5 Unexpected Benefits of Team Outings
Team outings are not just an excuse for mandatory fun — they serve a greater purpose to the team and company as a whole. Here are 5 unexpected benefits of team outings that will change your perspective of team outings.
Expose Hidden Talents
Team outings are an opportunity for employees to participate in fun, out-of-the-box activities that will help the team grow in areas like communication and collaboration. It’s also an opportunity for the team leader to learn more about their employees and help them discover new talents. Who knew that your accountant was a whiz with riddles and can easily beat an escape room, or that your lead salesman could get creative in the kitchen and whip up a meal in under 60 minutes.
Activities that push your employees to try new things and channel hidden talents are an opportunity for you as a team leader to better utilize your employees skills inside the office. You may think of someone new for a task because of how they performed during a scavenger hunt or will fight for your team to be a part of special project because of what they accomplished creatively during a cooking class. After a team outing you’ll be surprised at how differently you will think about your all-star team when you get back to the office.
Motivate Employees to Work Towards a Shared Goal
Motivating your employees can be a challenge, especially if they are working on a project that the entire team isn’t thrilled about. Try motivating your employees with a change of scenery and new, fun goal to accomplish. Team outing ideas like scavenger hunts, escape rooms and murder mystery games give your employees an opportunity to work together to achieve a goal that has nothing to do with work.
Whether it’s escaping the room in record time or becoming a team of detectives to uncover the killer, you’ll be surprised at how motivated your team can get when accomplishing a fun goal. You and your team will gain a new perspective during activities like these that you can bring back into the office. Challenge your employees to think differently like they did during the scavenger hunt and make accomplishing in-office goals just as fun as during team outings.
Give Employees a Fun, Mental-Health Break
Day-to-day work related stress can have employees feeling worn down and as a team leader you have to find opportunities to give your team mental-health breaks. A mental-health break isn’t only great for your employees, but for your entire team. When one member is feeling down, the entire team can sense it and your well oiled machine is only working at 100% when everyone is feeling 100%. Find time for everyone to get out of the office and let loose.
Activities like laser tag, trampoline dodgeball or even just walking are a great way for employees to break out of the confines of the office and channel their energy into something else. After a fun game of laser tag, you’ll be surprised to see how relaxed and refreshed your team will be. That short mental-health break can do wonders when it comes to productivity inside the office and to the well-being of your team.
Increase Productivity Inside the Office
Struggling with productivity is something every team goes through. Whether it’s the holidays, outside stress or in-office “water-cooler” talk, there are tons of obstacles standing in the way team productivity. But who would have thought that you can work on your teams productivity outside of the office. A team outing is a great way for team leaders and employees to get together outside the office and work on skills that will benefit the group inside the office.
Team development workshops are an opportunity for a professional to evaluate your team’s ability to communicate, collaborate and accomplish a goal, all the while you and your team are having fun. After you complete tasks like engineering a waterworks system or Aikido trust training, you will get feedback and constructive criticism that you can take back to the office. Seeing where you and your employees can improve will only better how your team will work together and prepare you for future challenges.
Create an Environment for Team Bonding
Teams are only as strong as their leader and as a leader it can be easy to forget the importance of team bonding. A strong team is more productive, energetic and eager to work and taking the time for team bonding is just as important as meeting deadlines. Team outings are a great opportunity for team leaders and employees to connect and learn more about each other.
Team outing activities like escape rooms, cooking challenges and scavenger hunts are a way to combat cliques within the team and bring everyone together to work towards a shared goal. After completing these types of activities, team members will better understand each other strengths, weaknesses and interests. Bringing your team together to spend time with one another is one of most successful ways to better connect with your team and for them to connect with you.
Ready to take your team to the next level this year, but not sure where to start? Then plan a Team Outing Expo with OccasionGenius. You provide the space and we bring local ideas to your office! The expo is interactive, free and most importantly, fun! Discover your cities awesome, hidden gems and have more team fun in 2018.
Connect with us at info@occasiongenius.com or call us at (804) 895–4402 to arrange for your Team Outing Expo and bring the fun to your company. You can see more information here!
