In recent years, team-building has become essential in companies, from start-ups to multinationals. Companies are increasingly aware of how team spirit, work atmosphere, motivation and moments of relaxation can be reflected in the company’s overall performance. In addition to individual technical skills, team-building helps develop soft skills.
Do you want to organise a team-building activity but lack ideas or don’t know where to start? Here is a summary of the main elements:
Summary
1. Why organise a team-building event?
There are many reasons why companies organise team-building events or sessions.
The positive effects for the company and the teams are often underestimated. Team-building allows to:
- Strengthen group cohesion, team spirit, dynamism and competitiveness;
- Develop the capacity to go beyond one’s limits;
- Reduce stresses within the team;
- Improve internal communication;
- Strengthen employees’ sense of belonging to your company and thus increase their loyalty;
- Convey the values of your company and the different strategies for the short, medium and long term.
2. Set goals
Although a company team-building activity is a stress-free moment of conviviality and a real break from daily work, it is essential to remember that its effectiveness depends on the goals set beforehand.
Each team-building event must have its goals, depending on the desired results. For this reason, it is essential to define the specific areas where your staff will have to work during the organised activities.
You can only start thinking about the activities and challenges that best suit your goals once you have established some basic guidelines on what you want to achieve. Indeed, it is evident that true team cohesion cannot be achieved simply by gathering as many people as possible in one place.
Therefore, each activity or game proposed during a team-building exercise must be thought out, worked on, and meticulously planned to bring cohesion, harmonise, open minds, encourage initiative, promote dynamism, etc.
3. Choose the right time
If you don’t plan your event with your employees’ schedules and personal lives in mind, you can’t expect everybody to participate.
If you want to organise a team-building activity in the afternoon, make sure that everyone is available and that the event is listed on the agenda and validated by the attendees.
Please also note that waiting to plan the team-building activity may be advisable if your employees are working on an important project or on a tight deadline.
4. Draw up a budget
Once the goals have been defined and the date chosen, it is time to set a budget for the team-building activities.
Before moving on to the organisational aspects, consider your budget, as this will guide you in determining what you can afford and the size of your team-building event.
You can achieve your event goals in various ways, some of which are almost free and others quite expensive. These are some of the costs to be taken into account beyond booking the venue, if applicable:
- Transport and parking
- External service providers for planned activities (coaching sessions, role-plays, facilitators…)
- Food and drink
- Insurance
- Etc.
You can also turn to sponsors or partners who can offer services for your team-building event.
5. Offer a fast online registration service
To better manage registrations for your team-building event, you can use an online registration service that is easy and quick to implement. Preparation is essential to define key elements such as the number of attendees, budget, venue, activities, meals, etc.
6. Team-building activity examples
Are you lacking ideas for your team-building activities? Here are some:
- Remote team-building: It is not surprising that remote team-building has become so popular with the rise of remote work. For this, you can opt for online games such as an online escape game or home challenge;
- Different and creative team-building exercises: Your employees will enjoy an original evening of laughter with atypical activities that you can hire from different providers (shows, comedians, magicians, etc.) and that will allow them to relax and release tension;
- Sports team-building: Team sports, tournaments and activities such as paintball are popular options that help attendees test themselves and strengthen group cohesion;
- Innovation and the digital world: Digital activities related to new technologies have replaced traditional team-building exercises due to their innovative and disruptive nature. Attendees can learn new skills while having fun with their peers by participating in activities such as simulators or activities with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headsets.
7. Gather feedback
To know whether your team-building events have been successful, you need to collect feedback from the attendees.
Create a survey, preferably anonymous, in which employees can share their opinions about the team-building activity, including what they liked, what they didn’t like and what they would have liked to have. This will not only give you suggestions for the next team-building activity but also allow you to identify the underlying problems and try to solve them in other ways.
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