by Jonathan SchoonhovenSo you have recruited the perfect team. Well done. The rising stars and coming contenders of your industry are all housed under a single roof. You breathe easy and take a well‐deserved break. Ten minutes later, you look out through the fogged glass of your corner office to see the best minds of your generation destroyed by fighting, complaining and petty politics. Where you thought you had a well‐oiled machine, suddenly you are stuck with a bowl full of betta fish. Enter team‐building. Below are some ways to keep everyone on the same page.
#1. Get Creative
So maybe your office bends away from the “jock” side of the spectrum towards the “intellectual” side. If you want to get the creative juices pumping, get the employees to work together to create something fun. You could probably use a new video on your website anyway—bring a camera into the office, leave for couple hours, then see what they come up with.
PROTIP: The video will be about you. It may include questionable content. Be prepared to pretend you have a sense of humor about yourself. If that is too difficult, consider having them design an in‐office logo, a team mascot, a t‐shirt design, or a (possibly obscene) company slogan.
#2. Get Classic
Three‐legged races, tug‐of‐war, trust falls and about a hundred other employee team‐building practices may be horrible clichés, but they are horrible clichés for good reason. They are easy to set up, effective, inexpensive, and quick enough that employees who dislike horribly clichéd employee team‐building games won’t have to deal with them for very long. A personal recommendation: find a high wall and have them work as a team to get everyone to the other side. If you have once depended on a teammate outside the office, you will likely feel better about depending on them inside the office.
PROTIP: Use these exercises, but don’t overdo it. Some less enthusiastic employees may find being hoisted over a wall to be slightly “undignified”.
#3. Get Sporty
Sure, you’ve heard this one before, but there’s a reason for that. People will work better as a metaphorical team if they work together as a literal team. Add to that the natural endorphins and good health that accompanies a solid workout, coupled with a good dose of cathartic competition. Ask around and see what sport gets the most interest—some great options are softball, soccer, flag football, ultimate frisbee or minigolf. Whatever you choose, it all comes out to happier, healthier, team‐ier employees.
PROTIP: Want some super-practical, super-effective team building that employees willl super-appreciate? Schedule in an optional workout break just before lunch and go as a group. Sign up your whole team through BetterWorks and revel in a steep discount on the best gyms nearbye.
#4. Get Amped
Look around your office and count the number of North Face jackets, carabineers and visible scars on your employees. Is it more than five? Then you might consider some more extreme team‐building exercises. If you think they are up to the challenge, nothing builds cooperation like defying death and gravity together as a team. This can range from the relatively safe (indoor rock climbing, paintball, running a marathon) to the relatively dangerous (outdoor rock climbing, skydiving, bungee jumping, mixed martial arts fighting, et cetera). The more risk the more reward, but try to bring back everyone in one piece.
PROTIP: Like the idea of making your employees fight for their lives, but the jerks in HR complaining about liability? Try laser tag. It’s harmless, it builds alliances and it can be a cathartic (but non‐violent) way to vent your anger against those cretins in the Finance Dept.
#5. Get Talking
Give employees something they want to talk about. Break everyone up into smaller groups and encourage them to share the craziest/most embarrassing/most illegal thing they have ever done. Make it competitive so the really good stuff comes out. Then see which group has the single best story. It will break down barriers and afterwards they might not take each other quite so seriously.
PROTIP: Caution: Now is not the time to talk about questionable trading practices or anything that happened during that trade show in Vegas. In fact, it’s probably better you pretend that trade show never happened at all.
#6. Get Some Food
Since the dawn of time, meals have been a social, recreational experience. Allowing employees to eat a sack lunch behind their desk isn't just a missed opportunity for teamwork, it's against the natural order of things. According to Kyle Ewing, Talent and Outreach Programs Manager at Google, “The [group] meals create an environment for you to have conversations you wouldn’t have in your office. That’s how some of our best ideas have been born”. Bring your team together for a group meal and see what develops from their casual conversations. Feeling ambitious? Rent out a restaurant and send the chefs home—see what your employees can cook up in the kitchen.
PROTIP: Encouraging group orders and social eating by giving out a food budget can be one of the simplest ways to encourage team-building (not to mention winning the undying love of one and all). When you use BetterWorks, employees are able to place group orders with the budget that you give them at nearly any restaurant they like.
#7. Get Drinking
Hit the local pub. Spirits have been bringing people together since prehistoric times and if it’s good enough for Australopithecus, it should be good enough for your Accounts Payable. Take everyone out for drinks on a random night, and pick up their taxi ride.
PROTIP: Bond, have fun, be safe. Remember it's employee team-building, not Spring Break.
Photo credit to Toronto History