- 18 December 2024
- Public Relations
Team Building Activities to Boost Morale and Collaboration
You know what they say about "all work and no play," but the reality is that for a small business owner, it can be challenging in this age of 24/7 activity, connectivity and expectation of availability to set aside time to play.
So don't.
Instead, try bringing some playfulness into your work atmosphere.
To do so, introduce team building games that you can use to not only brighten the mood of your employees but to also improve communication skills, foster cooperation and inspire enthusiasm among the team. This can have a meaningful, positive impact on the bottom line of your business.
Our goal is to present you with some of the best team building activities for enhancing team cohesion, team development and team morale. First, let's talk about what team building is and how team building activities can contribute to the success of your small business.
What is Team Building?
What is it?
Effective team building is the process of deliberately developing positive professional relationships among your employees in order to create a cohesive, effective and productive group that can work together on a common goal. It does this by cultivating a healthy company culture that enhances communication, trust and collaboration in the workplace.
Why is it important?
Team building enhances company culture. It promotes communication, increases employee engagement and job satisfaction and encourages collaboration. All of these conditions improve overall team performance, because happy employees are productive employees.
What are its benefits?
Team building can be good for your business. Employees who feel seen, understood and supported by their employer and coworkers work harder and are more likely to remain in your employ. These are all factors of critical importance to the management and success of your small business.
So, now that you have a good understanding of team building and of how team cohesion can have a positive impact on your small business, let's look at different types of team building games and activities and their different objectives.
Types of Team Building Activities
Human relationships are complex. It can be challenging for you, as a small business owner, to put together a group of people with diverse prior work and life experiences and provide them with a space where they can work as a cohesive team. Fortunately, there is a wide variety of team building activities which are designed to approach the task from different angles and with different goals. Let's explore some of them.
Team Building Activities for Collaboration
Healthy collaboration allows each of your team members to feel like a team leader. If your goal is to promote collaboration among your employees, you'll want to implement team building activities that invite team members to work together. From getting to know each other to building trust to group problem-solving, these team games help your employees create and strengthen their professional relationships.
Icebreaker Games
Icebreaker games are fun and interactive activities designed to improve a team's collaborative efforts by helping them get to know each other better.
- Two Truths and a Lie: In this easy team building game, each employee takes turns sharing two truths and one lie about themselves. The others then try to figure out which is the lie. This entertaining game encourages participation and allows team members to learn interesting facts about each other.
- Human Bingo: This people-based version of Bingo is a great team building game that encourages your team to mingle, talk and learn interesting things about one another in a fun and light-hearted way.
Trust Building Exercises
Trust is a huge factor in any human relationship. Building trust can improve collaboration, but far more importantly, a foundation of trust supports mutual respect, concern and care among your team members.
- Minefield: Minefield is a team building game in which team members navigate an obstacle course while blindfolded, relying on their teammates for guidance. For in-person teams, Minefield is a great team bonding exercise.
- Perfect Square: In this activity, blindfolded team members stand in a circle, holding a rope. Task them with creating a perfect square with the rope, using only verbal communication. When the team believes they’ve formed a square, have them remove their blindfolds.
Problem-Solving Activities
Problem-solving activities challenge your employees to work together to solve a problem. These activities can be as simple as a scavenger hunt or as elaborate as a special event at an escape room.
- Scavenger Hunt: A good old scavenger hunt is a fun and interactive activity that encourages team members to work together to complete challenges and find items on a list.
- Escape Room: As said above, engaging in an escape room can be an opportunity for employees to practice group problem-solving in a very active and hands-on way outside of the office in a fun environment.
Team Building Activities for Creative Thinking
As a small business owner, it benefits you to encourage creative thinking in your entire team. Why? Because ideas that could be good for your business can come from anybody at any time. Creative thinking is an asset worth cultivating in every member of your team. There are plenty of creative thinking activities that you can implement to motivate your team and energize your business.
- Brainstorming: This is a tried-and-true classic. Provide some prompts and assign someone to record all the ideas that are generated. Rules: Go for quantity, withhold judgment, be welcoming of whatever ideas emerge.
- Sell It: Let an employee pitch a product idea and convince their fellow employees to buy it.
- Magazine Story: Ask your employees to create a magazine story about your business.
Outdoor and Virtual Team Building Activities
You may want or need to take team building activities out of the office. Outdoor and virtual activities expand your options.
- Outdoor Activities: Ropes courses, charity walks and mini golf are just a few activities that can support your team building objectives.
- Virtual Activities: In this era of remote work, it may not be feasible to bring your employees together for team building activities. Fortunately, there are a host of online activities, from virtual scavenger hunts to karaoke, that you can utilize to achieve your team building objectives.
Quick and Easy Team Building Activities
You don't have to wait until you can devote a whole day to team building. Kindle team spirit with short in-person and virtual activities you can interject into almost any workday. At your next team meeting, consider holding an impromptu paper airplane contest to spark a little friendly competition. Or, for remote teams, invite everyone to share a picture of their desk to give their coworkers a glimpse of their personality.
Hopefully we've provided you with some good ideas for team building games and other engaging team building activities that would be a good fit for your small business. For more help in planning your team building activities, you might want to utilize a team building workshop template. Check out the resources below.
Team Building Workshop Templates
Are you ready to begin implementing team building activities at your small business? Great.
But, wait.
What was the point again of all this play?
Team building isn’t just about playing games, it has a meaningful purpose as well. Remember, you're utilizing these activities to bring about real and positive change for your employees and for your business.
- So be purposeful in your implementation of team building activities. Plan them thoughtfully, with a clear understanding of your team's dynamics and goals.
- Set clear objectives. What is your focus? Do you wish to improve communication among your employees, enhance morale or foster creativity?
- Choose the activities designed for your objectives. Also, take into account the individual preferences and dynamics of your team when selecting team building activities. Choose activities that will speak to them as well as address your objectives.
- Finally, and this is tremendously important, evaluate the outcomes. When the team building activities are over, gather feedback from your employees. Ask them to share their experiences and insights through surveys, group discussions or individual interviews. This will enable you to gauge the activities' impact on team cohesion and morale.
Incorporating team building games can effectively enhance workplace dynamics and foster a collaborative culture. By bringing some play into your work, you can create a more engaged and productive team that will help drive success for your small business. Happy team building!
For more helpful resources on how to grow your small business, check out The UPS Store Small Business Services Center.
