A lot of people have mixed feelings about team building activities in the corporate world. It could be because the benefits of participating in such exercises are unclear, or they don’t especially want to spend more time that they need to with some of their coworkers.
Then there are the activities themselves.
Back in the 1990s, activities like “Trust Falls” or “Let’s build a human pyramid and see who falls first” were popular choices for team activities. Unfortunately, they didn’t appeal to most people then, giving team events a bad reputation.
A poorly organized activity can leave people feeling awkward, immature, or even slightly aggravated because they lost a whole afternoon engaging in unproductive and useless tasks, instead of working on their latest deadline-looming project.
The good news is, there are plenty of options now to choose from for your next team building event.
And there are real benefits to engaging in such activities.
Team building activities improve communication between employees
It also works for communication between management and employees, should management choose to participate, which is usually highly recommended.
The setting of most team building exercises helps build a sense of camaraderie, and people who seemed unreachable become more “human”.
You might think that your team members communicate all the time with each other through meetings, video conferencing, emails, texts, etc.
But are they doing so effectively?
Some team-building exercises can help improve the effectiveness of your teams’ communication.
Blindfold Games, for example, is a type of activity that can be fun, challenging and very successful in improving communication skills.
Team building activities improve collaboration among team members
Collaboration is an essential part of teamwork. People who can’t collaborate have a hard time building an efficient team.
Some activities can help increase collaboration by outlining the unique contribution of each team member and why the employees are stronger as a team.
Competing as a sports team against other companies is a great way to combine exercise and collaboration.
The list of sports activities your team can engage in is endless, but it is sometimes more manageable when it doesn’t involve too much equipment. In that respect, soccer or basketball teams might be simpler to set up than football for example.
It is also essential to make sure teams of the same company are not pitted against each other because this can do more harm than good in the company.
Instead, engage your team in a competition against teams from other companies.
Team building activities improve problem-solving and decision-making skills
These activities improve team members’ abilities to think rationally and strategically to attain a specific goal.
Escape Room Games are perfect in that instance. The idea is to lock your team in a room with clues and puzzles to solve, in order to find the key to the room. They have to make it out of the room within a specific amount of time.
The popularity of Escape Rooms has soared in the past few years as evidenced by the growing number of companies providing such rooms: from 22 in 2014, escape rooms companies in the U.S. grew to 2,000 in 2018.
Team building activities help reduce conflict
Workplace conflicts and disrespect are among the biggest threats to a company’s morale and productivity.
Sharing a team activity can help reduce negative conflict by seeing coworkers in a different light, and helping building trust.
Some people who don’t get along in their work environment can learn to appreciate each other in another setting.
Because they get to know one another better, they understand that their differences don’t need to lead to conflict, but can be an important asset to the team.
These activities can help employees change their perceptions of each other and reduce tensions.
Volunteering can be a great exercise in that respect.
Opportunities for charitable work are numerous.
But, whether you choose to build homes for veterans, do a charity run, or help out at the local food bank, always make sure everybody is on board with the type of volunteer work they are going to participate in.
Team building activities ultimately help boost employee engagement
The latest Gallup report on the State of The American Workplace shows that more than 50% of the American workforce is not engaged and as much as 16% are actively disengaged.
Those statistics are troubling because a lack of engagement can lead to increased absenteeism, higher turnover, reduced productivity, and in general a lowered profitability for the company.
Indeed, the study finds that the lack of employee engagement costs between $483 billion and $605 billion each year in lost productivity to American businesses.
This Infographics by Officevibe outlines some interesting stats about employee engagement.
Engaging in team building activities is one way to boost employee engagement by building trust and friendship among employees.
They help people feel valued, and an employee who feels valued is more engaged in the company.
Conclusion
For businesses of all sizes, the retention of good employees is of utmost importance. Increasing employee engagement should be an everyday concern for managers. In that regard, team building activities can prove invaluable when organized and appropriately performed.
They can improve collaboration, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, help reduce conflicts, ultimately boosting employees’ engagement. They help to create a more engaging environment for work, thus improving productivity.
Some of these activities are simple to organize, but some others require more time, strategy or tools. In that case, the help of an event agency specialized in organizing these types of events can prove invaluable.
References:
https://www.officevibe.com/blog/employee-engagement-important
https://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/07/do-team-games-employees-really-improve-productivity-279804.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianscudamore/2016/03/09/why-team-building-is-the-most-important-investment-youll-make/#6a72189f617f
https://www.helpscout.net/blog/team-building/
https://news.gallup.com/reports/178514/state-american-workplace.aspx
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/business/escape-room-small-business.html
https://www.claritywave.com/team-building-activities-increase-employees-engagement/