The importance of team building is all about practice. When a team participates in team-building activities, they’re really preparing for important, real-world situations that demand cohesion.
Team A and Team B both landed new clients last month. Team A will have a long and fruitful relationship with their client. Team B will lose theirs in just 6 months.
You see, Team A participated in plenty of team building activities and strengthened their greatest asset—their group harmony. Team B did not. Team A put in extra time to prepare for real-world challenges. Team B did not.
What Is Team Building?
Team building is a structured practice in the skills teams need to perform optimally at work.
Basketball players practice together to become strong teams. The same is true for office workers.
Just as basketball practice helps players systematically develop a range of skills comprising their athletic ability, team building helps workers improve skills across different aspects of teamwork, such as communication, delegation, trust, accountability, and collaboration.
If your job is a big game, then team building activities are your practice sessions.
Benefits Of Team Building Activities
The benefits of a team building event for work include improving the three Cs:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Camaraderie
Enhancing these three team competencies then leads to additional halo benefits, including better morale, stronger motivation, and unified company culture.
Keep reading to learn how and why your team should practice the all-important skill of teamwork.
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The Importance Of Team Building Activities
1) It Gets Employees Excited About Work
Most people are not inherently selfish. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to do work that benefits a common goal. Team building reminds people that they’re part of a team and re-energizes them to do their best so the team can do its best.
Activity Idea
Boost employee engagement with Outback Team Building.
Virtual and In-Person
Outback Team Building’s virtual offerings put your team into new and exciting situations, from a murder mystery to a game show. Proprietary technology and expert game hosts make every aspect of your activity run smoothly so you can focus on team building and not epic tech fails.
2) It Helps People Practice New Skills
Effective team building is also skill-oriented, leaving participants with new abilities or knowledge they can leverage in pursuit of company goals. The skills can be hard or soft, but the main point is that employees leave feeling they’ve gained something valuable.
Activity Idea
Help employees acquire new skills during an oral storytelling workshop.
Virtual and In-Person
Open communication will be a no brainer after you’ve all opened up by practicing the ancient art of oral storytelling together. Teams may feel more comfortable speaking out and may also become more attuned to certain inflections and non-verbal cues.
3) It encourages team members to express themselves authentically
Creating a culture where team members feel they are able to express their genuine thoughts and ideas starts with how comfortable they feel about revealing their authentic selves to coworkers.
Activity Idea
Encourage team members to showcase their personalities with a GooseChase scavenger hunt.
Virtual and In-Person
GooseChase takes scavenger hunts beyond just seeking hidden locations or finding objects, their app-based platform encourages players to let loose
with self-expression and creativity.
Hint: Always award bonus points for costumes.
4) It Provides Concentrated Practice Collaborating and Communicating
A team-building event can reveal, better than even months of work, what techniques accomplish desired results. Given a clear objective that’s not tied to the stress and pressures of work, many employees are able to remove themselves from the activity enough to reflect on what they did that worked and what didn’t.
Activity Idea
Improve collaboration and communication with Let’s Roam.
Virtual and In-Person
Let’s Roam delivers a virtual game extravaganza with team-strengthening benefits.
You may be too busy having fun playing charades, drawing games, and trivia to even notice how each game requires you to practice communicating and collaborating with your teammates.
5) It Shows People They Can Rely On Their Coworkers
Build trust to gain a more effective team. A team-building event might just provide the evidence and experience co-workers need to place more trust in their peers. This way, you can strengthen trust in relatively low-risk situations so it’s ready to come into play when the stakes are higher.
Activity Idea
Build trust with rock climbing.
In-Person
After you’ve let someone belay you, you probably won’t have a problem trusting them with a little deadline.
6) It Helps People Unlock Their Creative And Learning Potential
Team building activities get teams leveraging skills they don’t get to use in their regular on-the-job duties. They might learn fun facts about their teammates or the world at large, and they might even find a latent skill lurking in the wells of their untapped creative energy.
Activity Idea
Foster creativity and learning with the Go Game.
Virtual
The Go Game’s fast-paced virtual game show presents you and your team with one-of-a-kind challenges testing knowledge, random skills, and overall mettle. You’ll love finding new creative strengths during a drawing game and also discovering what random facts your coworkers realize they know when put to the test.
7) It Helps Make People More Accepting And Able To Resolve Conflicts
Workplace testimonials reveal that many people are just generally frustrated with their co-workers.
Frustration and conflict eat away at team performance potential and also at the bottom line. A successful team knows how to gracefully address conflict; they learned how during team building activities.
Activity Idea
Build conflict resolution skills with “Anything Goes” (p.52).
In-Person
A low-stakes conflict will help employees practice the foundational skills they would need to resolve a legitimate conflict. After all, you might as well practice arguing when practically no emotions are on the line.
8) It Helps Unite People
As this Forbes post discusses, employees with solid connections to coworkers generally have better work experiences.
Fostering those employee relationships is just one purpose of team building. Even if employees gain no new skills during a team-building event, they’re still spending time together; they’re still getting the opportunity to build better relationships with their coworkers.
Activity Idea
Bring people together with the Escape Game.
Virtual and In-Person
An escape room is more than just a fun activity; it actually doubles as a bonding experience because overcoming difficulties together might just bring you closer.
The Escape Game brings high-performing teams together to find clues and tackle puzzles so the entire team can escape to adventure another day.
9) It Gives Morale An Infusion
Whether you’re part of a virtual team or a group that regularly gathers in a luxurious work environment, the right team building activity can make people even happier than they already are.
Activity Idea
Improve morale by starting a tradition.
Virtual and In-person
Boost your workplace culture and maybe even improve employee retention by starting a tradition everyone will know they won’t be able to find anywhere else.
Swipe an idea you like and put your own spin on it. For example, you might…
- Have a monthly brown-bag lunch “potluck” where everyone grabs a mystery lunch
- Play bridge while wearing ridiculous hats every Friday
- Turn the idea of a “bad manners tea party” into a bad manners cocktail party
10) It Lays The Foundation For A Thriving Company Culture
Happy, collaborative teams make culture authentic instead of forced, and strong company culture will come through in your quality of work and in the general vibe at your office.
Activity Idea
Improve company culture with City Brew Tours and Unboxed Experiences by City Brew Tours.
Virtual and In-Person
Even during an isolating event like the COVID-19 pandemic, your remote team can still feel the buzz of your company’s culture during one of the Unboxed Experiences by City Brew Tours virtual events. Brew your own beer at home or indulge in a beer and cheese pairing with enough fun and flavor to make you forget how many miles distance you from your coworkers.
11) It Encourages Productive Problem-Solving
Knowing how to effectively solve problems boosts overall productivity. Team building events help teams learn how to solve problems together and also ask for help when it’s needed.
An activity goal will likely be less important to participants than their performance at work. With the pressure off, people can think more clearly about how to quickly resolve communication and interpersonal problems.
Activity Idea
Practice problem-solving with a silent building challenge.
In-Person
Ask your team to recreate the Eiffel Tower from toothpicks and also to do it without speaking (or writing notes) to one another. You’ll see them tap hidden problem-solving abilities even they didn’t realize they had. (They might even develop better communication skills when they can’t fall back on mere speech.)
12) It Keeps Motivation Levels Up
Team building events help everyone get to know the people on their team better. When you know and adore the people you’re working with and for, you’re more motivated to do your best. You never ask, “Why should I?” You just do it for the team.
Activity Idea
Build motivating relationships with Quizbreaker.
Virtual
Quizbreaker makes it easy for you to make and distribute quizzes all about your teammates. Trivia takes on new employee engagement abilities when all the trivia questions are all about the employees.
You and your team will be beyond tickled by all the fun and surprising facts you learn about one another.
13) It Helps Employees Feel Valued For Their Skills And Interests
Team building exercises, while designed to make teams stronger, do sometimes focus on individual team members, helping everyone understand their invaluable role as part of the team.
Activity Idea
Make employees feel valued with an employees’ choice activity series.
Virtual and In-Person
Every month, have a different person pick a game, activity, hobby, or class for everyone to participate in. They’ll love feeling supported and they might even be able to try some new things they just didn’t want to do alone.
14) It Helps New Employees Bond With The Team
A new employee isn’t just a bright new contributor to team spirit and team output; a new employee is also an important investment. Incorporate team-building into their orientation and onboarding to make them feel like part of the group from the getgo.
Activity Idea
Welcome new employees with Water Cooler Trivia.
Virtual
50% of Water Cooler Trivia users say the weekly quizzes they receive help them get to know their coworkers better. Water Cooler Trivia’s engaging quizzes work like a little “get-to-know-you” shortcut, giving newbs interesting information about existing teammates. (The quizzes also provide plenty of conversation starters they can leverage to build relationships long after the quizzes are done.)
Pro-tip: If you’re looking for more fresh ideas for a successful team building program, then we’ve got you covered:
How To Host A Team Building Event At Your Company
How To Host An In-Person Team Building Event
- Reflect on your team’s strengths and weaknesses. (This will help you determine what you want to accomplish during your team building event.)
- Set your objectives. These goals will be different for each team, but some examples include helping participants practice:
-
- One new communication skill
- Providing recognition
- Conflict resolution techniques
- Choose or design a team-building activity that caters to these objectives. We have plenty of indoor and outdoor ideas above to get you started.
- Enlist people on your team to help with planning, setup, etc. (Not only will this lessen your burden; it will also ensure your activity is appealing to your broader team.
- Find a venue.
- Send invitations or calendar holds.
- Get snacks and swag items to enjoy during the event.
- Send reminders and stir up interest and excitement.
- Run the event.
- Evaluate your success by sending out a poll or survey after your event. (You can use the objectives you set earlier if you’re wondering what questions to ask and what metrics to measure.)
How To Host A Virtual Team Building Event
- Reflect on how remote work changes the way your team works together.
- Survey or poll your remote team to see what they think.
- Use your intel to set team-specific goals for your team building event.
- Choose or design a virtual team building activity that caters to these objectives.
- Find a virtual hosting platform, if necessary.
- Send invitations or calendar holds.
- Order snacks and swag items to ship beforehand.
- Send reminders and stir up interest and excitement.
- Run the event.
- Evaluate your success by sending out a poll or survey after your event. (You can use the objectives you set earlier if you’re wondering what questions to ask and what metrics to measure.)
People Also Ask These Questions About The Importance Of Team Building
Q: What is the purpose of a team-building activity?
- A: The purpose of a team-building activity is to inspire a group of individuals to work, communicate, and think as a harmonious unit instead of a group of independent operators.
Q: How do I measure the success of a team-building activity?
- A: Measure the success of a team-building activity by following up with a brief survey to find out if employees enjoyed the event and if it helped them feel more connected to their co-workers. You can also base your survey on any event objectives you set.
Q: What are the benefits of a team building event for work?
- A: The benefits of a team-building event for work include improving the three Cs: collaboration, communication, and camaraderie. Enhancing these three team competencies then leads to additional halo benefits, including better morale, stronger motivation, and unified company culture.
Q: What do you mean by team building?
- A: By team building, we mean practicing working together. Just as basketball practice helps players systematically develop a range of skills comprising their athletic ability, team building gives groups concentrated practice in the different competencies comprising teamwork, namely communication, delegation, trust, accountability, and collaboration. Find team-building practice activities here.
Q: What are the objectives of team building?
- A: The objectives of team building include:
- Helping each participant take away at least one new skill they can immediately apply to their work on the team.
- Encouraging each participant to remember something new about a coworker that can improve their collaborations.
- Having fun in such a way that day-to-day team functions, including asking for help or providing casual recognition, feel more natural.
Q: What are the characteristics of team building?
- A: The characteristics of team building include a common goal that demands collaboration, the need to communicate, and stakes, prizes, or time limits that galvanize groups to engage.
Q: How do I plan an effective team building activity?
- A: Plan an effective team-building activity by setting team-specific objectives. If your team needs more practice in communication, then an effective activity should revolve around that skill. Find additional planning tips and activity ideas here.
Q: Will a team-building activity boost employee engagement?
- A: A team-building activity may help boost employee engagement at your workplace because these activities help groups develop skills, like communication and collaboration, that work against common workplace frustrations, such as dealing with co-workers and managing company politics.
Q: What can I do to help new employees meet the team?
- A: Organize a team building activity to help new employees meet the team. For example, you can create team-specific trivia games and quizzes that help new employees learn more facts about their new coworkers than they could ever pick up during a happy hour.
Q: How can a virtual team building activity help company culture?
- A: A virtual team building activity can help company culture by giving workers a designated venue for getting to know each other. This can help reduce isolation, and it also means your company culture is driven by your employees and not characterized by home offices and working in pajamas.
I like your suggestion to have a survey after the activity for feedback about its effectiveness. My brother is looking for some outdoor corporate activities the teams at his business could safely take part in before the weather gets too cold. I’ll have to pass along these tips to make sure he gets the most possible value from the employee participation in the activities!
I agree with what you said that team building allows teams to have a thriving company culture, increasing the general vibe in your office or facility. My sister and I plan to start an events company next year or so. In this industry, teamwork is critical. Because of that, I’ll make sure we’ll conduct team building activities, like participating in escape rooms, to help our team unite. Thank you!