Team building activities are not uncommon in the corporate world. Companies of all sectors and sizes often organize team-building activities to bring their team members together, improve the organizational culture, and build a collaborative environment. Their importance has been further emphasized in remote work environments. As the number of face-to-face interactions reduces between team members, the need for team-building activities also increases. Team building activities let employees connect on a personal level and develop team attributes like camaraderie, trust, and empathy. It is a misconception that team-building activities demand a lot of resources and planning to execute.
Indoor activities can be organized with limited resources and effort. Therefore, corporates are increasingly looking to organize indoor activities regularly. Most of the activities that are done outdoors can now be organized indoors or through a remote mode. For example, during and after the pandemic, Singapore has been a surge in remote team-building activities. Indoor group activities in Singapore are now more innovative, out of the box, and convenient than before. Likewise, due to the great resignation wave in the USA, corporates are prioritizing team-building initiatives. However, indoor team-building activities might be considered boring and mundane if they are not well organized.
Here are 5 tips to organize an indoor team-building activity that is purposeful and impactful to an organization:
Ensure the participation of the leadership
Leaders often think it is not necessary for them to participate in team-building activities. However, teams are incomplete without leaders. Transformational leaders always put team interests above personal interests and empower teams with the necessary tools. Team building activities are more impactful when leaders participate along with team members.
Organize them with a purpose
Like any other activity, team building activities give the best results when organized with a clear objective. Not all activities have the same impact on team members. Identifying the strengths and social fabric of the team is key to a successful team-building activity. An activity can have multiple motives like mitigating conflict, improving trust, having fun, or improving communication. Choosing the right activity is detrimental to its success of it. Some factors to consider while choosing an activity is, what should be the outcome of it, will all the team members enjoy it, does the organization have the necessary resources for it, the risks of the activity, the impact on team members, past experiences with the activity, etc.
Take feedback and act on it
Managers often brush off team-building activities as a checklist activities. They do not believe or emphasize the importance of these activities for teams. However, successful activities are those that are well-planned and executed based on feedback from the team. Team building activities can only be effective when the team is involved in them. Team involvement depends on various factors like individual preferences, type of the activity, and the team’s past experience with the activity. Therefore, organizations must take feedback from teams and organize activities accordingly.
Be creative and think out of the box
Team building activities are more successful when it is fun to participate in them rather than being a regular office activity. Team members are more engaged and rejuvenated when out-of-the-box activities that invoke their creative potential are organized. Research has also shown that creativity motivates employees to be productive. You also do not want your team members to participate in redundant activities year after year. Eventually, teams develop resistance towards certain activities. Therefore, organize activities that are more creative, fun, and out of the box.
Make it inspiring and engaging
Indoor team-building activities are often considered boring as there are fewer physical movements and teamwork involved. Often, teams also find them as an activity that forces them to come together. In these scenarios, team-building activities are ineffective and unengaging. Instead, try making a fun team building activity by making it engaging and inspiring so that the desired goals are achieved. For example, instead of regular ice-breaker sessions often, try organizing a team celebration to acknowledge team members. Have a mentoring program in place for new hires. Make departures fun and memorable too by organizing a memory-sharing session. You can also take it to the next step by engaging all the team members to share pictures with the departing member. This makes it a fun, engaging, and culture-building team-building activity. The importance of making a team-building activity inspiring is often downplayed.
Indoor team-building activities are quicker, cheaper, and easier to organize. However, they might be less engaging than outdoor activities if they are not well organized. As less physical activity is involved, these might be great for improving communication, breaking the ice, and getting to know each other. Indoor group activities might not be best suited for conflict management and leadership development. For remote teams, however, regularly organizing indoor activities boost morale and collaboration.
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