Team building activities: 24 of the best team building activities for your work team
Forget ‘trust falls’ and awkward after-work drinks. Here’s how to build real team spirit for your staff…
Team building. When it comes to unwelcome work-related events, team building is often right up there with ’HR meeting’.
But numerous studies have shown that ‘team building’ – getting your staff together to bond, usually over an activity – is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your business.
“When you [invest in] team building, you see job satisfaction increase, boosts to employee morale and productivity, improved communication, higher retention and more,” says Michael Alexis, CEO of TeamBuilding.com, a global company that has organised staff events at Google, Amazon, Netflix and Apple, among thousands.
“One study found that socialising between team members improves communication patterns by more than 50 per cent; another reported that women who have a best friend in their team at work are twice as likely to remain there as someone who doesn’t,” Alexis explains.
Nearly anything can be a team-building activity.
The crux of team building is to foster a sense of connectedness within your staff. The good news? “Nearly anything can be a team building activity” he says: “from throwing a frisbee at the park, to getting ice cream together, if you call it team building, then it is.”
The best team building activities have three common elements.
What makes a great team building activity?
- A mix of full group and smaller group dynamics.
“For instance,” says Alexis, “you might have 30 people that do an activity together, and then break out into smaller teams of five. These small groups make sure that everyone has a chance to participate more fully in the event.”
- A facilitator.
This person can be an internal professional, like an HR manager or office manager, or a third-party company providing team building as a service. “The important thing is that someone is in charge of the team building and directing the experience,” he explains.
- Regularity.
Finally, part of what makes team building work well is doing it consistently. “Even a small activity, like icebreaker questions at the beginning of meetings, can be very effective if you do it at every meeting over the course of weeks and months.”
And, if the last 18 months have shown us anything, it’s that team building doesn’t have to happen in person. COVID-19 has seen an explosion in remote and online team building, with Alexis pointing out that one of TeamBuilding.com’s most popular exercises has been carried out over Zoom:
“Online Office Games is a 90-minute, fully hosted experience over Zoom. It includes team formations, icebreakers, trivia, and a fun communications game called ‘Can you hear me now?’”
John Tabari is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Class Bento, a workshops, activities and team-building events company that operates in Australia, the US and the UK. He sees the switch to remote working as “a once-in-a-generation change” to the workplace that can have dire consequences – including burnout – if staff don’t feel connected or valued within a team.
Tabari explains: “Now that we are working ‘hybrid’ [a hybrid office environment features both in-office and remote workers] there are more silos and feelings of isolation among staff.” He believes creative workshops – including painting and even craft – can be a great way to keep teams running more cohesively. “It is very important to keep people bonding, as this creates more trust to share ideas, which drives innovation and improves productivity.”
As for the cringe factor, Alexis says it’s imperative you hold any type of team building activity within office hours. “One of the most effective ways to encourage participation at team-building events is to make it paid work time. If you plan your event after hours, many people in your team have obligations or otherwise may prefer not to come. Doing the team building event during work hours makes it easier for your people to commit.
“Also, get your team excited about the event before it happens! In addition to telling them what activity you will be doing, share why you chose it and maybe even add some reviews.”
Read on for different team building activities that are fun for everyone, without feeling forced.
Team bonding creates more trust to share ideas, which drives innovation and improves productivity.
Remote/ virtual activities
Virtual team-building ideas are in hot demand since the world was impacted by a pandemic. And while in-person activities can be adapted and given a virtual makeover, there are plenty of events designed specifically for remote teams.
1. Blackout Truth or Dare
The host of the group says, “truth or dare!” and anyone who is not willing to do it, turns off their camera. The cameras that stay on are then asked to perform an action: singing in front of the group, for example, or sharing a childhood nickname. The winner is the person who is last to turn their camera off.
2. Tiny Campfire
This is one of TeamBuilding.com’s most popular events. A facilitator provides each participant with a package for the day – a teeny marshmallow, a Digestive biscuit, a piece of chocolate and a candle, which they use to ‘roast’ their S’mores on. Then, on ‘camp day’ team members log in to a video conference room for 90 minutes of camp games, trivia and historic ghost stories. The advantage of this type of exercise is it’s semi-virtual, memory-invoking and nostalgic.
3. Lightning scavenger hunt
This is where you hunt for ordinary items around your own home, including breakfast food, a DIY tool, the last book you read and a postcard, for example. It could also include fridge magnets, umbrellas, high heels and toilet paper. Airbnb offers Living Room Legends Lightning Scavenger Hunts through its Airbnb online experiences offering.
4. Workshops exploring cultures
“Right now, people can’t travel as much as they used to,” explains Tabari. “So, we’ve done our best to bring travel to our teams. One very popular virtual experience is making Turkish lamps as a team, where a whole kit is delivered and you feel like – for a moment – you are on holiday.”
5. A Slack channel for memes
This one is super easy and the perfect way to deliver a little humour and lightness when you’re communicating electronically all day. Create a dedicated Slack channel and make sure everyone has a turn, even those who say they can’t find a meme… just send them a few online links and let the laughs begin. People don’t just love to laugh, they love to be thought of as funny, too.
Out of office activities
Getting outside and away from the office is a great way to build team camaraderie. Here are some brilliant out-of-office team building ideas.
1. The Escape Room
This involves all team members being taken to a room and given a limited amount of time to solve a puzzle using clues to escape. There are thousands of escape rooms, including mobile ones, all over the world and some have themed ‘rooms’ such as jails and castles. They’re a great way to promote team collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and fast decision making in a low-stakes team environment.
2. Scavenger hunts
Scavenger hunts have morphed to include their own genres, including a ‘photo’ scavenger hunt where you have to take pictures with your phone of different objects, and a ‘talent’ scavenger hunt that includes singing, handstands and more. TeamBuilding.com has a ‘selfie’ hunt, where you are required to get selfies with everyone from your family including a cute pet. There are even apps available to download, such as GooseChase and Let’s Roam, which includes a bar hunt option, allowing you to turn your hunt into a pub crawl.
3. Laser tag
A team-building classic, laser tag can happen indoors or outside and makes great use of strategic and planning skills. There are even options that include accommodation so you can stay overnight, enjoy breakfast, and enjoy a wide variety of activities like archery and hiking. Facilitators can divide teams evenly according to skill and fitness level. Keep in mind that if it’s an outdoor event, there may be more cardio involved.
4. Candle making
Candle kits are great for both in-house and remote team building. Companies like Blazeandfoam.com.au provide the kit and a tutor to guide you through the activity, and it’s a great way to get people out of their comfort zones and shift gears.
5. Terrarium workshop
One of the most popular team building events at Class Bento, the succulent terrarium workshop is held at a florist, but can also be done virtually with kits sent to staff in advance. An easy way to connect with nature, building your own little garden is a meditative experience that provides an easy, accessible way of slowing down and increasing focus.
6. Charitable events
Register your staff with a not-for-profit organisation’s fun run or walk. Marathons and walks are an ideal way of uniting the team around a common goal and injecting a greater sense of purpose.
Upgrades to the traditional team dinners or lunches
Team dinners or lunches are a tried-and-true way to build team spirit. But why not aim for an event that offers more than the standard meal out?
1. Trivia night
Why not swap a traditional meal out for a team trivia night? If this is outside of work hours, it’s best if it’s held somewhere a little more enticing than the office. A bar is fine, but a restaurant that caters to everyone in your team's dietary tastes is better still if you’re asking for more than just an end-of-year get together. There are plenty of trivia questions around the internet or you can plan ahead by finding out unusual things about your staff and asking people to guess. For example, “What is Jenny’s middle name?” and “Which one of these three men went to Paris when he was 15?” The advantage of making it about your team is that everyone feels important and gets to know everyone else.
2. Quizzes
Another option is to add a quiz on to your team dinner. While it’s tempting to make the subject of your quiz about work, remember, you might not get the same level of enthusiasm if you do! Consider current events or pop culture, and if it’s a big group, try dividing into fours and setting a timer.
3. Lucky dips
Everyone loves prizes, but with lucky dips it pays to have more than one major prize thrown in along with the candles, mugs and keyrings. Vouchers are always a good idea, too.
4. Secret Santa
Perfect for Christmas but great for any other time, too, consider holding a Secret Santa for Christmas in July to boost morale, or even an end-of-financial-year giveaway. For a big project that everyone has been diligently working on that’s been successful, it’s worth putting a bit of intention behind the celebration. Drinks at the pub is nice but taking the team out to lunch and asking everyone to bring a gift worth no more than $10, is more personal.
5. Wine tastings
You can take your staff away for a weekend at a winery but if you want to keep it within work hours, devote a day to it. Or try a cocktail-making workshop. Red Balloon has a variety of them, all led by expert bartenders.
6. Cooking class
Class Bento provide cultural culinary experiences such as sushi or dumpling making – it’s an easy-to-learn new cooking skill for the kitchen while enjoying a cocktail and free lunch with the team.
Indoor team-building games
Looking for team-bonding activities you can do indoors or during a corporate retreat? Read on:
1. Three truths and a lie
Hand each person four pieces of paper. On one of them they should write a lie. Examples should be easy, especially if the team don’t know each other. Something such as ‘I’ve been to Pluto’ or ‘I have a gold medal’; on the other three pieces of paper are written their truths – ‘I was once a chef’ or ‘I played netball for ten years’. Ask the person to read out all four and have the rest of the team guess which one is the lie.
2. Blind drawing
Split your team off into pairs. Have each pair sit back-to-back and set a timer. One person must draw what the other person describes without them giving away what it is. For example, ‘Santa sitting on a surfboard’ where the only things allowed to be described would be ‘big fat man in a red suit is on top of something you use in the ocean’. This is a fun way to encourage communication and for people to appreciate different communication styles.
3. Two things
This is a great icebreaker and especially useful for those who may feel too self-conscious to say something about themselves. Each member of the team has to say two things they love and two things they hate. It can be absolutely anything: “love my kids and my partner… hate brussels sprouts and Manchester United”. But it gives other people a chance to get to know what really makes them tick. It’s also a good conversation starter.
4. Write it down
This game sees each team member give a piece of paper with a person’s name on it. Below the name they must think of one kind thing they can say that describes the person, although a sentence is better: ‘Georgie is great at deadlines’ or ‘Harry always cleans up after everyone’. Then, they fold the piece of paper down and pass it on to the next person.
Smaller groups are better suited to this, so if you need to break a big group up into groups of four or five, then do so. At the end, the rolled-up piece of paper is unfolded and read aloud by the person everyone has been writing about. This is a great way to make people feel appreciated and ‘seen’ and it’s something tangible they can look at when they’ve had a bad day.
If your staff aren’t getting along….
If there’s a lack of communication or tension between staff forget doing trust falls! There are some exercises you can do to help move people on, however.
1. The great debate
“There are numerous team-building exercises specifically for conflict resolution” says Alexis, who recommends one of his favourites, The Great Debate. “Essentially, you pick a low-stakes topic like ‘What is better, coffee or tea?’ and each side has to make their case. Then, halfway through you have people switch sides and debate the other perspective.”
He believes real topics can sometimes be even better. “If you know that there is conflict between departments you could have each one argue why the other is important. These activities encourage employees to see their colleagues as real people with real perspectives. You may not instantly create best friendships, but you can boost respect and understanding.”
2. Acknowledge different personalities
Choose a straightforward personality test. There are lots available online, such as Myers Briggs and the DISC personality test that are easy to do and fun and informative. Have a discussion in small groups about the results, for example, what it means to be introverted or have a certain style of working. That way, the next time a conflict occurs, the person can say “I’m an ITFJ” and feel more understood. Or, if two people have been disagreeing, they can start to break down exactly how the other person has been interpreting what they’ve been saying.
3. Rage rooms
Places like The Break Room run corporate sessions and include packages with a baseball bat and specific items for the team to break. That’s right: rage rooms offer the chance to wield your weapon of choice and smash your stress away. You also get to take home a gift. It’s the perfect way to blow off steam after a stressful period, just make sure everyone is fully aware that what goes on in the break room must stay there!
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