How do I choose the most effective Team Building activity?

Perhaps you’re working with an ineffective team, morale is low, but you can’t quite pinpoint where the tensions lay and are therefore powerless to improve them.

You might be aware of the issues within your team, and want to observe them remotely to assess the impact they are having on your business and come up with some creative ideas on how to resolve them.

Or you may find yourself in the enviable position of working with a fully engaged and functional team, and would like to cement and develop the strategies which are already in place and working for the business.

Moving into 2019 there are so many different team building options available that it can be difficult to assess which one will be most effective in actually highlighting and solving your problem, whatever that may be.

We’ve shown here why our activities can help, and thought it would be fun to drill down to the nitty gritty – how to choose an activity to deal with those members of the team that contribute to a dysfunctional way of working; we've all encountered them at one time or another:

Do you have a Siri on your team?

Otherwise known as a ‘know it all’, I like to call them Siri as they think they know everything but are not always 100% correct, and do not like to be told otherwise! The danger with the 'Siri' is that they can make other members of the team feel inadequate, and as they are often outspoken it can lead to others keeping their mouth shut even if they have something valuable to contribute.

Our Sleuth Room is ideal for pinpointing this behaviour – if you have failed to work out the correct combination to a padlock, then you will be unable to access the clue, it’s as simple as that. No amount of posturing and insistence will make a difference; working together to find the correct way forward is the only way to achieve success here.

Do you have a Blunt Knife on your team?

For Blunt Knife, read ‘there’s no point’! Everyone has met an example – they are inflexible in their outlook and believe everything is pre-destined, and that the outcome will be the same no matter what they do, so why bother putting the work in? They'll just plod along and go with the flow, accepting their surroundings without challenge or indeed much input at all.

Our Act of Murder is very useful in challenging this way of thinking. Poor old Blunt Knife will be interacting with real people (in character) who will adapt their behaviour and conversation depending on the interaction; how s/he handles this will have a direct (and positive) influence on the outcome of the task.

Do you have a Medusa on your team?

Ok, so it may not be as dramatic as in Ancient Greece, (in Greek mythology, Medusa was a monster with living venomous snakes in place of hair; those who gazed upon her face would turn to stone.) but people who are overly defensive can be insecure with a constant guard up, and can shut down or react aggressively when they receive any perceived criticism, throwing it back at the rest of the team. This of course makes it very difficult to communicate or collaborate in an effective way as their colleagues will work in anticipation of a negative reaction.

One of our aims during our team building, in particular our InterActivity, is to allow ideas to flow freely without any fear of being penalised. It promotes open discussion, the creative flow of ideas and allows team members to be comfortable with expressing their ideas (and therefore increasing confidence and motivation).

Keep an eye out for these characters (and more...) and do get in touch if you'd like more help and advice in choosing the right activity for you and your team.

Helen Saxton is owner at Charaderie, who deliver unique team building experiences through interactive murder mystery challenges. Problem solving is a very effective way of getting teams working efficiently together, and what bigger problem than a murder to solve? Follow her on twitter @charaderie or visit www.charaderie.co.uk