Company Team Building Activities That Are Actually Fun
There are countless reasons to include company team building activities in your corporate event. In addition to having a ton of fun, participants also get the benefits of:
- A better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses
- New ways to communicate with each other more effectively
- Better collaboration in the workplace
- A boost in overall team performance
In order to be successful, team building activities must be fun and engaging. Nobody wants to sit through another awkward icebreaker or lame party game with coworkers. Company team building activities should also be designed to improve skills that meet your organizational goals. Whether you want better communication in the office, faster decision-making during meetings, or better collaboration between people, team building activities can help you get there. Think beyond the trust fall and use some of these team building ideas for your next company event:
Create a Quiz Show Together
Break up into small groups and come up with a list of questions about individuals within the group and the work they do, who they are, and hobbies they have. You can also mix in general questions about your workplace or industry. Set up a Family Feud–style game show and have teams compete against each other to answer the questions.
Teams must use fast decision-making skills to come up with responses and learn how to quickly come to consensus in a small group. Participants will also learn more about people on all of the teams and have fun competing to answer questions and win prizes.
Make Music Together
Write a song together by selecting a well-known melody and generating new lyrics as a group. Use the opportunity to exercise brainstorming and consensus-building skills while having fun at the same time. You can divide larger groups into smaller teams to come up with individual verses and work on the chorus together. Check out theKARAOKEChannel for inspiration or download affordable tracks at Karaoke Version. Don’t be surprised when you hear participants humming or singing the song in the weeks and months to come.
Build a Rube Goldberg Machine
Rube Goldberg was known for designing complex contraptions that link numerous devices to perform a simple task. The game Mousetrap is an example of this type of system. It starts by turning a crank, which sets off a chain reaction that ends in a basket sliding down a pole to trap a mouse. In between, a boot knocks over a bucket, a marble goes down the stairs, a seesaw launches a diver into a tub, and so on.
Using materials from around the workplace, work together to make a similar chain reaction. You can also have teams use their own bodies instead of objects, with each team member having a specific role in the contraption. To motivate teams, set goals such as a certain number of reactions, number of items used, or distance covered. This activity, which is great for getting the creative juices flowing, can be done with a single team, with multiple teams to create a little competition, or with multiple teams that have to work together on a single contraption.
Set Up an Obstacle Course
Create an experience in which teams have to achieve a goal together while facing obstacles along the way. Each obstacle can be designed to help hone new teamwork and problem-solving skills. Mix it up with both physical and mental challenges so all participants have the opportunity to display their strengths. Create friendly competition between teams by offering prizes.
For example, a course could have an ultimate goal of reaching a certain destination, with challenges along the way such as:
- Having to guide a blindfolded team member across a room full of “mines”
- Having a team member build a simple structure based only on verbal cues
- Working together to solve a brainteaser
- Making a rubber band–powered vehicle that must travel a certain distance
When creating your course, think about the skills you want to develop. If you want to focus on improving communication, incorporate more obstacles that require verbal cues. If you want to spark innovation, include tasks that require creating something new.
Select a Themed Experiential Game
Choose a themed experience around the specific skills you want to highlight that tie back to your workplace. The theme can be anything you choose—arctic exploration, desert adventure, exploring the rainforest, etc. Tap into the theme by creating relevant roadblocks on the journey. For example, one team on a desert adventure might face a food shortage that requires them to plan ahead and reevaluate their goals along the way.
It’s not hard to incorporate fun company team building activities into your next event. The trick is to make sure they are teaching valuable teamwork skills at the same time. Seek out activities with surprise twists that make people think on their feet and work together in different ways to build new skills. If you don’t have in-house experience with creating these types of activities, working with an expert partner is a good idea to ensure that you get the most from your time together.
