Team building can be a stressful ordeal for many people. There are so many different approaches and options available for team building exercises that it can often be difficult to decide what kind of activity would suit your needs best. Obviously, you want the activity you choose to not only be enjoyable for your team, but also effective in getting everyone working together more easily. You might want something that is fun and playful or something more hands-on where you get to develop new skills with others or maybe even help them develop skills they haven’t had a chance to try yet. Using these guidelines will help you make this important decision and enjoy all the benefits that come with it.
1) Do some research before you start your team building activities. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort honing an activity that isn’t going to work well for your team. You might also want to find out if the activities you are considering are something that your team will enjoy or something they have found difficult in the past. Once you know this, you will know what kind of exercises should be part of your plan for team building when it comes time to get everyone together.
2) Think about what your team needs to be successful. If the reason for team building is to improve productivity, for instance, then you will want to focus on the specific areas where your team is struggling and figure out a way to help them with these areas during their time in your company’s building. If improving communication seems like it will help your company, you might find that having a game night or something similar would be more useful than traditional team building exercises like business planning or lunch and learns. You might even want to do a combination of both of these types of activities, depending on your company and the way in which you want to approach communication.
3) Consider creating your team building activities around cultural needs. If you have a diverse team, you might want to focus on creating intercultural team building activities rather than stereotypes that do not always apply to everyone. You also want to be careful about how you approach your team in relation to these types of activities. Some team building activities can cause more tension than others and you don’t want to make things worse if you aren’t careful about how you approach every situation.
4) Don’t forget your overall goal for team building. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time and effort on something that doesn’t really get your team moving in the direction towards success. If the goal is to improve communication then you might want to work with different exercises that do this, rather than something that focuses on specific performance problems.
5) Make sure your team is on board with your efforts. You don’t want them to be bored during your team building activities or feel like they have been forced into participating in them. You will also want to make sure they can see how all of their efforts have helped the company in some way.
6) Don’t forget that team building doesn’t always have to be fun! You might need it just as much as your team does and making it fun could help keep everyone motivated and giving their all during the time you spend working together. If you want to make your team building more productive, take some time to get everyone involved with work tasks they can do together. You might also focus more on the specific skills that are important for successful teamwork.
7) But……Don’t be afraid to let your team have fun. Having fun can help them work through their problems and enjoy their time while being productive at the same time. When planning your team building activities, make sure you have some fun activities in mind that will get everyone laughing and enjoying themselves.
