When you are working towards a common goal, it is important for each member of the team to be on the same page and have a friendly and agreeable relationship with each other.
Team building enhances employee motivation, planning skills and promotes healthy communication. A wise manager realizes the significance of unity and teamwork and tries to nurture and promote it whether in an office, over zoom or other social setting.
These fun and exciting activities will allow your team members to see each other in a different light, promote bonding and make them feel comfortable and inclusive. It will also help clear out the air of formality and improve working relationships.
1. What Do We Have in Common?
Best to make everyone feel welcomed and infuse a sense of belonging, this ice-breaking question is a great start.
Have a team lead or manager start by mentioning something they are fond of, like a TV show, music, sightseeing, painting or any other hobby. Anyone in the team who finds himself on similar ground can continue the conversation and then add something new to the list.
You will be amazed at how people might speak more about themselves, and you will get a glimpse of their life outside of work.
2. Theme Meetings
Theme meetings are a fun way to share a laugh, act comically and have group photos taken to cherish later.
Whether it’s the spooky season of Halloween, Christmas around the corner or just a random day assigned as a marvel-heroes theme party, bringing playfulness to work occasionally can give everybody a much-needed break they need, time to connect and laugh, boost motivation and prevent burnout.
Make sure whatever theme you choose has a unanimous agreement and does not conflict with anyone’s cultural ties.
3. Would You Rather
Works like a charm every time, Would You Rather is a quick and engaging way to break the ice and get everyone interested and participating. Take rounds going around the table or on Zoom and pose interesting Would You Rather questions.
While everyone will feel cheerful, it is also a great way to gain some deeper insights into a person’s way of conduct and interests.
Here are some amusing Would You Rather questions you can ask your teammates for team-building:
- Would you rather do something you love and make just enough money to get by or do something you hate but make billions of dollars?
- Would you rather work longer but fewer days a week or shorter but more days of the week?
- Would you rather run a country or a business?
- Would you rather eat the oldest thing in the office fridge or clean the office bathroom?
- Would you rather be stuck on an island alone or with someone who talks incessantly?
4. Two Truths and a Lie
Two truths and a Lie is a common warming-up game in almost any social gathering or team meeting where you can get to know some actual things about a person.
It goes by asking each member to think of three facts about themselves, two of which must be true while one is made-up. For example, I can say
- I love to paint on old CDs
- I have been stung on the beach where I passed out.
- I loved to collect buttons when I was a child.
Each team member has to guess the lie, at the end of which you reveal it. Not only everyone enjoys playing this game, but it also gives them time to think about some good old things about their lives and to understand each other better.
5. Tall Tales
Bringing the creative storytelling side of everyone to the table, this activity can give fits of laughter to everyone. A person is asked to begin a story, and everyone must add three sentences to a running story. The last sentence should have a plot twist, something like, “This is when suddenly…”
And the next team member has to continue adding their flavor to the story from here. You can take the story in any direction to put the other member in an awkward or comical position.
6. The Envelope Please
Another great activity to connect and know each other one level deeper is to play “The Envelope Please!” in a group. Each person gets to write 10 facts about himself, which can be completely random or personal and seal them in an envelope.
All the envelopes are shuffled together. The lead of the game picks one at random and reads it out aloud. All the members have to guess the person being read out. You get only one chance to say a name so think carefully to match the right name with the right person.
7. Charades
You can never go wrong with charades to lighten the air and promote the spirit of team-building and joy.
Works particularly best in large teams where you divide the people in two teams. One player from each team is given a noun from any category from an opposing team. The player has to act out the word for his team. No words and sounds are allowed. The team who guesses right and scores more wins.
This is a great game where players of each team encourage and motivate each other while sharing some great chucklesome moments.
8. Whisper Down the Lane
The idea of the game is to sit in a circle and start a whisper in the ear of the person sitting next to you. He has to whisper it into the ear of the next person and so on till it completes the circle.
The person is only allowed to whisper once, and whatever the next person understands, he has to pass that on. The game gets pretty hilarious as the message gets easily misinterpreted along the way. In the end, everyone shares a laugh when they see how the original message turned out.
The icebreaking games might sound informal in an office setting but have proven to be effective time and again in promoting cooperation and team-building among the employees. Having them conducted once or twice a month is a great way to keep the team united and high-spirited.
