What is team building?

Team building refers to a range of activities aimed at improving social relationships, enhancing cohesion, inclusion, and efficiency, and creating a supportive workplace atmosphere. It involves exercises that promote collaboration among team members and boost productivity. Team-building is essential for every group, strengthening teamwork and fostering lasting relationships among members.

The importance of team building 

Employers know that employees who trust each other and communicate well are happy at their jobs and perform well. Some teams are fortunate enough to have naturally good chemistry. More often, companies design and implement programs to boost employee connection and improve teamwork skills. Team building can be most effective for people who have not worked together.

Team-building activities can boost morale, motivation and employee engagement. They involve challenging and fun exercises to strengthen communication, trust and problem solving. Team building can take different forms and vary in cost. Some, such as off-site retreats, can be expensive, while others carry no cost, such as an on-site lunch discussion.

As the work environments become increasingly diverse and more employees work remotely, implementing virtual team-building activities is another way to encourage meaningful collaboration.

Team building tips to boost employee morale and engagement

Here are some essential things to keep in mind when organizing team-building activities for your employees:

• Strengthening teamwork skills is good for everyone: While addressing departments with communication issues is most important, employees who already work well together can continuously improve their teamwork skills. Companies as a whole can benefit by teaching teamwork skills to all their workers.
• Customize your programs: Make sure your programs are well thought out and designed to motivate your employees. Hiring a consulting company is often a worthy investment. Cutting corners and offering a one-size-fits-all approach can frustrate participants who may feel the exercises are a waste of time.
• Always start with an icebreaker: You want participants to relax and feel comfortable with each other, especially if they don’t know each other well. So, you might start with a silly game before progressing to more challenging activities.
• Make team building a part of company culture: Team building doesn’t always have to be a formal program. It can be implemented daily to boost morale and grow your business. 

Some examples include:

• book clubs
• mentoring
• bowling tournaments
• holiday gift exchanges
• off-site lunches
• charitable volunteering
• sponsored sporting events

Related: Mastering the Art of the Engaging Team Meeting

5 low-cost team-building activities for employees

Here are five low-cost team-building activities designed to motivate your employees and improve communication, trust, problem solving, and cooperation.

1. Storytelling on the fly: This game involves two players: the Dealer and the Storyteller. The Dealer has a stack of cards, each featuring a unique picture, which is kept hidden from the Storyteller. Every three seconds, the Dealer places one card face up on the table between them in any order they choose. The objective of the game is for the Storyteller to create a story inspired by the cards that are laid down. Meanwhile, the Dealer supports the Storyteller by selecting cards that help advance the narrative.
2. Charades or drawing the answer: This is a competitive exercise between two teams based on the games Charades or Pictionary. One member of the team is given a card with a prompt. That person has to act out the prompt or draw it while the other team members have three minutes to guess what it is. The team that guesses correctly the most times wins.
3. Group puzzler: For this exercise, a team has limited time to complete a physical puzzle, such as a jigsaw puzzle, a lock or a Rubik’s Cube. One person is selected as the only person who may touch the puzzle. The other team members assist by offering feedback without talking over each other or touching the puzzle.
4. Egg-drop challenge: This game is played with teams of three, each of which is given a raw egg. A pile of various boxes, packing materials, and tools is in the centre of the room. Each team must devise a method to protect the egg so that it does not break when dropped from a height of eight feet onto a hard surface.
5. Scavenger hunt. Groups of 10 people each compete to find objects that appear on a list. Each item on the list has a clue next to it as to where it’s hidden. Team members organize themselves with the objective of being the first to find the objects. They can fan out and, as they find items, communicate with each other by text. The first team assembled back at the starting place with all the items wins.

Here are three more team-building exercises you can try with your group.

Establishing a cohesive and collaborative work environment that promotes teamwork is crucial for a business’s success. It goes beyond simply assembling a group of individuals; it’s about nurturing a culture where every employee feels valued and works together towards a common goal. This culture encourages team members to leverage their unique skills and perspectives, fosters trust, increases engagement, and improves communication.

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