Staff members who are told to gather around the office and hear the latest pitch around corporate team building activities could see a lot of eyerolls.
Why waste time with this exercise when there are more pressing matters to worry about?
The fact remains that a thriving team environment is a genuine target that makes the space feel welcoming and supportive, paving the way for tangible progress on a professional level.
The task for companies is to make this practice as authentic as possible.
Acquire Buy-In From Members
Part of the challenge for organisations to find a level of authenticity with the team building program starts with the concept itself and whether or not staff have a stake. What often occurs for companies who impose behaviours and practices outside of their regular duties is that individuals struggle to find motivation. However, if the tables are turned and they are given the reins of control from the outset, helping them to shape what they do and how they form stronger bonds, that is a means of earning credibility.
Design Activities Around Desired Outcomes
The idea of corporate team building activities can feel fairly vague and ambiguous if there are no tangible goals to reach. Is it possible to define a team on a graph? How does anyone measure a culture inside a workplace? Ultimately this is where participants need to think about areas surrounding creativity, problem-solving, leadership and communication. They might be hard to define, but they are individual skills that contribute to the greater collective.
Mix In-Person With Online & Off Site Programs
If there happens to be effective planning from the outset with these team ventures, it will be a focus on keeping the environment fluid. Individuals begin to lose motivation and focus if every activity is placed in the office or in a static location. Mix the online with the offline. Be prepared to take the team out to new sites and locations. This will keep the practices interesting and afford for new approaches that pay off for the long-term.
Take Note of Examples & Case Studies
Much of the preparation that can be done with corporate team building activities will centre around case studies from other peers in the industry. It may be completely loose in its structure and flow, including designing artwork or building models. It could venture into the sports arena with go-karting and paintball as popular options. Then there are escape rooms, virtual tours, tug-of-war battles, trivia, video games and more. What has worked for other institutions and what would they recommend given their experiences?
Focus on the Fun First
It can be easy to overthink these exercises. Authenticity by any measure is about the personal experience and whether or not they feel the task is genuine. What helps to influence those perceptions? It is all about fun at the end of the day. If they are enjoying the time and throwing themselves into new activities with the group, suddenly it stops becoming an imposition and chore and it transitions into the type of behaviour that encourages more involvement.
Encourage Assessment From All Participants
A final approach that will prove helpful in these circumstances is to empower the staff to assess the quality of these practices and how much value they are providing themselves. Open and honest feedback will remove any assumptions or expectations. Some of the feedback with these corporate team building activities may even be negative, but it is more important to have that communicated and reviewed rather than stay the course for the sake of appeasing other parties.
