How to Choose the Right Team Activities for your Group
To select the best team activities for your group you need to first
determine the object of the exercise.
1. Determine Team Building Aims
Some aims of team building activities that may be applicable to you
include:
- Improving team understanding of each other
- Improving team co-operation
- Getting members within newly formed groups to know each other
- Getting new staff to know the group and vice versa
- Bringing different departments closer together (eg. mixing staff
of different departments into one team)
- Establishing rapport with existing or new managers
- Bringing new enthusiasm into lagging work ethic
2. Assessing your team
Once you have defined your aims, the next task is to understand your
team’s dynamics (see our article on team dynamics).
3. Match Team Building Aims with Team Dynamics
Then match the previously defined aims with your set of dynamics. The
following list some general ideas.
Types of Team Building Activities
Team building activities can fall into two areas – those requiring
mental input and those involving physical contribution. Of course there
are activities that can involve a mix of the two!
Compared to physical activities where physical limitations may exist,
mental activities are a great tool as they allow facilitators to obtain
the participation of all people in the group. A good facilitator is
needed who is able to encourage the participation of those who are less
outgoing, and also to quieten the more aggressive / extrovert types!
Some mental team building activities include:
- Brainstorming ideas
- Role playing eg. team members swapping their traditional work
roles and seeing how the ‘other shoe fits’, or pretending to be a
customer
Physical team building games can be an excellent way of building
rapport. There is a huge ‘fun factor’ to be gained while also allowing
people to drop their guard and potentially develop good bonds with
others. However, precautions need to be taken with safety and
over-zealous members. Ground rules need to be in place and good
referee/s need to have control of the situation. In regards to safety,
it is also highly recommended that you ensure any relevant insurance is
in place.
Physical team building activities:
- Team sports such as soccer, volleyball, netball, softball etc
- Team scavenger hunts – modern twist would be ‘Race Around the
World’ but at a local level
- Team ‘survivor’
Traditional games that can be used for team building:
- Pictionary, Charades, Rapidoh, Scattergories etc
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