More teams than ever before are remote or hybrid, and even teams that are back in the office together may have spent months to a year apart. No matter how your team is organized, it’s important to spend time developing your team dynamic and forming relationships. How do you develop a team? There are thousands of team building activities, both in-person and virtual, designed to help teams bond, build camaraderie, and create a strong company culture.
The goal of team building activities is to create a more cohesive team that is on the same page. Through these activities, your team will increase communication among team members, showcase strengths and identify weaknesses in your team, improve motivation, increase trust, and practice collaborating. There are also financial reasons to invest in team building. For example, there are high costs associated with employee turnover and bonded teams have stronger employee retention.
It’s important to remember that the goal of team building is collaboration. Some team building activities, such as scavenger hunts, sports, and game shows, have an aspect of competition. However, in these situations, people are still playing on teams and bonding with the people on their teams. Keep the stakes low so things don’t get out of control and winning does not shadow the real goal—to learn to work better together.
Get out of the office. And if you’re thinking of just heading to the bar, keep reading. After-work happy hours are a fun way to get to know your team, but there are more unique (and intentional) ways to get to know each other.
Planning a team building event is a great opportunity to mix things up. Doing something outside of the workplace provides a new setting to practice these skills. A change of scenery is more likely to excite attendees who might be more stoked about going to a ropes course than heading to the board room. (And you don’t want people to skip out on your event or they’ll miss out on all the benefits, and fun.) A new location breaks the routine and can also disrupt the usual workplace hierarchy. Instead of being intimidated by the CEO, you may now be working alongside him to build a bridge faster than the other teams.
It’s important to set a time for teams to put down their emails and to-do lists, and instead focus on team building. For your best return on investment, schedule regular team building events and even team building days. What is a team building day? It’s an entire day where everyone spends time together. (We see the panic in your eyes. The postponed work will get done and spending the time bonding your team is as important as getting through your daily tasks.)
Though you might have done team building at summer camp or in school, you might be stuck wondering, what are fun activities for adults? We’ve got your back. Get started with these unique team building activities.