5 Team Building Exercises Your Employees Will Actually Enjoy

A brand is only as good as the employees that are powering it. And, since many obstacles cannot be surmounted by any single employee, good team collaboration is imperative to undertake obstacles with precision and efficiency. But having a well-put-together team doesn’t come overnight. The quality requires consistent participation and exercise to be permanently embedded to your employees as second nature. Here are five team-building exercises that will not only cultivate workplace morale and camaraderie but will also spur excitement and creativity within the workplace.

Giving Back

Participating in activities that support worthy causes is a great way to build a solid business team. Try to organize an annual volunteer outing with a local non-profit organization. Activities you can participate in include collecting and delivering food supplies for villages and towns that have been recently struck by a typhoon or earthquake, donating school supplies to children in need, and throwing parties for senior citizens at nursing homes or terminally-ill patients at hospitals.

Related Article: Characteristics of an Effective Team

Show & Tell

It might seem too elementary school-ish, but when done with a bit of panache, the activity can be an enjoyable experience for adult employees. Plus, it requires less effort and cost as opposed to other team-building exercises. Each month, instruct your employees to bring something to work that reflects them, regardless if it’s a favorite recipe, a vacation souvenir, or an interesting article. Before meetings, allocate 10 minutes to go around and have your employees “show and tell” what they’ve brought.

Poker Tower

The activity takes anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes. Instruct your employees to form groups of 2 to 5 members and give each group a pack of poker cards and a pair of scissors. Whoever can build the tallest tower using only the materials provided wins the activity. This exercise is not only fun but also forces employees to be creative and communicate clearly with teammates.

Go on a Field Trip

Many employees find it hard to establish a personal connection with their coworkers within the regular confinements of the workplace. Taking them on a field trip gives them tons of opportunity to get to know the folks they work with and interact openly without any formal rules driving the conversation. Provide your team with matching t-shirts designed for your outing. You don’t have to force your employees to wear these while on your outing, but at least give each of them one with the option of wearing it to match the rest of the team. Having everyone sporting the same branded gear helps create a sense of team cohesion and company pride. A yearly field trip out of town complete with food, games, and prizes can be a great team-building exercise.

Team Sports

Take your employees out every few weeks to a nearby sports center and let them loose. Engage in sports activities like soccer, volleyball, basketball, and even sack races. It doesn’t have to be as grand as actual sports competitions. The objective is to stimulate teamwork, as well as leadership skills.

Try these five team-building exercises today to get a productivity boost from your workforce. Experiment with each exercise and see how your workforce reacts to them. You might be surprised just how well your team can work together when they’re enjoying what they do.

Author: Emma Sturgis is a freelance writer living in Boston, MA. She recommends that business leaders who want to take their team on an outing use a screen printing service like Absolute Screen Printing to have t-shirts made with your company’s logo on them. Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2.