Corporate Team Building Activities As An Investment

Team building activities often get a bad wrap in the corporate world as in most cases when a supervisor says, “We’re going to do some team building!” employees start thinking oh my god what are they going to make us do now

However what they don’t realise is that despite its reputation for being, well, lame, Corporate Team Building Activities are the most important investment you can make for your people. It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration

Effective team building means more engaged employees, which is good for company culture and boosting the bottom line. It can also be adventurous and enjoyable if you choose the right activity

The most successful team-building activities are ones that don’t feel like a day at the office

Activities that overtly aim to draw in leadership lessons or practical takeaways are less powerful. Spending time together, sharing an experience or working towards a common goal allows bonding to happen more organically and far more effectively

Therefore ditch the company paid booze-a-thon. As it’s not a splurge and invest in a team building exercise that will bring people together for a fun common goal

Trying new things with your staff can generate good vibes among employees, which in turn benefits the business itself. Choosing something unique and slightly outside of people’s comfort zones can encourage them to come together in new ways

Science Behind Corporate Team Building Activities

Research correlations between four team building components: goal setting, interpersonal relations, problem-solving and role clarification have shown that there is indeed a positive effect across all the team building components

Interestingly, goal setting and role clarification were the two factors that were most strongly improved by team building activities

How to Measure Corporate Team Building Activities

Team building activities can give businesses a chance to measure things we typically consider to be non-quantifiable. For example, high performing teams typically demonstrate energy, creativity and shared commitment, all of which are hard to ‘measure’ in a scientific sense

However, it is actually possible to measure these things scientifically, and that’s because they all rely on communication. Communication can be measured scientifically by collecting data or carrying out simple observations on how much an employee is talking when doing a team building activity, how much they’re listening, their tone of voice, their volume and their body language. This kind of behavior can then be analyzed to indicate how effective a group is likely to be

That’s why team building activities are such a good idea: it will allow you to see how effectively a team is communicating to achieve a common goal

Fun activities will help to strengthen key skills your team needs to be effective, and you can do these inside or outside the office. All you’ll need to do is identify what it is you want to achieve from your team building event before looking for activities that fill the bill

Implementation of Team Building Activities

Once a team building activity has been organised look for some key qualities and try to develop them in employees who don’t seem to be exhibiting them. For instance, a successful team building activity should see the group:

Allowing everyone on the team to have a chance to talk
Listening to each other
Connecting with each other, not just the team leader
Making an effort to face one another and demonstrate enthusiasm and positivity

Remember, however, that teams need to consist of members with different personalities and strength to succeed

Be mindful of the fact that very extroverted or confident team members may dominate conversations and decisions if they’re not gently reminded to give other team members a chance, and bear in mind that very introverted or shy team members might not exhibit the same communication skills or enthusiasm as their colleagues – but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not committed to the team or enjoying themselves