Anything But Team Building
Team building is one of the most popular activities in organizations across the globe. It is supposed to be a time when groups come together to strengthen relationships and learn new skills, all while having some fun! Unfortunately, it can quickly go south without a plan. Here are some tips for avoiding those pitfalls that will help keep your team building event from becoming an uncomfortable day.
-You might want to think about inviting only certain people so you can focus on just one topic at a time instead of trying to cover everything.
-Make sure you take time at the beginning of the session to go over your mission statement, vision, values and goals.
-You can't assume everyone will know how to work with a group. Be sure you are clear about what will happen and what is expected.
-Keep an eye on time and make sure that it stays on topic. It is so easy to get off track!
-Remember: Your team might have their own expectations of what they want out of a team building activity. Make sure you listen to them! Have some activities planned but be open to hearing other suggestions from your employees as well. You may just find something even better than you imagined.
-Be sure to plan a debriefing session with your team at the end of their session. Let them know they will have an opportunity to share feedback and comments. You may want to ask what worked, what didn't and what changes you could make for next time.
-You may want to give your employees a survey after the session so you can get their thoughts about it as well.This can help you see how things went from the employee's point of view as well.
There are so many activities that people plan for teams that cost quite a bit of money or even need special equipment or materials in order to participate in them. However, there are many great team building activities that can be done right in your office. A few suggestions for some great ways to spend the afternoon are:
The Icebreaker:
This is a great icebreaker at any event or meeting and it doesn't need to cost anything! You can buy ordinary cups or use old juice bottles with a hole drilled through it. Fill the holes with water and place them on tables throughout the room. Make sure everyone has a cup of water for their hand. You can set up a competition where the goal is to get their water into the cup on their table using only one hand. Make a point of giving everyone a different colored cup so it is clear whose water is supposed to go where.
The Icebreaker:
This is a great icebreaker at any event or meeting and it doesn't need to cost anything! You can buy ordinary cups or use old juice bottles with a hole drilled through it. Fill the holes with water and place them on tables throughout the room. Make sure everyone has a cup of water for their hand. You can set up a competition where the goal is to get their water into the cup on their table using only one hand. Make a point of giving everyone a different colored cup so it is clear whose water is supposed to go where.
The Water Fun:
You don't have to have anyone in the room with you and you can do this outside as well. Fill up an old kiddy pool with water, set up paddles and start having everyone race around being the water polo team! This can be lots of fun for just about any age group! If you are looking for something more challenging, try having some players race a raft down the pool and other players toss their paddles at them for points. For additional challenge, move the pool indoors if possible or bring it into another room if not.
The Bouncy Castle or Tube Slide:
This one is super easy and affordable! Grab some old bed sheets and some fun inflatable balls. Place them in the middle of the room, cover them with old sheets and have everyone race down the slide or bounce on the bouncy castle! Some people bring their own bouncy castles or even ring toss games that you can set up with some rings that are pre-drilled into a wall so they won't break. Run around in circles or have a team competition where teams score points for how many rings they collect.
Team Building Through Trivia:
Sometimes all you need is a little trivia. Grab some sheets of paper and numbers 1 through 10. Write down questions that are easy enough to get people thinking but also make them struggle a little. You may want to find some question source online or you can even use the ones on this site. Be sure to have fun with the questions! For example, if the question is who sings this song: "You had me at hello, you took my breath away", you might ask something like, "What words were they saying exactly? Sometimes the lyrics aren't what they appear". Have the team with the most points at the end win. Make sure you praise the team that is most creative with the answers too!
Team Building Through Name Association:
This activity is great for those teams that are already close and want to get even closer! It is also fun for a new group because it helps them start to bond. Bring two lines of chairs face to face. Make sure there is enough space between each chair so people can easily pass between them. One person will sit in each chair. Ask someone from your group to come up with a topic and everyone else has to think of one thing they associate that topic with, like a person, place or thing. Once you have a list, grab the first person from each team and have them fill in their list on the left side of the sheet. Next, have all of your people fill in their respective lists on top of the other person's names. Then, take a photo and make a collage out of it!
Have Fun with Some Team Building Games:
If you want to spend your team building time having fun instead of trying to work on group goals, try some games like Spot The Phone or Musical Chairs. Read more about these games here: http://www.teamplayerforever.com/games/spot-the-phone-and-musical-chairs/.
These are just a few suggestions to get your team building started. Once you get the ball rolling, you will find a lot more ideas of how to have fun together as a team. This is also a great time to include some activities from different programs and ideas from other companies. You may want to include an option for employees to fill out a survey at the end of these sessions so you can see what they enjoyed or didn't like about the activity and share it with them as well. It is important that employees feel like they can contribute their ideas if they want to, so don't be afraid to let them know they can!
These are just a few suggestions to get your team building started.
Conclusion:
Anyone can be a better employee and have a great time doing it! Don't feel like you have to be perfect. Just show your employees that you care about them and that you want them to succeed as a team. Share in the fun by doing team building activities together too! Get some great ideas online or get some help from another company and bring it into your office. Have fun spending time with your employees and see what they think of your new attitude. I hope this article helped you out! I would love to hear your feedback on this article or any other topic you would like me to write about! You can contact me directly at ron@teamplayerforever.