In any company or organization, it can be argued that bonding and growing as a team is both an essential, fun and needed part of succeeding in short and long-term goals. Without effective team building, companies often experience high turnover, lack of motivation, burnout and disinterest in helping to achieve company goals. But often, unfortunately, companies do not know where to start in fostering effective team building.
Instead of aimlessly attempting to bring your team together, without solid ideas, let us help. We’ve taken the time to gather team building exercises — so you don’t have to waste any time — that can aid in truly transforming your team.
Interested in learning more? Keep reading, below.
Try Team Building with Fun Icebreakers
Have you ever heard the term ‘break the ice?’ Maybe you’ve been in an awkward conversation at a party — or you’ve needed to boost conversation at an event — and someone threw out the term “break the ice.” If you’re unfamiliar with the term, to break the ice essentially means to use prompts (also known as icebreakers) to get conversations started. Icebreakers can be in the form of a game or question that aims to get people talking, involved and engaged with one another. They can be effective in many different scenarios, but especially helpful in team building.
Try some of these popular icebreakers, to get your team talking, bonding and building:
- Two Truths and a Lie: This icebreaker is a fun, popular one that really can get your team talking. One team member says two truths about themselves along with a lie — while the rest of the team has to guess which is the truth and which is the lie — leading to teammates learning more about one another in a unique, fun way. We do this at Cater2.me, when we have new team members starting out with us.
- One Word: One word is another fun, simple icebreaker. In your next team meeting, ask everyone to use one word to describe their current mood in one word. It can be a fun guessing-game, when unique words are used, and people don’t give any other details than that. It prompts conversation and also gets people interested in one another’s day.
- Question of The Day: When you have the team together each day, try asking a question of the day. These can be silly, fun and unique questions. If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be? If you could have any super power, what would it be and why? What kitchen utensil do you most relate to? Asking a question of the day can prompt fun conversation and build on team bonding.
Incorporate Having Lunch as a Team
What’s a better way to build camaraderie, trust and a true bond? Enjoying a meal together as a team. Time and time again, throughout the world, sharing an excellent dining experience has brought people together. Try these new lunch time ideas:
- Provide Catered Meals: Looking to bring your team together on a consistent basis? Try providing catered weekly meals. This will not only make your team happy (great food makes people happy!) but it also brings them together to bond, interact and enjoy one another’s company.
- Eat Together in The Office: Whether you’re ordering in, or bringing a bagged lunch, sit as a team together to eat lunch away from your work desk. Not only is eating away from your workspace important to prevent burnout, but it also fosters community and conversation throughout the office.
- Eat Out Together: If you’re not having a catered meal, or you just want to get out of the office for a special lunchtime, gather your coworkers and plan for a meal nearby. Not only is the change of scenery good to break up the work day, but your team will love getting to know one another, in a different environment.
Celebrate Team Achievements
Make sure to remember and celebrate team achievements and acknowledge when they are doing excellent work. By doing so, you create an environment of pushing one another to succeed, do better and achieve personal and team goals. Not sure how to do that? Try some of these ideas:
- Personal Best: One simple, interesting way you can incorporate celebrating team achievement is by implementing an exercise called Personal Best. Personal Best is an exercise that takes your team through the process of each team member sharing their personal best moments with the other members of the team. Then, team members share their reactions to hearing the stories of their coworkers. This not only fosters respect among co-workers but boosts the self-esteem of each team member.
- Team Awards: Next time you have a monthly meeting, hand out team awards. By acknowledging your team for their achievements, publicly, they will feel appreciated and supported by their teammates! After all, their team will be voting on who gets what award beforehand.
Share Management Wisdom With Your Team
If you really want to build up your team, make sure to share your wisdom and knowledge from the management in your company or organization. In your next team meeting, share important details with your team about company success, long and short-term goals and initiatives.
- Sharing Goals: Try letting different members of your team share what the current initiatives and goals are, while then explaining what their role is in the team, to aid in moving goals along. This exercise creates excitement during a regularly scheduled team building or training session. The exercise allows your team members to share their accumulated knowledge and wisdom with the other parts of the team.
- Brainstorm Sessions: If you want to work on building a team environment, involve your team in brainstorming for projects, goals, ideas and more. By giving them an opportunity to voice their ideas and opinions, teamwork is fostered and each person will feel more connected to the team.
For most people within a management or founder role, the main key is to succeed in your company goals. However, without building a quality, consistent team, it’s hard to remain successful. Make sure to prioritize fostering team building. But when a team is behind you, working together for success, the company will benefit overall.
As team building happens, business will build, too.
