Good communication skills are necessary not only for your business, but for any kind of interpersonal relationship. Effective communication is important, whether you’re communicating with a friend, family member, manager, colleague or customer. Effective communication is also the cornerstone of any workplace relationship.
However, some companies don’t want to invest in their company culture and make their employees more productive and happier. Communication sometimes needs to be encouraged and practiced in order to become effective, so if you don’t care about team building, you better start right now. Team building can benefit organizations and companies, regardless of their size and industry. Team exercises improve motivation and communication but also aid in creating a more productive and cohesive team environment.
So, if you’re looking for ways to encourage communication and teamwork in your office, here are some great team-building ideas.
1. Scavenger hunt
Divide the participants into 2 or more small groups, grab a pen and paper, and write down a list of goofy tasks for each team to do together as a group. For example, if your employees order food from a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the city and they order food from there every day, have them go there and meet the chef or ask to see how their favorite crab Rangoon or Cheng Du chicken are being made. They can also take 10 selfies with strangers or take pictures of a certain object hidden somewhere around the office. Give the teams their lists, and a deadline for completing their tasks. Of course, the quickest team wins!
This is a bonding exercise, great for breaking up office cliques. It encourages people from other social circles, departments and teams to work together.
2. Blind drawing
For this activity, you’ll need two or more people, a pen, some paper and a picture. Divide your employees into groups of two, and have each pair sitting back-to-back. Give one person the picture and the other person pen and paper. The person with the picture has to describe it to the other, without saying what it actually is. The person should draw what they think the image depicts based solely on the verbal description.
This activity focuses on communication and interpretation, and when the drawing is done, it’s always interesting to see the result of the drawer’s interpretation of their partner’s description. The time limit should be no longer than 15 minutes.
3. Paintball
The combination of careful planning and teamwork makes paintballing a popular team-building activity. It requires no physical fitness whatsoever, just working with your team towards accomplishing mutual goals. It’s extremely fun to blast out small flurries of colored ammunition, sneak, crawl, hide and duck, while surrounded by interesting, natural terrains. On the other hand, you need effective teamwork and well-devised strategy to succeed.
Search for local paintballing terrains, get a charter bus rental to transport your employees there, and give them the best possible paintball experience. You can play capture the flag, siege the fort, or battle bridge.
4. The mine field
The number of people needs to be even (4-10 people), and as for tools – nothing more than a few blindfolds and various handheld objects. First, find an open space, such as a park or a beach. Place the objects you’ve gathered sporadically across the space. Have your employees pair up, with one from each pair blindfolded. The other person must lead their blindfolded teammate across the open by using only verbal instructions. The blindfolded teammate cannot speak and must not step on any of the objects. To make things a bit more difficult and interesting, create specific routes for them.
This activity requires active listening, good communication and trust.
Closing Words
Employees in new-age companies may find old team-building games boring, as well as dumb. In that case, there won’t be any benefits from that team bonding time. These games are supposed to be enjoyable as well as educational. They are supposed to make a person learn about others – how they think, solve problems, work and have fun.
Think about your company as a basketball team – you should try to make your employees enjoy being around each other and feel like a part of the group.
In today’s superbly competitive business world, a team that works like an actual team and whose members enjoy the company of others can make a difference between a business that merely survives and one that excels.
