How to make your Team Building Activities more effective
Planning Team Building activities can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Activities such as Watersports or Summer Barbecues can be a great way to network and create bonds! Make sure that your carefully planned activities yield positive outcomes. Learn how to make your team building activities more effective!
Have the activity during office hours
They might work in the most action packed, positive work space in town. They might absolutely love their job! And lets hope they do! It doesn’t matter how much a person loves their job, no one wants to spend extra hours in work. The evenings and weekends are for time off! No matter what company event is planned! Schedule Team Building Activities during a work day. Your employee can come in to something unexpected and fun. Unless you are planning a company wide week long trip to Bali – keep it to office hours!
Collaboration
Choose team building activities that encourages collaboration. Working together is so important. The strength of your team depends on how well they can work as a unit. Make collaboration a priority when setting out team building activities. Although competitiveness can be productive, but focussing on winning may derail the point of the exercise. Choose an activity that encourages your team to work together, instead against one another, to solve a problem. A Trip to an adventure centre is a good way to encourage working together. Centres often plan tasks that require team work to be completed!
Volunteering
Benefitting the community is wonderful motivation for a team. Volunteering their time to help out a local charity can be an effective team building activity. Your team will feel like they are making a difference! Working together to help others makes people feel good about themselves. It will enhance your teams self esteem. Spread the positivity! Plan a marathon, food drive or recycling incentive.
Going offsite
Taking your team out into the fresh air is a great way to get started! There are a number of exciting outdoor activities that you can plan. Venture beyond the four walls of the office for a day! Try something like surfing! Or Lets say you are planning a team bonding activity that could take place in a boardroom. Book this event somewhere offsite to shake things up! There are plenty of hotels that would be perfect for this kind of thing!
Accessibility
Make sure no one in your team feels left out. Many of us would enjoy active sports like paintball. The fast pace of such sports may not appeal to all members of your team! Consider the physical conditions and health needs of your employees. Choose something that everyone is excited about! Or give the group the option of two activities. Maybe one group hits the Dirt Buggys while another relaxes at a Spa! To each their own.
Communicate expectations
Communicate your expectations to your team. Before any team bonding sessions outline what you hope the outcomes will be. Make a list and send an e-mail around highlighting how the activities you have chosen could achieve these goals. Let them know that this activity should improve communication and stimulate creativity. Another could encourage networking and working together. Employees will respond to knowing why the activity is taking place!
Gather feedback
How did your crew find the trip to the pottery? It is so important to gather feedback. Ask people how they got on! Find out whether the planned activity was effective. Ask you team to provide constructive feedback. This is a great way to get to know your team. If something worked out well, maybe try it again the following year.
Finnally, How to make your Team Building Activities more effective all comes down to the willingness of the team to buy into them. Make sure to take some time to focus on this aspect also.
