Team building exercises are a fantastic way to boost morale, increase communication and collaboration, and unite your team. There are many activities you can choose from, whether you plan to hold them in an indoor or outdoor environment.
If you’re looking for new team-building activity ideas, why not try cooking in small groups? After all, everyone loves food, especially if they can share it with people around them.
Why Team Building Is The Most Important Investment You’ll Make
Companies should invest substantially in team building since it can enhance their employees’ overall effectiveness and cohesiveness. Employees can learn to communicate more effectively through team-building exercises, which can improve collaboration and production.
The culture of team building is especially prevalent in countries like Australia.
For instance, team building activities in sydney motivate employees to learn to work together to solve problems and find creative solutions. Furthermore, employees can improve their leadership abilities through team-building exercises, which is advantageous for the company since it creates a solid pipeline for future leaders.
Cooking Team Building: Benefits For The Team
Food is universal and is one of the best ways to connect people. Cooking team building offers several benefits to employees, such as giving them a greater sense of belonging. It can also relieve work-related stress and is a great way to spend time with colleagues.
Discover Hidden Talents
Cooking team building can help discover talented individuals in your employees or members. It’s also an excellent opportunity to discover individuals with leadership potential. The activity can also help your company to identify employees with problem-solving skills.
Boost Creativity
Another benefit of cooking team building is that it promotes experimentation and using new ingredients, which trains employees to think outside the box. Additionally, taking a break from your typical workday and doing something unique, like cooking, might assist in clearing your mind and encourage creative thinking.
Discover Common Culinary Interests
There is a saying that we are what we eat. Hence, you can learn much about your team members based on their culinary interests and food preference. You might use this information later, such as when taking group lunch.
Learn from Each Other
Cooking team building is an excellent opportunity for team members to share their food knowledge. Employees who come from various places can introduce unique culinary traditions.
Share Prepared Food
Finally, cooking sessions promote camaraderie within the company by sharing food that everyone prepares. It can help build a sense of community among employees and encourage cheerful conversations. This activity can also encourage team members to get to know their co-workers.
What Can You Cook as a Team?
There are many different dishes that teams can cook together during team-building activities, such as:
- Baked goods
Whether it’s cookies, brownies, or a pie, baking is a great team-building activity. Everyone can take turns measuring ingredients and following the recipe. Use cookie cutters with various shapes to make them more presentable.
- BBQ
Grilling up burgers, hot dogs, or other BBQ favorites can be a fun and delicious team-building activity. Everyone can help prepare the food and take turns manning the grill. This activity usually has several stations, such as preparing the meat, grilling, assembling the burgers or hotdogs, and serving the food.
On a nice Summer day, a team BBQ is the perfect way to create a bonding activity. If you are looking for some inspiration, Kevin Turner’s grilling site is a great resource for all your grilling needs.
- Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
This is a simple but satisfying option; everyone can take turns grilling the sandwiches and assembling the fillings. Each group member will be given a station to work at, such as grilling, cutting, and serving the sandwiches.
- Pasta Dishes
Pasta dishes come in various forms, but most core ingredients stay the same. Your team can try out classic comfort foods like carbonara or mac and cheese, which are both popular and easy to prepare. If adventurous, let them cook spaghetti with squid ink topped with shrimp and cherry tomatoes.
What are the Most Popular Cooking Team Building Activities?
- Bake-Off Contest
This activity focuses solely on baking. Teams are given a limited amount of time and a list of ingredients to make a baked good, such as a cake, cookie, or loaf of bread. The team with the best-baked product wins after a panel of judges evaluates the baked goods. Using cookie cutters can give you a slight edge, so get one.
- Cookout ala Iron Chef
The activity starts by announcing a common theme or ingredient that teams will use for the competition. They will then be given various ingredients and must work quickly to finish the dish. The food with the most nod from the panel of judges will be declared the winner.
- Recipe Roulette
Each team receives a list of the necessary ingredients and a set of cooking guidelines. The recipe in the ingredients list differs from the recipe in the instructions. To prepare the right food with the ingredients provided, the teams must collaborate and figure out a strategy and execute it.