Planning ways to help your team work more closely together isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone. Luckily we have had years of experience of helping groups communicate and work more effectively through our staff orientation programs each year for our summer camp, when we bring 150 staff from all over the world together to prepare for a summer of challenges, hard work and amazing memories.
Here we share 5 ideas that we think make all the difference when trying to plan your team building event.
Make Your Challenges Achievable…
Overcoming challenges together is a great way to bring your team closer together - nothing bonds people like having beat the odds together. That being said, it can be equally damaging if the challenges are too great to beat. Focus on small, achievable goals at first and increase the ante as the group functions better together.
There are some great ideas available at www.paymoapp.com/blog/team-building-activities/
Don’t Break the Bank…
You do not need to go out and spend a fortune on resources when you can create challenges and ways for people to work together with things you find lying around your home/office. Get creative and you will be amazed at what you already have at your fingertips.
Check here for some amazing ideas on how to plan great activities for next to nothing www.companyformations247.co.uk/blog/top-10-cheap-free-team-building-exercises
Make Sure it is Inclusive…
The whole idea of building a team is to create a better, more productive group where all of your colleagues/employees/teammates feel a part of the machine. If your activities focus too much on letting a few people take charge you run the risk of some members of the team being left out. If your activities aren’t facilitated well then then some may be left feeling that their contributions are not as important as (in many cases) the louder members of the team who already feel confident enough to speak up.
Plan, Plan, Plan and Then Be Ready To Adapt....
You can have spent weeks planning great activities and challenges that you think are going to work brilliantly, that will include everyone and achieve your goals, only to find out that people aren’t enjoying it or that it it isn'‘t going the way you planned. Don’t be too proud or stubborn to read the room and change things up or move on to the next activity.
Get Out of the Office and Away From the Phone…
Whilst it can be easy (and cheap) to stay somewhere you know and don’t have to pay for, there are often many distractions in the workplace (that email to check, the phone call to return) and it can be hard to avoid the pitfall of staff looking at their phones at the best of times. Taking people into the great outdoors and away from their comfort zone can boost the effect of a team building experience.
Check out the facilities we have available here and think about letting us do all of this hard work for you www.berkshireretreatcenter.com/corporate