What's the Benefit of Team Building Exercises?

Many of us will work as part of a team throughout our careers and as such, teamwork plays an important part of our working lives.

Companies often run through a series of team building exercises for their employees, to get the most out of their teams and hit organisational goals.

In this article, we explore what team building is, discuss why it’s important, and show you examples of team building exercises.

What is team building?

Team building refers to a management technique used to help improve the performance and efficiency of workgroups (typically from the same organisation and within the same team) through a series of different activities.

Team building exercises use skills, observation, and analysis to help form strong, capable teams, with the goal of being able to reach your organisation’s vision and objectives.

With at that said, how do you go about building a great team? In most cases, organisations either hire a temporary team building training specialist or they may already have an in-house manager dedicated to team building. This individual will set about to learn and resolve team members weaknesses, while using their strengths to reinforce positivity and get the desired results out of each employee. They will also work on creating a good mix of people and skill sets, while developing strong interpersonal relationships built around trust.

All goals must be clearly defined by this manager, and the organisational objectives must be discussed and understood by each team member, while outlining every individual’s role within the team clearly.

Discover what makes a successful team

Examples of team building exercises

Team building exercises help to increase positive communication, empower team members, raise morale, and encourage friendships.

While there are many different team building exercises for work, there are typically just four types of team building activities.

These are:

• Communication activities
• Problem solving and decision-making activities
• Adaptability and planning activities
• Trust building activities.

Below we explore two popular team building exercises: 

Communication

Two Truths, one lie (15-30 mins)

Each team member privately writes down two things that are true about themselves and one thing that is a lie. When everyone has finished, each person asks one another about their three questions. The idea here is to convince others that your lie is a truth while trying to guess the other team member’s truths and lies through questioning. At the end you can all reveal your answers. This game encourages communication with your team members in a fun and explorative way.

Problem solving

Picture Pieces (30 mins)

The leader choses a well-known picture or cartoon character, which is cut into as many squares as there are team members, and each participant receives one of the squares. They are then instructed to draw a copy of the image but five times larger than its actual size. This presents the problem of not knowing what it’s form or how the changes will impact the other elements. Once everyone has drawn their section, they are required to put the pieces of the puzzle together to make the original picture, which is now shown on the table. This problem-solving exercise teaches team players how to work in a team and understand that everyone working on their own part contributes to an overall team result.

Learn how to develop effective communication skills

Why is team building important for remote workers?

With remote working on the rise and many employees still yet to return to the office after multiple lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic, team building may be more important now more than ever!

When you think of team building and working as a unit, you most likely automatically think about being physically close to your team members - something that’s impossible while working remotely.

Contrary to that mindset, modern technology bridges the gaps and makes it feasible to spend meaningful time together without being in the same place as each other. Senior leaders are still figuring the best ways to use technology to work as a seamless unit, but we have the tools available now! 

While an effective strategy should be unique to your organisation’s culture, there are a few fundamental practices everyone should remember when team building with remote employees.

First, establish a team of influencers.

identify positive and vocal team members to get the rest of your team fired up and excited. Bring these leaders into your team building management meetings and implement a strategy to use them to help others feel motivated and help improve productivity. 

Second, be inclusive.

You no doubt have a diverse group of employees working across different departments and carry out different roles They will also have different living/working conditions at home, with different family problems and concerns. Not everyone responds to team building exercises in the same way or with the same level of excitement. If someone in your team has anxiety, they are not likely to want to be in social settings or uncomfortable environments.

Keep in mind that no two employees are the same, so as you plan your team building with remote employees, remember to think about:

• Age, time at the company, and seniority.
• Family life and personal situations.
• Preferred socialising style and communication methods.

Finally, Be creative!

Let’s face it, nobody wants to have a team building exercise over Zoom. We are all pretty Zoomed out by now, so try find other ways to promote and hold team building exercises off Zoom.

A great alternative to this could be a company talent show or quiz night held weekly. A school’s leadership team near our offices did this every Friday throughout lockdown. They found it helped them learn more about each other after hours (some might refer to this as getting to know the “real you”) and strengthen their friendships. As a result, they were focused in the workplace and knew they could rely on each other to get things done!

If you found this article useful, you may be interested in reading our other career advice articles.