Team Building Activities to Encourage Workplace Collaboration
Collaboration is key for any business looking to develop better products and services for customers and improve company performance. Team building activities can help to nurture this. Learn more here.
Team building activities help to nurture collaboration, which is key for any business looking to develop better products and services for customers and improve company performance. When people collaborate successfully, they’re able to get better results and create more impact than they could by working alone. Additionally, the sense of camaraderie developed through team building exercises helps foster strong connections between employees and build a positive company culture, which can boost workplace morale (1). Team building activities for work are a great way to boost team performance, enhance employee morale, and foster innovation and creativity through collaboration. People also tend to have a larger imagination when they are around people they are comfortable with (3).
We’ve put together 4 team building ideas to encourage collaboration, and get the most out of your teams. Pair these activities with a tea and coffee morning with NESCAFÉ®'s range of hot beverages for maximum effect.
Salt and Pepper
This game is played in pairs. Each team is labelled as a pair e.g., salt and pepper, oil and water, tea and coffee. Each pair has one of these names taped to their back. To find out their name, each person asks the rest of the players 5 yes or no questions. The pairs then need to find their other half among the rest of the players (2).
This game is great for encouraging teamwork and collaboration as all the players try to find every pair. This task also breaks the ice between employees who may not have spoken to each other before, so it's a great way to engage teams who don’t usually work together.
Cross the Circle
This game is best for larger groups of players. In this activity, participants stand or sit in a circle and are asked to cross the circle in response to questions asked by a person in the middle. For example, someone stands in the middle of the circle and says “cross the circle if you have worked here for more than 5 years” or “cross the circle if you play an instrument”. Anyone this applies to moves to a place across the circle, and a new person is selected to pose the next question. (4)
This team building activity for work helps break the ice among employees who may not know each other very well, and find common ground and shared experiences amongst a diverse group. Finding common ground can build trust, strengthen bonds and make collaborating on future projects easier.
Scavenger Hunt
Start by dividing participants into small groups and give them a list of tasks to complete or items to find around the office. The first team to complete all tasks or find all items may win a prize (2).
Not only is this the perfect team building activity to help new employees familiarise themselves with their workplace, but it also encourages employees to work in teams towards a common goal.
The teams can be a mix of different branches of the company to give employees an opportunity to collaborate with people they may otherwise not interact with during their work day.
One Common Thing
Create a list with each person’s name on it and give everyone in the group a copy. Have everyone mingle with the goal of finding one thing in common with each person in the room - and no repeating answers! (2)
This activity helps employees get to know each other better and strengthen bonds between team members by inviting co-workers to ask questions they may not usually get to ask. This can also improve relationships between employees who may not usually work together, and strengthens their ability to collaborate in the future. Every person in this activity will come away knowing more about the other members of the group and have something to talk to their co-workers about other than work, improving workplace morale too. (4)
Finding and organising team building activities your employees will find engaging isn’t easy but it is an important step in fostering collaboration in the workplace. Everyday workplace collaboration is key to building innovation and creativity, problem solving, and improving employee engagement and morale. Games like the ones included above are just a few examples of team building ideas for work that can be used to build stronger bonds between employees, get them working together towards a common goal, and enhance collaboration in the workplace.
We hope these team building ideas for work were helpful.
Are you looking for more ways to improve workplace culture? Check out our 5 Tips for a Positive Workplace Culture
Sources:
- https://www.betterup.com/blog/collaboration-at-work/
- https://www.betterup.com/blog/team-building-exercises
- https://www.teambonding.com/6-reasons-for-team-building/#:~:text=The%20benefits%20of%20team%20building,connect%20in%20a%20different%20setting.
- https://www.sessionlab.com/blog/team-building-activities/
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