Creating a meaningful team building activity for work is the secret to a successful, profitable company.
It’s all well and good recruiting top talent, but if you can’t get employees to trust each other and work together, you’ll never be able to create a department that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Why are Team Building Activities so Important?
Companies sometimes mistake team building activities as a waste of valuable working time. These groups are leaving an opportunity on the table for a happy, and healthy workplace culture, long-term. When done properly, a team building activity for work can produce a significant return on investment and provide a host of benefits to companies.
Here are a few reasons team building is essential to a positive work environment:
They Help Teams Get Along
Every employee wants to work in a friendly workplace where they feel comfortable with the person sitting across from them. But building these kinds of relationships during work hours can be both awkward and difficult. Team building offers employees the chance to socialize and bond in a relaxed environment away from the desk.
They Boost Team Performance
If your company relies on cooperation between and across departments, building teamwork at work is essential. Team building activities can help employees to understand their colleagues’ strengths and weaknesses better and work better together as a result.
They Foster Innovation and Creativity
Could a lack of trust and collaboration be limiting the creativity of your team? Quite possibly. Employees are far less willing to bring forward new ideas when they aren’t comfortable with their colleagues, and collaborative teams won’t work together to find a solution to a problem.
How to Create Amazing Team Building Activities in your Workplace
Even if you appreciate the need for team building activities at work, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are three steps to getting started today.
Make it Specific
Out-of-office days are fun, but if they aren’t relevant to the work you do, they aren’t worthwhile. Think about what you want employees to learn and build the activity around it, such as volunteering, or doing an off-site retreat where they can learn something valuable about their field and take those tools with them back to the workplace.
Think of it as a Process
When you think of it as an event, it can make you worry about getting it exactly right first time. But thinking of it as a process frees you up to make mistakes and learn as you grow. Your employees won’t learn everything at one event and neither will you.
Dedicate Time Every Month
If you do ad-hoc team building, it will soon fall by the wayside. But by blocking out time in the calendar every month, you make sure that team building becomes a habit.
Examples of Fun Team Building Activities
Still struggling for ideas? Let us push you in the right direction. Below you’ll find a selection of team building activities that actually work that your company can implement right now.
Bring-an-Employee-to-Work Day
Arrange for employees to visit other departments in the company and shadow a colleague for a day. These department visits are a great way to improve interdepartmental understanding and cooperation.
Sponsor Company Sports Teams
Team building activities can happen once a week, and a company sports team is a great way to start. Many cities have company softball leagues that you can join, giving your employees the chance to let off steam and work together.
Off-Site Family Weekends
Breaking the barrier between work and family life can be incredibly liberating to employees. Having them introduce their families and socialize away from work is a great way to foster trust and understanding. Company picnics are a great example.
Sparks Group is a staffing and recruiting agency based in the Washington, DC metro region. We specialize in providing strategic partnership and assistance personalize for your company and industry.
Struggling to build the right team in the first place? Contact Sparks Group to schedule a free consultation with one of our staffing and recruiting experts.
