6 Activities to Unite the Team

According to Gallup, most workers, or more than 51%, do not feel engaged in their workplace or feel bored. Engaged employees provide better results, improve customer relationships and achieve much more impressive organic growth than those who are not involved. Creative and interesting team activities will be useful for even closer cohesion and employee engagement. Read more: The Importance of Social Engagement at Workplace.

What activities and events should be organized so that employees would like to get engaged and feel great emotions? What could help strengthen the team?

What is the impact of being engaged in activities?

Work events, meetings, and corporate events have already been implemented several times, and there might be a desire to look for something new and unprecedented. Activities or team games will build a team spirit by developing more skills, not just entertaining.

• Increasing team interaction
• Creating a productive and energetic work culture
• Breaking down prejudices and barriers
• Improving the team’s overall results
• Team-building
• Understanding the values of the corporate culture
• Emotional connection and cohesion

By getting to know your team better, you can also customize games and look for other creative solutions. The team must be versatile, so the activities should also be aimed at discovering and improving various abilities. Read: 3 Reasons Why Team-Building is Important.

Activities to strengthen the team

• Breakout rooms

Escape rooms are a great adventure not only with friends, but also with colleagues. Employees are forced to work together to get out of a room where various tasks have to be performed. Everyone can prove their strengths and know the true nature of colleagues in unusual and stressful situations. In such break-out rooms, you can gain a spirit of adventure and promote cooperation and cohesion skills.

“What’s interesting about breakout rooms,” says David Goldstein, head of TeamBonding.com. “Team members don’t know they have to work together. But they have to do it to succeed and get out of the room.”

• Bridge construction

All participants are divided into equal groups. Each group is given a bag with marshmallows, toothpicks, magnets, glue, safety pins, or other fastening materials. The task is to build a “marshmallow bridge” between two tables. Teams are given 20 minutes. The best bridge wins the prize at the end of the game.

What can be observed? During this activity, people can see how roles are divided, and work is organized in each team: who takes the initiative; knows how to cooperate; agrees to compromise; starts working immediately, and who looks at everything from the side.

How does it work? This is also a great tool for team-building, when the manager has to evaluate the employees’ strengths and the principles of team operation. It is also a good solution for a team that needs to build trust and psychological security to promote cohesion.

• Cooking master class

Cafes, restaurants, and other venues offer many different cooking classes. This is a great event and activity for team-building. In an informal atmosphere, employees can work together, learn more about each other’s cooking skills, spend a great day with active involvement, as well as conversations at the table.

• Lost at sea

Participants are divided into equal teams. Each team must imagine that they have gone to sea and lost their way in the vast waters. A list of the most necessary things for survival is given, but only 10 things have to be chosen from them. Each team has to decide what things they will have.

How does it work? This activity develops problem-solving skills as team members analyze information, negotiate and collaborate. It also encourages them to listen and think about the way decisions are made.

• Safe egg fall

Participants are divided into equal teams. Each team is given an egg and many different household materials, such as tape, cotton wool, straws, bags, rubber, pieces of cloth, foam, and so on. The eggshell must be wrapped or otherwise made of these materials to be dropped safely from a height of 2 m and does not break. At the end of the task, each team must demonstrate their egg flight so that it does not break!

How does it work? During this activity, participants’ decision-making and collaboration skills and creative thinking, can be assessed. Brainstorming, during which creative ideas arise, will be useful for the task. You can also observe the most active participants and team leaders in each team.

• 2 truths and 1 lie

To get to know their colleagues better, each participant has to invent 2 truths and 1 lie about themselves. The participant introduces himself and names these 3 things about himself, without saying which ones are true and which ones are lies. Lies must sound true so that others are more challenged to guess lies. The other participants vote for a colleague who has made statements. Points are awarded for each correctly guessed lie or for deceiving other participants with their own lies.

What are the benefits? Employees get to know each other better, as well as promote mutual communication. You can’t do without fun and closer togetherness.

Team-building activities will create a positive and open internal company environment and culture and improve communication and cooperation between colleagues over time, promoting cohesion. Any work team must break away from work routine and usual work, so do not hesitate to organize fun and useful extracurricular activities! Read on: 7 Team-Building Activities You Should Try!