Not your average Team Building Event
The mention of team-building days or events can strike fear into the hearts of even the most loyal and bravest employees. As a manager or business owner, you too may be tired of the ever-dreaded trust fall and awkward ice-breakers?
It can be challenging to figure out how to improve cooperation amongst coworkers. This is especially true in a workplace where several cliques have been formed. Activities for employees to boost teamwork and cooperation don’t have to be dull and repetitive. Have a look at some of the following suggestions. You could try to incorporate some of these into your next team event. They could help make teamwork and cooperation amongst coworkers an enjoyable prospect.
1. Have a scavenger hunt
While it might remind you of your childhood days searching for small trinkets and lollies, taking part in a scavenger hunt can be great fun. The week before the scavenger hunt is set to take place, have employees send you anonymous suggestions of things that they would enjoy searching for or photographing. Compile a list of twenty or so of the best suggestions. Split employees into teams and set them to work on the checklist. The first team to complete the list wins. All the competitors will brush up on their teamwork skills during the competition!
2. Host a Trivia Night
Having the team play a game of trivia doesn’t mean you all have to get down to a pub. Many kinds of venues hold trivia nights, and it might even be worth planning your own. General trivia can be fun for all types of personalities. If you do decide to host your own, throw in some workplace related questions. These should be alongside general knowledge and pop culture questions. Have a prize for the teams who come first, second, and third. Trivia is a great way to have people work together, and having a variety of questions gives everybody a chance to contribute.
3. Try your hand at an escape room
This is a fairly new phenomenon that has taken off in cities around the world. An escape room game involves being locked in a room with several other players. The game is to solve clues that will enable escape from the room.
The rooms generally range from being targeted to beginners to being very difficult to escape. In an escape room, employees must work together and allocate tasks to one another to solve the clues and puzzles. It requires a great deal of cooperation. Although there may be disagreements during the game, your employees should come out stronger for it!
4. Play a game of Two Truths and a Lie
Two Truths and a Lie is a simple game which best played when participants don’t know each other too well. While it does technically fall under the category of ‘ice-breaker’, this activity is anything but cold. The team members take it in turn to share three ‘facts’ about themselves, one of which is not true. Following a person’s revelations, his or her coworkers must guess which of the three statements is, in fact, a lie. Encourage statements that veer away from everyday facts such as ‘I went to school in x city’ to reveal something more interesting about a person. It’ll give your employees a chance to get to know each other better and should work as an interesting conversation starter.
5. Volunteer together
Volunteering has been shown to be helpful in diminishing stress, increasing happiness levels, and providing a sense of purpose. These are all positive traits when applied to everyday life as well as to the workplace! Find a cause that the team can get behind. Maybe take a vote to determine the most popular. Take a few hours on a workday to volunteer for an organisation related to it. Volunteering as a team will help to strengthen old bonds between people and create new ones, as well as providing a positive service to the community. Hard to beat that!
These are just a few ideas - have a think and see if you can come up with anymore!