5 Outside of the Box Corporate Team Building Tips

You’re sitting crossed legged in a circle with a dozen people that you work with.

The person sitting two spots to the right of you is talking about how much they love their dogs over the sounds of the traffic on the street below. A couple of people are absent-mindlessly looking at the window or at their phones. You watch as the bubbles in the water cooler race each other to the top of the canister. The seconds turn into minutes and shortly you will have to tell everyone your name and ‘a little bit about yourself’. This is commonly known as ‘team building’ and you wish it felt unfamiliar.

Again and again the same excuses for team building and engagement exercises are used and again and again they fail to achieve their purpose. We’ve seen before that succinctly explains the build up to and the importance of team building. None-the-less there seems to be a lack in individual employees understanding their roles inside a workplace.

It’s a shame when you consider that organizations in the US with highly engaged employees have double the net income of organizations that don’t. You could say that it (literally) pays to use team-building exercises. The same study found that in the US 89% of employers think their people leave them for jobs with better pay, but in reality only 12% actually do. Furthermore, employees that are engaged and felt that they had an active role in their work group are 87% less likely to leave their companies than disengaged employees.

Team building exercises that are engaging have proven results; that much is obvious. But how do you get the most out of your team in such an environment? These 5 steps are aimed at you squeezing the most out of your chosen team exercising and finding what makes your team tick and work at their most effective level.

Change things up

Take your team out of their normal environment. Change things up; make the leader the follower or have the main office players split into different groups. In doing this you may see some talent or skills that you haven’t before. If one works using the right side of their mind from Monday to Friday their colleagues never actively see their left side, but perhaps it is this left side of the brain that enables them to think differently and solve problems that would have otherwise gone unsolved.

It is similar to this scenario — you lose something but you know that you were using it only a minute ago. You look everywhere but can’t see it. You ask another person if they’ve seen it and within one glance they notice it sitting right in front of you. A different way of looking at things can be the simplest solution to the most difficult of problems.

With team building activities you see how others think. Particularly in riddle and wit based activities. Traditional activities that test intelligence include mazes or trivia nights. Or something more modern that may be worth considering are ‘Escape Rooms’, these are team building activities which have popped up in the major cities .

Essentially it involves a group of people solving a series of clues within a time frame in order to ‘escape’ the generated escape situation. It takes teams completely out of their comfort zones and requires a different skill set than that used in a typical workplace. Thus, players are forced to think differently and each of the player’s strengths and ways of thinking are exposed.

Get outdoors

Similar to number one, this is all about changing it up in a physical sense. Get out and away from the usual work environment. There is a whole range of different outdoor team building activities available anywhere in the world. Sailing, retreats, hiking, surfing, skiing or bungee jumping, if you can get your team outdoors and excited about stretching their legs a little bit you will find that the fresh air can unlock all sorts of team spirit and encouragement.

Boot camps are becoming inreasingly popular, you may even consider contacting a personal trainer just to take your employees on scheduled afternoons or mornings. Run a workplace weight loss or fitness competition, perhaps in preparation for a fun run or charity walk. Get the whole office involved and encouraging each other, with a visible leaderboard to encourage a bit of competitive spirit.

If this type of thing doesn’t appeal starting up a sports team with employees may also be worth considering. Fun competition like mixed soccer or netball team means that while it is light-hearted competition each team member needs to show up or risk letting the rest of the team down.

Make plans

Make some plans before and after your team building exercise. Make sure you send out emails well before and that everyone in the office knows when the activity is going to take place. Find out where the nearest bar is or means of transport to and from the activity. Ensure all medical and dietary requirements are taken into consideration and ensure everyone is looked after.

These apps are really easy to use and great for planning small events if you need a hand. The group will need to operate as one rather than a group of individuals if you want to achieve the best results so you must ensure that the whole group is looked after and no one is ignored or made to feel less important than others.

“A successful team is a group of many hands and one mind”

- Bill Bethel

Give incentives

Give your workers incentives, something to gain from participating in the activity. Perhaps free coffee for a year or free lunches every Friday for six months. Maybe a new desk chair or a weekend away. This is particularly important if you wish for voluntary involvement, like a workplace weightless competition or a weekend retreat.

Be open to suggestions

And finally, be open to suggestions for further improvement. Give your teammates and co-workers the opportunity to anonymously inform you and others what they liked or disliked, what they learned about others and what they think should be the next team building exercise. The point of team building activities is to make everyone feel valued.

The same mentality should flow into the workplace too. Create a suggestion box or a separate email address. Send a group email out when you are planning the next team building activity and get a scope for your group likes or dis-likes. Everyone has an opinion and each member’s opinion is equally valuable when it comes to team building exercises.

What people seem to struggle with the most is learning their role and understanding how their specific role in a group helps and contributes. One gains a sense of purpose and may be content in their role and produce work that is tailored to best suit their specific role. Or one may seek to gain a greater role in their group and as such will produce work to their best ability to showcase their best talent.

Either way, when individuals know and understand their responsibilities in a group environment the whole group will benefit. More so, when one feels like they belong to a group they will actively work to improve the group and in the corporate world there is nothing more valuable than the support of your co-workers. Do you have a corporate team-building tip? Let us know!