about themselves, two true and a false one. The other team members are to figure out what’s true and what is fabricated. Making a lie more difficult to guess adds more fun to the game.
Office Trivia
This is a great icebreaker to get people engaged in the event. It’s quick and doesn’t require any equipment or a long preparation. It can be conducted indoors or outdoors with small or large teams. This game emphasizes things that are common to the entire group, which promotes team bonding.
Duration:15-30 minutes
Number of participants: Any
Goal: Get people involved and improve team bonding
How to play: Think of a number of work-related trivia questions. “How many people work in the IT department?”, “What painting is there on the wall of the reception area?”, etc. The funnier and more interesting the questions – you’ll build a better atmosphere. The participant who gets the most answers right wins.
To make the activity more competitive divide participants into teams.
Show & Tell
This is a simple “getting to know each other better” activity that helps build trust among employees by sharing personal information.
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Number of participants: 10-15
Goal: Improve trust, familiarity, and understanding
How to play: Every team member shares something they love and that is important to them with the rest of the group. Each participant has a minute to show and talk about a personal hobby, a pet, or whatever is special to them.
Main Team Building Activities
A tip: Consider hiring an HR specialist to create a team-building event tailored to your specific needs. It’s also a good idea to enlist the help of an event management company to make sure that the entire team-building experience is taken care of, especially if you’re organizing a team-building activity for a larger group.
Blind Drawing
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Number of participants: any, divided into teams of 2 people
Goal: Building communication, collaboration, and trust
How to play: Groups of 2 sit back to back. One of the participants has a pencil and a piece of paper while the other gets a picture or an object. The other team member’s task is to instruct their coworker to draw the picture/object without saying what it is. They can describe its color, shape, and other characteristics without revealing what the object in question is.
Archery Combat
If you want to try something completely different and on a more adventurous side, archery combat may be just what you are looking for. Trying out new things can generate good vibes among the staff members. It is also a great way to leave the corporate setting, as well as get a bit of exercise and some fresh air.
Duration: 45-90 minutes
Number of participants: 10-100
Goal: improving teamwork
How to play: Participants are divided into teams competing against each other.
Silver Lining
A great way to get team members to bond with one another is to recollect their shared memories. Some participants might have a different point of view, especially if the memory has a more negative note to them. It can result in reframing experiences, shifting perspectives, and improving morale by simply pointing out positive aspects of a bad experience.
Open and honest sharing of experiences between team members can also improve bonding and help build stronger relationships.
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Number of participants: 4-12, divided into teams of at least 2 people
Goal: Changing views and reframing experiences
If your employees are not closely bonded and motivated to work together to achieve a mutual goal, it can affect particular projects as well as your overall business growth. Team building activities can help create a better working environment, improve communication, and enhance collaboration between co-workers.
When planning a team building session, make sure the activities are effective, engaging, and fun. There is more to a successful team than the occasional team-building session, but helping your employees bond and trust each other through these activities is a great start.
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Co-Authored With
Michael has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.
