How To Lead A Team Building Activity

Teams are an integral part of most successful organizations today. Whether it is in-store marketing teams, online team forums or chat groups, communication through different mediums has become the norm.

As a leader, this can be tricky at times. How do you lead your team when they don’t seem to need your leadership? What if they won’t listen to your advice?

The answer isn’t just telling them what to do; that never works! The best way to motivate and inspire people on your team is by demonstrating how to perform the job themselves first.

By giving examples and lessons from past experiences, you will rekindle their motivation and inspiration for the task at hand. This article will talk about some easy ways to help build strong teamwork within your organization.

Give the group enough time to prepare

The second part of this tip is giving your team members enough time to pre-prepare for their leadership role. This includes having them pick an item box, put items in it, and organize that box before the meeting.

This gives them time to think about what they will say and how they will present themselves. They can also have some time to review their notes or materials they prepared earlier.

If there’s anything special they want to include in the presentation, they can do so during the meeting. This helps everyone stay organized and on track without needing extra time later.

Provide plenty of time for the activity

As mentioned before, one of the biggest mistakes leadership teams make is not giving their team enough time to participate in group activities. This can be changing rooms or bathrooms, going through introductions, doing exercises, having conversations, and so on.

Too often, leaders will tell their team that they’ll do an activity next week, but they never follow up with it. Sometimes there are other commitments, which makes planning difficult.

If your leader doesn’t give you adequate time to prepare for these activities, feel free to bring this up! If you’re constantly being asked to do something without proper preparation, then it may be time to look for new opportunities.

Make sure to be respectful, though – don’t attack their leadership, just suggest more time be given to the team members.

Make it clear who is in charge

As mentioned before, leadership does not automatically come with being an employee or working for a company. Being a leader can be anywhere from leading your roommate to buying lunch for everyone at work.

It’s all about knowing what makes you feel confident as a person and then creating those conditions for other people.

By making yourself known and understood, you will gain trust from others. When they see that you are aware of them and try hard to make them happy, they will follow your lead.

Your colleagues will look up to you and will want to do things your way because they know you get the job done. This will create a healthy environment where teamwork happens naturally.

There is no one right way to be a leader, but by understanding the basics, you are on your way to becoming a great one.

Make it clear what time there is until

As mentioned earlier, creating an open atmosphere where people feel comfortable to ask questions or tell stories is very important for team building. If you notice that some people are always busy with work, try offering them help at your next group activity!

Ask if they would like your input or if you can do something on their schedule. Or maybe you could invite them to join you somewhere after work so they wouldn’t have to go home alone.

This doesn’t mean doing things only on their terms though; you should be willing to accept their answer and move on. But giving off positive energy and encouraging conversations will create strong bonds.

Make sure there are no distractions

As mentioned earlier, one of the most important things in leadership is making sure your team has no distractions. This can be tricky when you are leading an activity or meeting at work, but you have to try hard not to do it.

If something comes up that needs their attention outside of the event, they will have to leave and this could potentially cost your company money as well as time. So how do you prevent this?

Make every effort to only allow people into the event who will help promote teamwork and understanding. People may feel uncomfortable being included in the group, which could hurt trust.

Avoid having too much conversation before the event, let everyone get settled and ready first. Once everyone is gathered and present, start the discussion with some small talk to break the ice.

Then launch into the main topic and invite participation from anyone interested. If someone wants to contribute more than two minutes, let them! Don’t worry about wasting their time, they gave you their word they would be here, so they owe it to you to be totally invested in the subject matter.

Keep going until everything is discussed, even if some parts need re-starting or revisiting later. The goal should always be for everyone to agree and understand the concept, not just for each person to speak loudly and confidently about it.

Try to keep the group together

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest reasons why team building activities fail is because leadership in the room is lacking or non-existent.

Too often we see groups that are broken down along department lines – people working for different departments getting into an argument about what should be done next.

There can also be power struggles between individuals who want to take control themselves instead of having someone else do it.

When these things happen, team spirit breaks down and everyone becomes isolated from each other. No one feels like they can speak their mind without being judged or asked to join in on something that they believe is wrong.

This kills off any type of teamwork feeling and momentum dies soon after.

Make it clear what is expected

As mentioned earlier, leading a team activity requires knowing what to expect from your colleagues. If you have not already done so, make sure that everyone knows who their leader is and how they should be addressed.

Make sure that everyone has this information! This will help them feel more confident in your leadership skills. Your colleagues’ confidence in you can sometimes be an inspiration for them to put in extra effort.

When things get tough or complicated, having someone who can command respect can keep people together and working as a unit. When one person does not seem to be involved, it can create chaos and conflict.

Having a strong leader helps promote teamwork and unity. People are usually very willing to follow a person who makes decisions and sets standards.

Give clear directions

The first thing you should do as a leader is give very clear instructions to your team. What activities you will be doing as a group, how long you will spend together, and what time you will meet again depends largely on what tasks each member of the team can attend.

If someone cannot make it then that person will have to inform you they are no longer able to participate at this stage. This could be due to work or personal commitments so it’s best to know about it early on to avoid any delays.

By having open conversations with your colleagues, they will feel more motivated to come along because they want to talk about things and be involved. It creates an environment where people trust one another and look out for each other’s well-being.

Leaders also need to set appropriate expectations – both in terms of deadlines and workloads. If someone feels like they aren’t being respected then there won’t be much cooperation.