Why You Should Invest in Team Building Activities: Top Tips

It’s common knowledge that team building can be a pretty lame affair—almost like a sketch from The Office. Despite its bad rap, team building activities are actually one of the most important investments that you can make in your workplace. Done correctly, they can actually improve coworker communication, mitigate conflicts, and build trust between colleagues.

It can be difficult to pull off a good activity day, so we have put together some key considerations for planning and executing your team building.

Acknowledge the connection between happiness and learning

It turns out that happiness and learning are closely tied together. Therefore, your activities should not feel like a typical day at the office. Instead, they should be about sharing an experience and spending time with one another. This allows bonding to happen more organically than it would with an explicit lesson on leadership and communication.

With that in mind, don’t be afraid to try new things with your employees—perhaps something unique or slightly out of people’s comfort zones. This builds camaraderie in new ways and generates good feelings between colleagues, which in turn will benefit your business.

Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team

The way that employees behave outside of work often reveals a lot about their personality and capabilities. Simple team games can uncover who excels in communication and who is solution-oriented.

Keep an eye out for introverted employees who unexpectedly step up and demonstrate leadership. Who is up for something new? Who is keen to step out of their comfort zone? Building an understanding of your team’s qualities through out-of-the box activities can be a real perk of team-building days.

Maintain that positive energy

The benefits of team building can soon peter out if the activities occur in isolation as one-off events. Make an effort to make these a regularly occurring affair. In other words: keep the excitement going!

Doing this will build upon the existing foundations of team relationships, strengthening and nurturing them. If your team can interact in meaningful ways outside regular meetings and presentations this can only help your business.

So how do you know if you have got it right? Well, if there was laughter, good conversation, and a sense of accomplishment, you’ve nailed it!