If your team doesn’t work like a well-oiled machine, you won’t get much done. It’s easy assigning tasks to individuals, but things can get complicated when multiple personalities try to work together. Yet, most projects and tasks require a team of people who fit together like puzzle pieces. The results are much better, people are less stressed and more productive, and the workload is easy to carry.
Most business owners assume that their employees will gradually become a team on their own. This couldn’t be harder from the truth, though. Employees usually like to keep to themselves or don’t know how to engage in team-building activities. In other cases, they don’t see them as important or relevant. This is why it’s important not to force them, but to make things interesting. Creativity in the workplace is always a plus, and your choice of team-building activities should show that.
1. Explore a new place
If you want to see your team in action, take them somewhere where they’ve never been before. There’s no better way to test how people think and act than in a completely unfamiliar environment.
Exploring together will give them the perfect chance to see how each of them thinks and acts. They’ll all have an equal start, thus making them bond and take control of the situation together instead of pinning them against each other.
2. Go to a sports game
There are surely some sports fans around the office. After all, sports culture is widely spread across the world, meaning that you’ll easily find a local team to support and a local game to go to. What better way to show your workers what team spirit looks like than at a sports game?
What’s more, it’s bound to give them something interesting to talk about. Those who know more about sports will be able to share their knowledge, thus bringing everyone closer.
3. Take a cooking class
What’s better than stepping out of the work environment and doing something creative? Cooking is a great group activity and will encourage your team’s creativity like nothing else. It will also give them a common skill, making it easier to talk in the office.
Cooking is something where they have to think outside the box to create something tasty. The same skill set can be transferred to projects where their creativity will be the star of the show.
4. Do something touristy
People always seem to be too embarrassed to do something touristy in their own city. As if the fun activities are just there for the tourist. There’s no shame in taking pride in the city you live in. Make your team realize this by taking them to the tackiest tourist attraction in your town.
For added fun, you can all pretend to be actual tourists. This will let them step out of the ordinary and see each other and the town in a way they haven’t before. That’s a great way to encourage seeing things from different perspectives- a skill that will be crucial for team projects.
5. Scavenger hunt
You can divide your team into groups of two or three people and send them out to do various tasks. Make the scavenger hunt as silly or as serious as you want. The winning group can even get some kind of reward, like a gift or lunch certificate.
This method will give your team a chance to bond individually, while also providing some competition. A little healthy competition is great for motivation and productivity, so you might as well give it a shot.
6. Winner or loser?
This game makes your employees focus on the positive things in negative situations. You should divide them into pairs and then have one person tell something bad that happened to them to the other. The other person needs to discuss the positive aspects of the bad situation and make the first person see that not everything is so bad. Then, they switch roles.
Here, your employees will get to be vulnerable with each other, thus allowing them to feel for one another and build trust.
7. Solve a puzzle together
If you want to see people working together, throw them in a room together and lock the door. Escape rooms are excellent fun, but also make your team think and work together. They’ll get to see how each of them thinks, and they’ll realize everyone can contribute in a certain way. It’s much easier to work on a project with someone when you’re aware of how they operate.
They will surely encounter some issues along the way, but they’ll have to work together to solve them. This is the thing that will push them closer, regardless of if they manage to solve the puzzle or not. The real point is to make them see each other as people and teammates, not competition.
8. Volunteer
There’s absolutely no reason you and your team shouldn’t help your community. Volunteering as an office can remind individuals that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. They belong to their community and it’s their job to care for it. This feeling can easily be transferred to how they feel about the office.
What’s more, it will allow each of them to see the others in their best light. As well as that, the others will see them doing their best, too. This can help remind people that everyone has virtues; a very important lesson for later, when the going gets tough and things start to crack. Your team won’t give in to negativity, but will instead do their best for their work community.
9. Make memories
The best way to make sure your team sticks together is to give them a strong and cherished memory. Give them something that will last and remind them of how good it felt to work together, even when they seem to forget. Why not make it fun, too? The most awesome thing you can do for your team is to opt for backdrop hire.
Then, you can have fun with taking office pictures together, changing outfits and the background, and being as silly as possible. When people laugh, they bond. The best part is that you can frame and hang these pictures around the office, thus inspiring smiles and reminding your team of how much fun they had every time they walk past a picture.
10. Karaoke
Another way to inspire fun and creativity around the office is to organize a karaoke night. When people are in a non-working environment, they’re more relaxed and more open to socialization. This means that it’s also going to make it much easier for them to make friends and bond with each other.
Organizing karaoke gives everyone a concrete reason to come party. Just going for drinks can be pretty vague and make them feel awkward, especially if they don’t know their colleagues too well. Karaoke also means that everyone is in the same boat. I.e. it will be fun to do something a little embarrassing because everyone is doing it. They can all laugh with each other, instead of at each other.
Conclusion
Team building is an essential part of working in any healthy and productive environment. It may be hard to get your employees to participate in the beginning, but once they see how fun and entertaining team building can be, and how fulfilling it feels to be part of a community, they’ll gladly participate and enjoy every minute of work.