How To Start Team Building

As we already mentioned, team building is an integral part of any successful workplace. It’s not something that happens once a year at company off-site events, it’s a constant process that can be done at anytime, anywhere.

Team building activities don’t usually have much “cost” attached to them, unless you include the food! But eating together as a group, discussing topics in depth, and working towards a common goal are all very productive ways to spend time together.

Here are some easy ways to do teambuilding with your colleagues or potential teammates beyond just having fun and meeting new people. These tips will help you connect more deeply with others, and promote trust and intimacy.

We’ll talk about how to organize a game night, how to hold a lunchtime meeting, and what types of activities are most effective. You’ll also find out how to use games, stories, and exercises to facilitate meaningful conversations.

Do team trivia

Does your company have an open house event or gathering coming up? Or, do you organize group activities outside of meetings for your employees? If so, how many people are involved in these events is important!

If there’s no formal team building activity scheduled, then doing something as simple as having a lunchtime meeting and talking about what you love about your job can help promote internal teamwork.

By asking questions like “What are we sharing today?” and “How did we get here?”, you can create some interesting conversations. You may even learn something new yourself by looking at the ways others describe their jobs.

Teambuilding-something that comes naturally to us all-can be done at any level. Whether it’s introducing teammates in the workplace or taking time out every week to connect, things like this strengthen trust and cooperation.

Play chess

Having fun is an integral part of team building. What kind of games you choose to play and how you structure them both individually and as a group depends on what types of conversations you want to have.

If you’re looking to test your groups’ resilience, then do something that requires more coordination like playing basketball or volleyball together. Or if you’d like to learn about each other’s strengths, pick a sport that relies heavily on individual talent – tennis, golf, swimming are all great candidates.

Alternatively, if you just want to enjoy the game, pick up a board game and get into it.

Organize a karaoke party

This is one of the easiest ways to do team building, especially in this difficult time. A karaoke party is when everyone comes together as a group and sings either popular or personal songs. People can join in at any level — some people have no voice and are forced to use technology like the microphone to sing with headphones!

A karaoke party is usually organized by someone who wants to promote teamwork and collaboration. They organize the room, find music, and/or hire a professional singer if needed.

Everyone in the organization joins together and enjoys singing for fun. It’s inspiring to work close with others and enjoy something you all share – even if it’s only a song!

Karaoke is a great way to bring your colleagues together outside of the office so they can see that you care about them and want to spend time with them.

Host a baking party

Aging is a very important part of being an adult, which means we’re spending more time at work and outside of work. This can sometimes make it hard to find commonalities with your colleagues or friends that you would otherwise have.

Team building is a way to address this. It’s having fun together, without ulterior motives. For example, if one person in the team gets their lunch packed every day, other people may not want to join them because they don’t like what they eat. By having a bake-off everyone is free to choose whatever type of food they like and enjoy it, so others feel included.

This could be anything from chocolate brownies to chicken parmesan rolls to carrot cake – even something weird like fried cauliflower! All these foods are fairly easy to source or prepare, and most people know how to do some version of them.

Inviting only people who agree to bring a snack is another way to facilitate this kind of teamwork. If someone doesn’t turn up empty-handed then there’s no point going, and vice versa. This creates opportunities for conversations about your favorite foods and maybe finding some new ones.

Start a business

Starting your own business is a great way to connect with others and achieve your dreams. There are many ways to launch this career choice, but most start by doing something you love to make money from it.

The more you enjoy what you do, the more likely you will keep investing in yourself by learning new skills or finding creative ways to offer your services to other people.

You can also run your business during non-work hours so it does not interfere with other parts of your life. This helps you maintain separate time budgets for work and personal activities.

There are several types of businesses that can be started including marketing, consulting, teaching, engineering, and more. It depends on your priorities and what areas you are already familiar with.

Running your own business takes effort and energy to succeed, but there are plenty of resources and strategies to help you along the way. Many companies actively recruit individuals without professional experience and pay enough income to justify the investment.

Take up volunteering

Being part of the community is an integral part in creating strong bonds within groups. Between individuals, teams, and organizations, there are limitless ways to contribute towards this goal.

Volunteering can be done for any number of reasons, not just because you like doing good works, but also to meet new people, networked with others, learn more about other areas, and have fun!

If you’re looking to team build, then start by asking yourself what types of things you're willing to do. Are you willing to work with adults or children? Do you prefer working with large groups or alone?

You could help out at a local high school as a student counselor or coach, organize an open house for homes nearby so that residents can explore different neighborhoods, or plan events and activities for your town’s annual summer festival.

There's no wrong way to pitch your services as a volunteer - you should feel comfortable talking about it! Many organization leaders recruit volunteers through word-of-mouth, so keep an eye out for opportunities and offer yours when necessary.

Do a puzzle together

Teams come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the most important things you can do as a leader is find what type of team building activity works best for your people and then give it a go!

Teambuilding activities that are fun and interactive get the kids excited, which helps them work more effectively towards a common goal.

Here’s an easy way to start – do a puzzle together!

Give each other a word and see who can figure out the rest (or don’t and see how well they work without help!). You could also have a sentence and try to build up the structure or use a topic and ask someone to pick a word from the list and add onto the theme, etc.

This kind of exercise really gets into the bones of teamwork and communication because you have to work with others and agree on meanings of words to succeed.

Another option would be to create a picture using the given word and see whose painting is the closest to the target image!

The staff at Your Life's Work know this firsthand, as they regularly organize puzzles and games to promote collaboration and understanding.

Teach each other a language

As mentioned earlier, team building is not about having fun together; it’s actually about teaching each other things.

This can be anything from learning a new skill or discipline (like practicing yoga with your colleagues) to sharing experiences that are important to you (maybe there’s a friend of yours who has a passion for painting? Invite them along on an art outing).

By including these in your workplace, people will feel more connected and valued. They’ll also likely learn something new themselves.

If you're looking to boost employee engagement, try introducing some type of 'team-building' activity into the workday.