Group activities can help improve collaboration and promote a business culture that contributes to its success. Team-building activities can build a sense of community among employees and cultivate a healthy company culture that inspires staff to grow personally and professionally.
Here are some team-building activities to consider and why businesses should use them.
1. Cover Story
Cover Story is a team-building activity that inspires team members to think outside the box and get creative with one another and build collaboration. The team members work together to generate ideas for a magazine cover story about a product or service for their company. This activity can reveal who has leadership capabilities and who contributes more in team settings.
The team must provide headlines, photos, quotes or descriptive information about achievements for the cover of a magazine. Time team members for one hour and see what they come up with. This activity nurtures the team’s communication skills and creativity and helps them visualize success. The ideas that come from this activity could spark innovative ideas that can be applied to tasks or projects that benefit the company’s overall well-being.
2. Competitive Sports
Sports allow team members to work together to achieve a common goal, which builds teamwork skills and fosters a sense of community. Sports like kickball and dodgeball offer team members a way to build camaraderie and make new connections within the company.
Larger teams can participate in a field day that has multiple opportunities for groups to mix and mingle so everyone has a chance to connect. Other options, like a 100-yard dash or go-karting, provide ways to increase company morale and facilitate thinking under pressure to arrive at creative solutions to win the race.
3. Human Knot
The human knot exercise requires teammates to work together to solve a problem. There needs to be an even number of players for this to work. Have team members stand in a circle, face inward and join hands with players opposite each other–right hands first, then left. Then, direct members to unravel the knot they formed without letting off each other’s hands.
This short activity promotes communication within the team and requires leadership to solve the puzzle. This task doesn’t take much time, so it’s perfect for small groups with limited time in meetings. Untangling a knot with teammates can be a fun way to bring employees together and increase engagement within the group.
4. Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is ideal for companies looking for ways to increase critical thinking skills and energize the team. Scavenger hunts are also excellent for the team leader who organizes the event — it prompts them to be creative while searching for objects to hide, places to hide them, and the space to use for the event.
Scavenger hunts can be indoor or outdoor activities that promote teamwork and problem-solving skills. Scavenger hunts are a great way to ensure everyone is included in the team-building activity since it doesn’t require physical activity.
5. Train Wreck
Train Wreck is a team-building activity that can work as an icebreaker for new teams or integrate new employees into the mold. Staff stands in a circle and everyone except one player removes their shoes to mark their spot. The one who doesn’t goes to the middle of the circle, states their name, and says a fun fact about themselves. Anyone who relates to the fun fact runs through the circle to someone else’s pair of shoes.
One person will always be in the middle, calling out something others identify with. When the person in the middle says “train wreck,” everyone must relocate to another pair of shoes. This inclusive activity fosters a sense of community, bringing teams closer together. When team members can relate to one another, they’re more connected, which is excellent for companies.
6. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
The marshmallow spaghetti tower activity is a creative way to engage employees to work together to solve a problem and increase company morale which leads to a healthier company culture. It allows team members to flex their creative muscles, practice convergent thinking and innovate together as they try to build a tower out of uncooked spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.
This activity requires 20 spaghetti sticks, masking tape and string and each team gets a marshmallow. With these limited resources, each team must build a tower with the marshmallow at the top and it has to stand for at least five seconds without anyone supporting the structure.
7. Blind Retriever
Blind Retriever is an activity that promotes trust and leadership among team members. Teams must rely on sole communication to find a hidden item while a team member is blindfolded. Tapping into other senses and taking teammates’ direction can invoke critical thinking skills and help team members implement guidance from one another. This can increase company morale and build teamwork skills in many ways.
The object of this game is to direct fellow coworkers to a hidden item while they’re blindfolded. This can facilitate employee trust, increase engagement and improve collaboration under pressure. The team must split into small groups, with one person from each team blindfolded. The first team to find the hidden object with their team’s guidance wins.
8. Dynamic Duos
This guessing game activity can improve employee communication skills, which works wonders for team-building and the overall success of a business. When companies have effective communication in the workplace, it increases productivity and improves company culture, which leads to increased engagement and employee satisfaction. For this activity, start with generating a list of dynamic duos like salt and pepper, spaghetti and meatballs and peanut butter and jelly.
Cultivating this list can be almost as much fun as the activity itself. Write the pairs on separate pieces of paper and tape them to team members’ backs. Allow the team to mingle and ask each other yes or no questions to figure out what word they have on their backs. When they figure it out, they must work to find the other team member who matches their pairing. Once united, the pair must talk to one another to discover three things they have in common.
Bonding Teams With Building Activities
Team-building activities can bond teams and facilitate personal growth, giving companies a competitive advantage. When teams feel connected to one another, it cultivates a sense of connection that is unmatched by competitors. Close-knit teams have the home-field advantage.
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