Chika Uwazie’s TalentBase: 5 Team Building Games to Strengthen Employee Ties

Companies are simply a reflection of her people. Researchers say happy employees are 12% more productive; this means those improved products you find on the shelf or the classier service you are getting is all tied to someone’s happiness. Get that?

Top employers know this, which is why they are always keen on ensuring they give their workers the best they can. One insight they have all agreed to, is that, people work better with people they know, or can relate with. So the closer the team, the better the output.

Here are five activities you should get your people to bond over.

Bingo
HR practitioners have used this game to make total strangers feel like they have been in each other’s lives for sometime. The game usually has questions or characteristics which the players are asked to match with the individuals that fit the description. This is a perfect game for the final phase of the onboarding process where you want the new guys to meet the team. The fun side is that it can be tweaked to suit an array of situations.

Treasure Hunt
This activity has often been done as an individualistic game where prizes are hidden around the office and everyone tries to find where each treasure is hidden on their own; but here’s a way to use it to boost teamwork. First, set a big prize for the treasure hunt winners then share your employees into teams. Give a list with descriptions of locations where hints to finding ‘the key to the treasure’ is. By following instructions and proper teamwork, each team tries to find key and the first team to do so wins. Consider this a workplace Gulder Ultimate Search

Barter Puzzle
This is a slightly complex game that teaches teamwork on a whole new level. Once again, employees are shared into 2 groups and puzzles are handed to them to solve as a team. The catch here is that some pieces of the puzzle handed to each team is interchanged. Now each team has to find ways to get the other team to hand them the missing piece. The first team with a finished puzzle wins. This teaches both teamwork, as well as negotiation or asking for help from colleagues.

Name The Act
This is an interesting activity especially when you haven’t know a fellow employee for long and entirely have to guess what they are up to. Two teams of employees, say 5 on each side handed 5 cards each with different characters they are meant to mimic. One after the other, each team member will try to mimic what he or she finds on his card and have his team mates guess what he’s trying to act.

Idea Challenge
There’s no better way to bond than over ideas. Design a competition of sorts when a fictitious business problem or a business problem from another industry other than yours is to be solved. For maximum impact, have different employees from different units on each team say one team member from marketing, another from sales, another from HR and so on. This is a great activity for the sake of teamwork while boosting employee knowledge base and confidence as problem solvers.

If you plan to have a company retreat soon, you should definitely try one of this out.

Let us know, in the comment section below, if you know any other activity that might improve employee relationships.