We’ve talked numerous times about the benefits of team building, why businesses can benefit from hosting team-building exercises, and why it’s one of the most important investments you can make in your people.

Of course, team building has a bad reputation. People can often feel uncomfortable being forced to partake in silly chanting, trust exercises, and holding hands in a circle. Some “creative” team-building exercises can feel pretty patronizing, such as being asked to “create your own personal logo” and explain it to the group.  So it’s no wonder so many find an excuse to drop out!

But if you plan a team-building exercise that is fun and exciting, you’re more likely to get a good turnout and the people that do participate are more likely to enjoy it.

So if you’re looking to try something new for your next team-building exercise, why not try one of these ideas?

Poker Night

Poker is a game that can help people get to know each other a lot better. If you play for a while, you’ll begin to understand their personality, learn their “tells”, and see how they cope under pressure.

Of course, poker is most frequently played with people wagering real money, but this doesn’t need to be the case. You can just as easily use play chips and give each participant the same number at the start of the exercise.

For those in the group who haven’t played poker before, online guides and tutorials on how to play the game can help them to speed up the process by pointing them in the right direction. In the beginning, there is some terminology that can come in handy, for example, the differences between the starting hands, key poker phrases like ‘muck, or the differences in hand rankings.

The simplicity of poker, the fact that it doesn’t require you to travel to a remote or far away location, and the fact that people of all physical abilities can take part mean that it is accessible to everyone on your team.

The Egg Drop Challenge

This is a popular task to give to people for team building because it’s easy, fun, and inexpensive. It can be completed just about anywhere, though it does require someone to stand on a platform, ladder or table, or to hang out of a window to test the final constructions.

The premise is simple. You will split your team into smaller groups. Each group will be given an egg and a finite number of objects to use (often office materials like paper, card, string, pipe cleaners, tape, etc). Their task will be to use the objects to construct a device that will protect the egg when it’s dropped from a height.

There are many ways that you can combine the materials together to protect the egg, and you’ll be amazed at the myriad of different concepts that get dreamed up. Some will work and some will result in egg splattered on the floor, but that doesn’t matter. Your team will have fun getting creative and trying to conjure up a way to keep their egg in one piece.

There are ways you can add extra elements to the idea. For example, you could give each team a number of tokens that they must use to “buy” the materials, forcing them to also plan a design that is efficient as well as protective.

Video Game Tournament

Another way to promote friendly competition among your team is to host a video game tournament. This can be done in a few different ways, such as having each person try to set a personal best time/score on the game you choose, or using a knockout format where the winner of each game progresses into the next round.

Depending on the organization and the people it employs, you may choose to use a game that appeals to a broad audience or one that’s a bit more niche. For example, if you’re an automotive company, the challenge may be to set the fastest lap time on a racing game. Whereas, employees of an insurance company may prefer something like Super Mario Party for the Nintendo Switch because it’s more inclusive and suitable for non-gamers.

Author

Lucas Pedron, 2T Digital