20 team building activities to boost workplace togetherness and improve business results

Considering a fully-engaged workforce delivers 2x the revenue, these activities are essential for corporate success. Whether you want a simple game that can be done in 15 to 20 minutes or a longer activity, we're sure you'll find the perfect solution in this guide.

What are the pros and cons of team building activities?

Let's briefly explore what you and your team can expect from adding team-building activities to your modern company’s schedule.

Pros

• Helps to build team cohesion
• Promotes out-of-the-box thinking
• Boosts problem-solving skills and listening skills
• Helps identify the leaders in a group
• Increases team collaboration through a common goal

Cons

• Can be challenging for remote employees to partake in
• Some activities won't improve employee engagement

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10 team building activities you should try

Let's get right into the list of activities you can introduce to your in-person and remote teams to begin building togetherness.

1. Storytelling. What better way to get to know everyone in your entire team while mastering your communication skills than storytelling? It allows each group member to create their own story and share it with one another. To make it even more interesting, set a theme for all story authors.
2. Build a memory wall. As a classic game that's fantastic for remote teams and in-person staff, building a memory wall helps to build company morale. With this activity, have everyone bring in an object that reminds them of a positive workplace memory. They can then share their object, add them to the wall, and display their favourite memories for the rest of the office.
3. Puzzle solving. Undoubtedly puzzle-solving is one of the best team-building games that you can use to develop leadership skills and cooperative skills. You'll want to divide your staff into groups with team leaders to guide them. Together, they should work to solve specific puzzles, whether it be objects like a Rubik's cube or puzzles on sheets of paper.
4. Group counting. Group counting is one of the best activities to help boost communication skills. Have all your employees sit in a circle to count to 20 together as a group. The catch is that if two people say the same number simultaneously, the group has to start over from the beginning. This simple game and fun activity will help your team improve their listening skills. Over time, they'll learn how to read non-verbal cues with the team-building exercise to know when it's their turn to talk. Even if you are holding your team remote, you can still manage this fun activity via video conferencing.
5. Brainstorming boards. Interestingly, team-building events don't need to be solely activities designed as games. Instead, you can use in-office tasks to help boost team collaboration in the office. With brainstorming boards, you'll get a whole project team together to design an idea board of how to complete the tasks at hand. Together, they'll develop a plan to accomplish the job creatively and efficiently. This is a fantastic opportunity to help your staff work together with a shared goal.
6. Board games. According to the CEO of HowSociable, relying on standard board games if you're busy with daily operations and don't have time to design team-building activities increases 37% team-building efforts and mood. Having one day a week where you take a couple of hours to split players into teams and play a board game can be a fantastic break from the daily grind. Plus, it will improve employee satisfaction, as everyone will have some fun.
7. Scavenger hunts. Managers love scavenger hunts as team-building exercises because they teach everyone to work together. For this activity, you'll want to create a list of clues that will lead your team members to find specific items around the office. Whichever team collects all of the items on their list first wins.
8. Blind retriever. Blind retriever is a unique game that requires a little bit of physical activity and a lot of collaboration skills. Pair your staff off and have one person wearing a blindfold while the other is sighted. Using only verbal cues, the non-blindfolded person must guide their blindfolded partner to retrieve a specific object in the office.
9. Learning luncheon. A learning luncheon is ideal if you're searching for a way to offer a learning experience for your group while also rewarding them. All you have to do is treat your team to pizza or any other group meal and have each staff member share something unique about themselves. It's a fantastic way to get in icebreaker questions to have the team learn about one another on a deeper level.
10. Department contests. What better way to boost relationship building than hosting office contests? If you're into unconventional thinking, why not host a costume contest? It's a fantastic way to get everyone excited about something different in the office while also adding an allure of competition.

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Other quick ideas for team building activities

1. Imaginary magazine. With this game, you'll split your staff into teams and assign them to design their own imaginary magazine cover.
2. Fake Shark Tank. If you want to enhance the public speaking skills of your staff, this activity is ideal. Encourage team members to develop a product and create a fake pitch to get "funding" to produce their product.
3. Office trivia. Office trivia is an easy option if you need remote team building activities. It creates a fun, competitive environment. You can also split staff into teams to help enhance their collaboration skills.
4. Volunteer hours. There's nothing better than giving back to your community. Get your team together and pick a shared cause where you can work together to aid a common issue.
5. Cooking classes. Cooking classes can be fun outside of work if you want to develop stronger interpersonal relationships with your team.
6. Outdoor team building activities. During the warmer months, why not brainstorm ideas for outdoor activities to keep everyone active? From capture the flag to soccer, there are likely plenty of activities to consider.
7. Jigsaw puzzles. Quick and easy, jigsaws are fun team building activities that can be done both in and out of the office.
8. Desert Island. As another popular option, desert island requires each team member to list items they'd need to bring to a deserted island. To add a new twist, split everyone into groups and have them work together to create lists.
9. Book clubs. Do you have employees that love reading in their spare time? Why not start a book club for all to enjoy?
10. Sporting activities. There's no harm in starting a company-wide sports league if you have active employees looking for extracurriculars. Consider softball or flag football for team building.

Start planning your team building activities now!

From better productivity to stronger interpersonal relationships, team building activities are a great way to get your crew together and on the same page. With the 20 activities we explored in this guide, you'll easily find the right option for your in-office and remote teams.

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Team building activities FAQs

1. Are team building activities effective? Team building activities are a great way to get your staff together to work in teams to accomplish a common goal. They can help to improve interpersonal and professional relationships, which in turn can lead to better productivity and a healthier workplace environment. Also, 33% of employees think collaborative workplace cultures help to boost company loyalty.
2. Why are team building activities important?. Team building activities are important because they foster a healthier environment for your employees. People will be more willing to get to know one another, help each other with daily work tasks, and even put more effort into their daily assignments.
3. How often should you do team building activities? It can be helpful to do team building activities at least once monthly. If you have the time, treating your team to a quick activity break weekly can greatly improve productivity.

Uday Tank is an astute business enthusiast with more than eight years of experience helping businesses reach their full potential. He is the owner of Rankwisely, providing invaluable support & services for businesses to leverage SEO, content marketing, keyword research, and Link Building to 25x their marketing ROI.