The term ‘team building’ has become a catchphrase in any business for a good reason. Most business owners know that team building should be one of their priorities when managing employees. You can help your team members work and collaborate better through this, improving your company’s overall operation and function.
If you haven’t organized any team-building activity for your organization yet, perhaps now’s the time to start doing so. Remember, hosting team-building exercises can positively impact your employees and your business in the long run. However, while it is known to be advantageous, it also has its reputation for being tedious and time-consuming, so some workers dislike the idea and often opt out of the activity.
So, how can you organize a team-building activity that will effectively teach your staff and be enjoyable for them? For your guide, here are five killer tips for a better team-building experience and ensuring your next one will be successful.
1. Develop Fresh Team-Building Exercises
When you host a team-building activity for the first time, there’s a big chance that everyone will be excited to participate. Yet if you keep using the same exercises for your monthly or quarterly team building, your employees will start feeling bored and won’t look forward to participating in the next one. Thus, if you want your team building to be truly effective and engage your team, you must regularly develop new exercises every time.
Creating a fun and unique team-building experience will guarantee more engagement, and the positive impacts will last much longer. You may also consult some professionals who specialize in organizing team-building activities and company virtual events. These experts can help you manage and brainstorm unique team-building ideas for in-person and remote employees.
2. Ensure You Involve All Team Members
During team building, you may notice how some are social butterflies while others prefer being wallflowers. Unfortunately, when one or more of your team members are not cooperating or bonding with the rest of the group, it only means the objective of your team building has already failed.
As the business owner and team leader, ensure that everyone is equally involved and engaged with the activity. This way, they’ll feel included and not left out. Some tips you can try to ensure everyone participates in team-building activities are as follows:
- Ask everyone for their feedback, especially the quiet and reserved employees.
- Come up with icebreakers that will include everyone.
- Schedule regular check-ins for each team member.
Remember, if everyone is involved and added to the conversation and team-building activity, you can maximize the team’s potential and achieve desirable results.
3. Respect Your Team’s Boundaries And Time
Perhaps you’ve already planned your upcoming team-building event, brought all the needed supplies, and declared, ‘We will have our Team-Building Event for three hours every Friday night after work!’ However, your employees received your announcement with eye rolls and groans.
While hosting a team-building activity is essential and beneficial, you must consider your employees’ time, workload, and personal obligations before you start planning anything. Maybe some have kids to take care of, their parents are sick, or they have a second job after working at your company. Even if you’ve planned the most exciting exercises for them, your employees will likely hate participating in the said activity if they feel you’re ignoring their needs.
Hence, before you finalize and schedule your team-building exercises, check in with your employees first and introduce your plan to them. You may ask for their ideas on which activities they’d like to do and what time they are available. Respect your team members’ time, feelings, and boundaries. By doing this, you can expect they’ll be more than happy to participate without feeling like it’s an extra chore.
4. Be An Example
The best way to make your employees follow your rules is to set an example. As a leader/business owner, you must model good behavior to your team members if you want them to respect you. Remember, being the leader doesn’t mean you must not join the activities. If your employees see you always taking the initiative or joining team-building exercises, it will show them that you’re all in this together and they’ll see you as their fellow member and leader. In turn, your employees will also go above to participate and execute their best for the team’s sake.
5. Use Rewards And Recognition
To motivate your teammates to engage and involve themselves with the team-building activities, you can use rewards and recognition and have an incentive set on the table. Giving some rewards or recognition is already known as one of the most effective ways to boost morale and make them feel valued and appreciated.
However, don’t stick to just rewarding them with money. Although getting extra money from the activities sounds good, it doesn’t do much to make them feel appreciated. You may try to reward and recognize them for their excellent work and participation by doing any of the following:
- Throw them a shoutout for every achievement.
- Encourage the rest of the team to congratulate their well-performing colleagues.
- Give some perks, such as incentive travel, childcare, spa and wellness packages, or well-being bonuses.
- Prepare rewards for every team-building exercise, such as goodies, gift cards, and gift baskets.
Key Takeaway
Hosting a team-building event for your employees is a worthwhile investment necessary to create a strong and functioning team. Therefore, whatever team-building activity you’ve decided to do, remember these tips to ensure that everyone will participate and do it. As the leader, show them how to do it, set an example, and see that everyone happily engages in your team-building exercises.