Don't Force Boring Team Building/Bonding on Your Employees, Do This Instead

When you first built your company’s business model, you likely spent hours, days, or weeks imagining every detail. You probably envisioned your product and purpose, your audience and clientele, a state-of-the-art office space, and top talent knocking down the doors to become part of your team.

But did your vision include a plan for keeping that talent engaged, productive, and dedicated to your mission?

Maybe it did (good for you!), but if it didn’t, you’re not alone. Many business owners, company leaders and CEOs don’t recognize the importance of getting their team out of the “boredroom” for a change of pace and a jolt of excitement. But engaging, purposeful team building and bonding can be the driving factor that propels your company to its greatest potential.

Fun actually matters a lot.

Many team building activities fall flat on their face for the same reasons –– they’re boring, awkward, or feel like work. Those exercises ultimately fail because they’re quickly forgotten. 

The most memorable and successful team building activities are ones that don’t feel like another day at the office. Practical takeaways are important, but making them too obvious makes it feel like work, diluting the overarching purpose. Spending time together, sharing an experience and working towards a common goal encourages bonding to happen more organically and far more successfully.

Approaching your team building or bonding with a little pizzazz makes it feel adventurous and enjoyable. Exciting activities like Combat Archery, while unconventional, are extremely efficient in building trust, encouraging communication, and increasing collaboration. All with the thrill of shooting and dodging (safe and non-lethal) arrows. 

Team building and bonding activities that are fresh, fun, and exciting yield a higher level of engagement and learning. Choosing something unique or even slightly outside of people’s comfort zones encourages bonding in new ways, so don’t be afraid to step outside of the box.

What about remote teams?

Virtual teams also need to come together for team building and team bonding. If employees live nearby, plan a fun outing where remote employees get to meet in person and participate in a fun activity. Scavenger Hunts can transport employees out of the (home) office and into a team building adventure with a purpose. Combining the power of play with strategy, communication and personal ahas, a Scavenger Hunt removes the pressure of awkward relationship building by fostering connections through real-life challenges and shared experience.

Now for the remote teams who don't live locally, team building tools and platforms are needed to facilitate activities. Know your teams. Will they be excited to learn and understand an entirely new platform as part of the experience? Or would team members prefer to work on a system they already understand to remove any frustrations that may come with a new platform?

If your employees communicate regularly on Zoom, you don't need to re-invent the wheel. Schedule a happy hour Zoom call. You can even spice it up with a theme like having everyone dress up as their favorite Superhero. Costumes become instant ice breakers as employees explain why Spiderman or Wonder Woman is their favorite.

Are you planning an event for a large or small group? You aren't going to get a lot accomplished on a virtual team building event with 100 participants. You will need to select a tool that allows for breakout sessions with smaller groups.

Give it a test run.

If you have a team building/bonding event on the calendar where you will be using a new platform for your session, give it a dry run before having employees on the call. Familiarize yourself with the platform and learn the different features you can utilize like chat, emojis and polls. You'll want to feel confident enough that you'll be able to help your least technologically savvy employee enjoy the experience.

When hosting your first virtual event, not everything will go smoothly. Be ADAPTABLE. The point isn't for you to appear perfect. The point is for your employees to build relationships, communicate better and collaborate effectively. Be flexible and creative. Go ahead and come prepared with a back-up plan... Just in case!

Want to learn how we can help plan in-person, virtual or hybrid team building/bonding events?

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