Featured article by Calvin Paige, Independent Technology Author
If you’re the manager or boss of a company, be it large or small, you may think you have the ideal working environment. However, behind the scenes, you need to make sure you have a bonded, happy team who want to come to work every day. After all, they’re the backbone of your company.
How exactly do you build the perfect team, though? You may have the most hard-working, talented employees’, but you need to ensure they can work together in harmony within the workplace. While team building exercises may strike fear into the heart of even the toughest worker, they are a vital part of creating the perfect team. There are a variety of activities you can arrange, but to engage the employees’ imagination and make sure they have fun, it’s worthwhile thinking outside the box when you’re planning your next team building day. Whether you use a work day or you arrange a weekend retreat, here are a list of unusual and alternative team building exercises your employees’ will love.
Scavenger Hunt
Create the perfect scavenger hunt for your employees’ either within the office building, if you have space, or outside. All they will need is a pen and a paper. You can set a variety of fun tasks, such as find an unusual product in a local shop or take a selfie of your team outside a certain attraction. It’s worthwhile to separate any current office cliques to encourage bonding between different teams. You can even set a points system and a deadline, awarding the most points to whichever team is quickest!
Cooking Classes
Cooking classes may require you to leave your office building and set a day aside for your team building, but it’s worthwhile to make an effort. You can hire a professional chef to teach your employees’ kitchen skills and then you can set cooking tasks of different cuisines, which could include Italian, Chinese, and French. Your office can divide into teams, mixing those who are great in the kitchen and those who struggle with their cooking skills. At the end, the office can come together and enjoy a meal as a team, which will encourage bonding as they can discuss how they found the cooking class.
Online Multiplayer Games
Whether your team are avid gamers or not, online multiplayer games are a fun activity you can do free in the office. This means no one has to consider travel costs or give up a day of their own time. There’s a wide variety of popular games available, such as Minecraft and Call of Duty. These games will spark the competitive streak within your employees’, and you can divide the office into teams to compete. Perhaps marketing team against accounting team or men against women. You can even award points and prizes. Check out comparegamehosting.com to find the perfect server for your office.
Outdoor Adventure Course
This idea works well for a weekend retreat. It’s a fun way to get your team outside in the fresh air and (hopefully) sunshine while encouraging them to work as a team. Many outdoor courses promote team building. From courses that see them ziplining through the trees or taking on more adventurous pursuits like whitewater rafting, these courses are ideal for breaking down any cliques and getting your team encouraging and motivating each other, something they’ll hopefully continue back in the office.
