Team building activities are engaging and keep your employees motivated. Happy and engaged employees are an asset to the organization. They are willing to work harder and ensure the quality of work exceeds expectations. 

Team Building Activities and Their Importance

As per a Forbes article, team building is the most important investment you can make. When you invest in team building, you reduce stress, boost morale, improve employee engagement, develop trust, and facilitate teamwork. Moreover, you can see a 10x return in innovation, work ethics, and employee loyalty. 

Read: Build a High Performing Team

So, here are eight team building games to drive a progress-focused environment in your workplace:

Team Building Activities

1. On-site yoga

The benefits of yoga are undeniable. Find a quiet location and schedule a time for employees to indulge in meditation. Exercise can help employees to reduce stress and anxiety. As a result, they will experience a significant improvement in focus and productivity. Moreover, yoga helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol. A team of healthy employees translates to fewer leaves. 

Source

2. Treasure hunt

Divide the employees into teams of equal members. Prepare a list of items available within or outside the office. This is your choice whether you want the team members to remain in the office or get out of the premises. Give the list of items to the teams and send them out to locate and collect the items mentioned. The team that returns first with the maximum number of items is declared the winner. 

Source

You must also set a time limit for teams to complete the exercise. This adds an element of efficiency. Furthermore, you can decide on a theme for the treasure hunt and create different clues. These clues can motivate teams to get competitive, creative, and work collaboratively. 

The treasure hunt is one of the team-building games that encourage employees to work together as a team. 

Check out: How to improve the productivity of the employees

3. Guess the Name

On a sticky note, write down the name of a famous personality. Paste this on a team member’s forehead or back so that he or she cannot read the title. Set the timer for 2 to 5 minutes. During this time, the team member with the sticky note can ask questions related to the name that has been stuck on them, and the other group of employees can answer the same. For instance, the team member will ask ‘am I a male or female?’, ‘Am I a sportsperson or an actor?’. The ultimate goal is for the team member to guess the name of the famous personality. 

This activity serves as a great ice-breaker, especially if new team members are still not introduced to the others. 

4. Two Truths and a Lie

Ask every employee to write three statements on a piece of paper. These statements must be about themselves. Out of the three reports, two should be accurate, and one should be a lie. 

As the game starts, every employee reads the statements in front of the group. After hearing the report, the other employees vote. They use their judgment to find the account, which is a lie. The individual then lets everyone know which statement was a lie. Such a team-building activity helps coworkers know each other better. 

5. Brain Teasers

There are different ways in which you can execute this activity. You can keep it simple with a new brain teaser posted on the wall every day. Or, you can make it competitive with a brain teaser session. If you schedule time for team building activities, having rewards is a good idea. These can be completely intangible. Rewards can create friendly competition and result in prompt participation. Besides, brainteasers can help keep the employees active and on their toes. 

Source

6. Body of Words

This team-building activity requires an open area with no obstacles. Employees need to use their bodies to make letters. And, the entire team together needs to make words. This game needs groups of a minimum of four to eight players each. The unit can select a leader.

To start the game, write down different words on index cards. Make sure the terms have one less letter than the number of team players. For instance, if a team has seven members, give them a six-letter word. Let the leader pick the card and then guide the team members. The team that can successfully create the name with their bodies wins. 

7. Ice breakers

Ice breakers are simple team building activities to lighten the mood of employees. Before you start a meeting, use some ice breakers to let everyone feel at ease. For instance, ask everyone about their favorite cuisine. Let coworkers have an informal dialogue that can snowball into effective communication. If employees aren’t worried, the flow of creative juices is better. Moreover, if they overcome their low self-confidence, they can actively participate in brainstorming. 

8. Lunch n Learns

Organize lunch and learn sessions. Every employee brings their lunch, and the company brings in a speaker. The speaker can address everyone on anything exciting and interactive. The meeting can be about travel, a particular experience, or even a career or skill. For instance, employees can be introduced to various data, digital, and tech courses offered by institutions like upGrad, and the benefits of the same. 

Source

9. Focus group

Host a focus group with the team. Participate in analysing and discussing the team’s engagement results. Indulge in brainstorming to discuss ideas to improve engagement. This is an excellent team building activity for employee engagement.

10. Make a cross-functional team

The organisation can put together teams to make decisions and solve problems. The cross-functional team can discuss various topics, from using office space to inclusion, and diversity programs. Team building activities can be played to increase the feeling of inclusivity.

11. Team Sports 

Create a club team and perform various team sports to get moving. Organise a one-team event, charity runs, and different other sports. The team building games like volleyball, cricket, basketball, marathon, workout classes, etc., can help enhance team spirit.

12. Community Art

It is essential to connect through community art and provide a large canvas, portrait, brushes, and paints for the team. Encourage the creative artist from within the team to create an outline on which the rest of the team can work. This is one of the most exciting and fun team building exercises, and this can act as one of the fun virtual team building activities as well.

Team Building Tips

Team building games are a great way to improve skills and employee engagement. 

Follow these tips to make the most of these activities

• Encourage employees to participate and not compete.
• Explain the expectations and objectives of the activity.
• Select activities that most employees can participate in.
• Schedule the activity during working hours. Don’t expect employees to stay back till late.
• Take feedback about the activity for improvements in the future.

Conclusion

Different team building activities can help work on problem-solving, communication, planning, and decision-making skills. It can also let participants understand the workings of the other departments. All in all, these activities benefit the organization in some way or the other.

The lockdown is an opportunity to upskill your employees with latest technologies. Checkout upGrad’s top courses in Data Science, Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, MBA from LBS