Teams that know each other on a personal level tend to have more effective and productive working relationships in any type of work environment. Taking time away from work to participate in team-building activities may be difficult, but they can help build personal connections in the workplace. This article discusses the importance of team building and presents 10 five-minute team-building exercises to help you get to know your team.
What are team building activities?
Team-building activities are games or other interactions that help employees build personal connections at work. There are a variety of activities, but the majority involve a high level of personal interaction in which team members share personal information, collaborate to complete a fun task, or compete against one another in a friendly competition.
The goal of team-building activities is to promote trust and friendship among colleagues, resulting in strong working relationships. Team-building exercises also provide a break from work, allowing employees to feel rested and recharged so they can complete their other responsibilities. Mobile app development companies that regularly engage in team-building activities may find that their workplace has better communication and a more relaxed atmosphere. These activities can also benefit individual team members by fostering critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Here is a list of short team building activities in the workplace:
1. Coworker Bingo
You make a card with five columns and five rows, just like in regular bingo. Leave a “free space” in the centre, and fill the rest with interesting facts about teammates. For example, you could have boxes for “Has visited Asia,” “Has more than three siblings,” and “Doesn’t like chocolate.” Request that each team member go around the room and ask their teammates to initial the squares that apply to them.
To stay within the five-minute time limit, you could create a smaller game or set a timer and declare the winner as the person with the most squares filled. This game allows employees to quickly learn each other’s names while also learning personal details that can help build familiarity and make working relationships more effective.
2. Who Am I?
To begin, distribute note cards to all team members. Have them write the name of a famous or historically significant person on the card, or if your team is already acquainted, have them write the names of colleagues. Employees should exchange cards without looking at them and tape them to their heads. They will then ask questions to gather information that will help them guess the name on the card.
A player’s card, for example, could say “Geraldine in the payroll department.” The player could begin by asking, “Is this person well-known?” When they get a “no,” they can ask, “Does this person work in the office?” and so on until they try to guess the person’s identity.
If the entire team participates, this game could last a long time. However, if employees work in pairs or teams of three, you could finish it in five minutes or less. This game promotes creativity and critical thinking while also revealing important personal information about coworkers.
3. Game of Possibilities
To begin, gather several random objects from around the office, ideally one or two per team member. When it’s your turn, hand each participant an object and have them act out an alternate use for it. For example, a participant could take a stapler and pretend to use it as salad tongs or chopsticks. The other team members must guess the alternate use of the object without the participant speaking. Requiring employees to imagine new uses for familiar items can aid in the development of workplace ingenuity.
4. Two Truths and a Lie
Form a circle with all of your team members and have them take turns telling three “facts” about themselves. However, one of the pieces of information must be a lie. For example, one person may state, “I am right-handed,” “I went to space camp in middle school,” and “I play dums in a jazz band.
Their coworkers would then have to figure out which item is false. This game can help you build interpersonal connections by revealing common character traits or hobbies among your team members.
5. Pirate’s Treasure
Choose a participant to sit in a chair blindfolded for this game. This person is known as the “pirate.” Place a random object beneath the chair and have the other team members try to grab it without attracting the attention of the pirate. If the pirate points in the direction of the person or tags them, they are out and must swap places with the pirate.
You can play this game for as long as you want by giving everyone in the office a turn. You could also play for a few minutes by setting a timer and naming the winner as either the pirate or another team member, depending on who gets the treasure. This game requires physical skill and may be appropriate for a workplace that requires more physical labour.
6. The Minefield
Begin by scattering obstacles throughout the workplace and designating one location as the finish line. These are your “mines.” Choose a blindfolded volunteer and two or three other team members to serve as guides. The guides’ job is to guide the blindfolded employee around the obstacles to the finish line using only voice commands.
If you have a large office, you could enlist the help of a few volunteers and divide the guides into groups of two to four. You could give a prize to any team that crosses the finish line, or you could use a stopwatch and give the prize to the team that finishes in the shortest time. Following the instructions of the guides can help build trust among team members, which can improve collaboration skills.
7. Winner/Loser
Divide your team into two for this game. Each person will take a turn describing a difficult situation they’ve had in their professional lives. Bring the entire team back together after everyone has had a chance to share with their partner. Have each employee go around the room and describe their partner’s experience in only good terms.
For example, one employee may claim that they were stuck in traffic on their way to a sales call. Their partner might put it differently, saying that the delay gave them time to listen to audiobooks about sales strategies, which they used in the meeting. The capacity to find the bright side of any situation can boost your team’s morale and motivation.
8. Would You Rather?
Begin by imagining a series of random “Would you rather?” questions, such as “Would you rather go to the opera or a football game?” “Would you like pancakes or cereal for breakfast?” With a piece of tape, divide the room in half, then write each answer possibility on a notecard and place them on opposite sides of the tape. When you ask the question, each employee will jump to the side corresponding to their response.
You can keep doing this with other questions for as long as you want the game to last. Knowing each other’s responses can also show teams what they have in common and allow them to form friendships based on common interests.
9. Purpose Mingle
This game is ideal for warming up before a meeting or group project. Allow each employee to decide what they want to contribute most to the meeting, then have them go around to various teammates and provide a brief response.
This could include things like “take detailed notes during the conference” or “assist in determining a sales plan for the upcoming quarter.” Participating in this game before important tasks can boost teamwork and motivation, allowing them to complete the project more efficiently.
10. Interpretative Drawing
This activity allows team members to express their creativity. You will need a pen, paper, and some images. Team members sit back to back in pairs. One is given drawing materials, while the other is given a picture that cannot be seen by their partner.
Each round is one minute long. Indirectly, the partner with the picture can describe what is in the picture. They are unable to say “draw a house,” but they can describe what they see using words such as “family, windows, fireplace,” and so on.
When the timer runs out, all groups compare their drawings. Mobile app development companies in India are focusing on Team building exercises to see amusing results helping team members understand the difficulties of communicating clearly.