Team building in the workplace can be quite the task to get right. With a high turnover in employees becoming more common in the modern business, it can be difficult to find ways to integrate your staff successfully, especially whilst trying to avoid the usual cringe-worthy and often dreaded clichés that we’ve all encountered down the years.
What we do know is that downtime is essential to have a happy workforce at your disposal. Not only does it add to productivity and efficiency, but it significantly improves the environment you spend 8 hours a day in. So finding the right activity to engage your staff and bring everyone together is vital, but where do you start?
There are various things to think about when choosing the perfect team building entertainment; the interests of your staff, the costs involved, how frequent of an event should it be, the size of the teams and so on. Remember it’s always worth running ideas by the team first, and remember to book well ahead of schedule to avoid any drop-outs.
Sport-based corporate events
Firstly, as mentioned before, your budget is a huge consideration and can often lead to limitation. That said, even for those with only a small amount in the reserves, you should aim to think of problem-solving activities, sport-based ideas or other similar ways of encouraging your employees to work as a team while also having fun. You’d be surprised how much it could contribute to business performance further down the line.
Sporting events are perfect for getting the team to work together. This type of activity can provide a dynamic and enjoyable distraction from the daily grind. Use your imagination to come up with ideas, and get your colleagues involved with the organising and running of the day. Office Olympics or an office sports day can include everyone, whether some of your staff can’t wait to join or would rather cheer from the side-lines. Mixed gender football tournaments or something similar might even be a way of getting your staff to try their hand at something new.
A fun day out
If you’re hoping to do something that lasts an afternoon, your options are endless. With an abundance of activities out there, take your team mini golfing, go karting or even white water rafting for something a bit different and a little more daring.
One such popular day out for corporate teams is trampolining. A trampoline park can provide the perfect environment to distress, let your guard down and get to know your colleagues better. Designed for adults just as much as children, group trampoline events could be the idea you’ve been searching for. Unique and memorable, you might find it difficult to get your staff to leave at the end of the day!
Competitions
If you don’t think sports is the way to go, you can come up with other problem solving and collaborative exercises for your staff day out. Outdoor team activity centres, the popular room escape game or even just a simple competition or quiz might catch the attention of your workforce.
Put your staff head-to-head as they battle to be the crowning champions for the day, while they get to know each other in the process. It’ll certainly give them something to talk about on Monday!
Takeaway
Team building doesn’t have to be all-action and focused on cooperation and teamwork – sometimes it’s just about getting to know your colleagues on a more personal level. Simply taking your employees out of the office and into a different environment can bring out the personalities you didn’t know existed.