Bringing Your Employees Together

Usually when you hear the phrase “team building”, you think of trust falls and word association games. However, a new day has come where people actually look forward to their company’s team building activities. People have become more creative when setting up these events so not only do they improve communication amongst employees and departments, they are all going to enjoy themselves while doing so.

If you find your colleagues in dire need of improvement on interoffice communication, check out these fun and unique team building ideas.

Jeopardy!

Take a cue from Jim Koch, the creator of Sam Adams beer, and put together a game of company-centric Jeopardy. Koch used questions that tested his employees’ knowledge of the beer industry, and you could do the same for your particular field as well. This is a fun way to encourage your employees to broaden their knowledge of the company they work for. You can split people up in teams, putting people together that don’t normally interact on a daily basis to promote communication between departments. Make sure you push them to take it seriously by offering up excellent prizes that they’ll be willing to compete for.

Blindfolded Driving

Now, this is definitely not an activity to be taken lightly. We ask that you not head out to the closest major interstate with a few blindfolds and just start driving around. Rather, you should look into an abandoned parking lot or a race track nearby that would be willing to let your company use it for this type of event. You’ll definitely need to look into permits and other safety requirements before setting it up. However, while fun and exciting, blindfolded driving is a hardcore way to force your employees to think outside the box in terms of communication in stressful situations.

Build a Boat Competition

Now that it is summertime, you should do your best to put together a team building activity that gets people out of the office and into the sunlight. With a build a boat competition, you would split people up into teams of four or five and give them a limited supply of materials that normally would never be used to build a boat. You would then give them a certain amount of time to work together building a boat that would be required to float while containing a passenger. This kind of activity is perfect for getting people to work together while offering up a hilarious opportunity to see their coworkers get drenched when their boat eventually sinks.

Getting to Know You

For a successful and happy work environment, your employees should know each other by more than just their first name. If you want to cultivate a more personal relationship amongst yourself and your employees, there is a game you can play that will help everyone put themselves out there while learning about their colleagues. Give everyone a note card and have them write down five “facts”, four of which are false. They’ll each get up and read off their list and have everyone guess which one isn’t true. You may be surprised with what you find out about everyone!

Don’t get stuck in the boring grind of office life, get out and take your employees and colleagues with you. Put together some fun and exciting team building activities will make them appreciate each other while promoting a healthier and more productive work environment. Your employees will realize just how much they matter to the success of the company, and you may be surprised what you learn about everyone in the process.

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