How To Start Team Building

Team building is an excellent way to boost workplace morale, teamwork, and communication. It can even help you in your career by enhancing leadership skills! Companies offer many different types of team-building exercises to promote closer relationships among colleagues.

Some are more formalized than others, but no matter what type of activity you choose, just make sure it’s fun for everyone involved!

Team building doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated — some simple activities will do the trick. For example, having a potluck lunch together is a classic low cost option that works beautifully.

In this article, we'll discuss some easy ways to conduct informal team building at your work. We'll also look into some professional team building exercises that can get much more elaborate as needed.

But first, let's talk about why team building is so important.

Hold a party

As mentioned before, team building is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable being themselves. So how do you hold a team building event? You organize a party!

You can have your guests play games or do activities that require no preparation other than coming ready. For example, taking a short walk outside or swimming in the pool are things that could be done without too much effort.

For the activity, you can ask for some introductions or tell them a story and then have them discuss it. The participants will bring their own experiences and ideas so there’s nothing wrong with that.

Running a team-building event takes time and resources upfront, but it's very worth it. It'll create closer bonds among coworkers and improved performance at work.

You may want to consider holding this event during off hours of the workplace so employees don't need permission to attend. This helps ease any worries about attendance and participation.

Team bonding happens when individuals interact with each other, and interacting with colleagues is one of the most important jobs of anyone in an office.

Organize a sporty game

This is one of the most common team building activities at work. What you need to do is organize an activity that requires teamwork and organization, but that no one has done before.

A example of this would be organizing a soccer match or a flag football game with your colleagues. They will not know each other so it can be tricky figuring out who goes where until just before the event!

Teamwork is very important in sports so this is an excellent way to boost team spirit. If people want to avoid doing this activity then they should tell you why beforehand so you can factor their absence into the planning.

This can also help motivate those who are willing to participate because it’s something new they have never done before. It may even inspire them to try something more challenging later on.

Conduct a puzzle challenge

A great way to start team building is to do a puzzle challenge. This can be an individual game or a group activity as a prize for winning a tournament. You’ll need something with lots of colors, shapes, and numbers.

You will also want to make it easy to connect each piece together. For example, using stickers instead of glue would be better because you could re-stick them if someone got some on their hand. Or use plastic sheets to cover up any tricky areas that might require glues or heavy decorations.

Teambuildingexercise.com offers daily challenges and competitions via social media to inspire teamwork and collaboration. These are free to join and track your progress!

"The concept is simple — find the pieces and put it back in place," says Team Development Director, Amy Gilbreath. "But what makes this exercise fun is how different people approach solving the puzzles."

She adds: "Some may try to figure out which area has too many parts so they don't have to color in all of them, while others may take time to choose the right number of pieces and spend hours putting everything together."

These types of activities promote trust, cooperation, and understanding of other individuals.

Host a cookery contest

This is one of the easier team building activities that can be done at any time. Many companies have organized food contests or cooking competitions for their employees.

These are typically events where people get together in an informal setting and make delicious, healthy foods. It is very entertaining to watch everyone collaborate and compete while creating dishes!

Some companies hold these events monthly, whereas others hold them once a year as a fun celebration. Either way, it is a great way to bring your staff together and show off their culinary skills.

Teamwork and leadership cannot always be seen- but our department will come together to celebrate what we love with passion and excellence.

Plan a theme party

This is one of the easiest ways to start team building. A theme party is when the host or organizer does not know the guests very well, but they are still able to organize the event by using a set structure and guidelines. For example, at a themed party you would use a structured program with short conversations and activities designed around the topic of the day.

The first activity could be making finger sandwiches (using plastic gloves!), talking about the topic and then testing your knowledge by asking questions. The goal of this activity is to have fun so you can easily walk away without feeling too stressed out or uncomfortable.

If you’re hosting a party, try giving the people attending the opportunity to choose their own themes and decorations. Let them pick what they want to do and how they want to run the events!

What is great about having a theme party is that it doesnllt cost a lot of money and anyone can join in! Some examples of common themes include Foodies, Workplaces, Kids, Life, Get Motivated, etc.

Party modes like these are easy to do and add some flavor to the event. They also give people the chance to contribute and show off what they know if the conversation touches upon it. Having a foodie-themed birthday party will bring in lots of different types of foods and talk about all sorts of recipes!

Planning a party should always keep an eye on time as well.

Hold a race

A good way to begin team building is to have an open event, where anyone can participate. This could be a car race, a softball game, or even a swimming competition. You would organize this event outside of work so that people do not need to travel for it, or you can hold it at your workplace.

Everyone comes together as a group and works as a unit to achieve a common goal – winning! While most people are too focused on getting their own personal win, they may learn something about teamwork by watching others succeed.

Teamwork is also a powerful tool in improving relationships. Since everyone’s place on the team is equal, there is no reason to feel excluded or underappreciated. It is easy to see how valuable teamwork is when some of the greatest teams in history used it for success.

This doesn’t mean every situation requires a race, but if you notice a lot of tension or negative energy, try having an event to compare notes. See what resources we have at our disposal as a team and determine which ones work for us.

At the very least, attending this type of event will give you a chance to look into the eyes of other professionals and say, “I know someone who takes her job seriously.

Organize a game of chess

This is one of the most common team building exercises that employers do for their teams. A quick way to organize this activity is having people assume the position of checker while a player becomes attacker. The players then choose a time and place to meet where they will play each other as checkers or attackers depending on who chooses which side they want to be.

Once both players have chosen an antagonist, you can move onto the next step which is choosing a chess piece. You can pick from a king, queen, bishop, rook, or any combination thereof!

The winner of the game is determined by who has the last man standing. Whoever loots (takes) the pieces first wins the match. If there is no thief, then whoever doesn’t take a turn at offense loses the match.

Teambuilding via chess isn’t always about competing against each other, it can also create strong bonds through friendship. People may agree to work together to keep the enemy out, or support each other during times of stress or conflict.

Do a photo competition

A fun way to start team building is doing a “photo challenge”. This can be anything from having your group take a picture in an unknown area or outside of the office, to taking pictures with props that need to be pre-arranged.

Having your staff work together and supporting each other is an integral part of what makes a successful business. Creating opportunities for teamwork helps promote collaboration and communication and should be fostered within your organization.

Teambuilding activities are always good time wasters so they're usually free! It is important to pick events and games that are appropriate for your workplace as some things may not be suitable (e.g. playing basketball with guns).