Team Building: Bonding Activities for a Productive Workforce

Your workforce is the backbone of your business, so it is your role as an employer to ensure that your employees bond effectively and are able to work together for the good of your company. Individual brilliance is desirable, but the most successful brands are often dependent on the collaboration of numerous people working together efficiently. So, how do you go about creating a real dream team who can boost your sales and offer brilliant customer service? A good place to start is implementing team building activities. This breaks the ice between your employees, fostering professional and creative communication and positive relationships within the workplace. Team building activities often receive a bad rep, due to many employees’ previous experience of dull, exasperating or awkward tasks. But it’s time to defeat this stereotype! Here are a few fun and engaging options for you to try out.

Team Building: Bonding Activities for a Productive Workforce

Drawing Games

Communication is key when it comes to employees working together in harmony. So work on this with some experimental drawing activities. One great game is to split your employees into pairs. One should receive a piece of paper with the name of a common item on it (all pairs will receive the same word). The other shouldn’t be allowed to see this piece of paper or know what is written on it. This individual will instead be supplied with a piece of plain paper and a pencil or pen. The aim of the game is for the first person to verbally dictate to the other how to draw the object, without ever stating what the end result of their picture should be. After an allocated period of time, all employees will compare pictures to see who communicated instructions the most effectively. Then allow the pairs to switch roles and attempt to carry out the alternative role.

 

Treasure Hunts

We are all familiar with the concept of a treasure hunt. More often than not, a Treasure Hunt will induce nostalgic memories of years gone by, conjuring up positive associations with productive teamwork and how it helped us in the past. Yes, back in our youth, the final reward may have just been a chocolate treat or a fun toy. The prize at the end of the hunt that you offer may be similar. However, the skills acquired in the chase for the reward at the end of the tunnel can also be later applied in the office or shop floor: effective time management, collaboration and problem-solving are just a few examples. You can also incorporate the use of advanced technology into your hunt, familiarizing your employees with new hardware (such as tablets and newly released smartphones) or software (such as GPS, tracking, and new apps).

 

Dare Board Games

Take a standard board game and allocate your employees different colored counters to represent them on the board. Write (suitable for work) dares on pieces of paper, fold them up and place them in a bowl. Play the board game as instructed, but enforce a new rule: when a player lands on a certain space, they have to pick a dare. This will break the ice between employees, tearing down awkward social boundaries and encouraging them to have a less formal relationship with one another. This will allow them to feel more comfortable with one another in the workplace, improving their communication and working relations.

 

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Perhaps enforce one different team building activity every fortnight to keep your staff united and on good terms.

Team Building: Bonding Activities for a Productive Workforce

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