We all have mental images of comedic company team building activities. With team members struggling to complete frustrating tasks in the pouring rain, sitting in circles playing name games, or sitting through dull presentations intended to inspire which do the very opposite.
That’s team building done wrong. We’re here today to talk about the many benefits of team building done right. (Oh yes, there are lots.) We’ll get into that below.
If you’re the person responsible for booking your company’s group activities, away days, or Christmas parties, then this blog is for you. Or, if you’re looking to persuade those higher up to take this aspect of company life seriously. Read on.
In this post we’ll talk about 11 benefits of team building activities for your business. Hint: they include boosting productivity.
Team building exercises are important in many ways. They can help foster a good company culture, improve staff morale, increase efficiency, improve productivity, and build better relationships across your team.
They foster engagement across your team, and companies with a fully engaged workforce can generate twice the revenue.
We’re still coming out of a global pandemic where many of us were working from home, isolated from family, friends, and colleagues. Helping to rebuild a sense of connection between your staff is important. Particularly for those still working remotely. Why not have fun doing it?
Happy employees are most likely to be effective and innovative. So you want to make work a happy place to be.
Looking at your calendar to see a seemingly never-ending list of tasks can be demotivating. Scheduling fun activities and group outings gives your employees something to look forward to.
They also give a common goal that doesn’t have to do with work. It’s important to acknowledge that these much-needed breaks are good for employees’ mental health. Which leans into the idea of creating a positive work environment for the people that make your company successful.
Team building events also help ensure employees feel appreciation for their hard work. It’s easy for great work to go unacknowledged. Making these events and activities a priority shows employees you appreciate them.
A Harvard study found that employees performed better when working with a team they were familiar with than when working with a new one.
Team building activities and trips can play a huge part in coworkers getting to know each other better, and building trust between them. They help employees understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and interests.
This understanding helps them work better together on future progress vital to a company.
Any organisation’s success depends on its staff’s ability to work together to solve problems. A lot of team building activities enable employees to practise communication whilst giving them the opportunity to socialise outside of work.
According to one study, socialising between team members improves communication by more than 50%. One of the best outcomes for team building is that the activities actually work to improve communication.
So it’s no surprise that one reason people choose team building activities is to improve communication and work better together. We all want a friendly work environment, where everyone feels comfortable to talk to and work with anyone.
Regular team building activities can also help management be more approachable and connect with staff. Even the best managers can be intimidating to employees, and this can cause employees to hesitate in raising concerns.
In fact, half of employees reported they don’t regularly speak up about concerns. Having a good relationship with management can increase employee satisfaction, productivity and reduce turnover, giving a boost to the company culture.
There’s nothing quite like seeing your manager having fun to make them more approachable. Whether that’s crashing into the side of a go-kart track, toppling over in a sack race, or fleeing Martian invaders in an immersive experience.ur text in this area
Socialising and making friends in the workplace is one of the best ways to increase productivity. Whether that workplace is virtual, hybrid, or in-person. It increases morale in the office and will help your team adapt to a virtual work environment more efficiently.
You might have a number of employees split across multiple locations, or a team of remote workers. Taking the time to enable them to build their relationships within the team but outside of the workplace can have a tremendous impact on how well they work together going forward.
Enabling isolated team members to feel closer to the wider team and improve their connection to the business and their peers. More and more people work remotely. While the majority prefer it, a recent study showed 52% of people that started working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic feel less connected to their coworkers.
But remote teams can surpass in-person teams if they receive enough support, communication, and bonding opportunities.
The connections between employees within one department aren’t the only ones that matter for building a stronger team. “Team” referring to the unified collection of all the working teams that make up your organisation.
Team building gives employees the opportunity to mix and mingle with other departments and learn about their roles. This can give everyone new insights into what other departments do and help you put a face to co-workers who were previously only a name in your inbox.
It’s a fantastic way to cultivate cooperation and team bonding on a larger scale.
41% of employees feel stressed, burned out, or depressed at work regularly. It’s more important than ever for us to focus on the mental wellbeing of our teams. Fun team building activities can give your teams a break, injecting some fun and levity into their busy workdays.
It’s easy for employees to fall into a routine. This is where team building activities offer a great opportunity to get your employees out of a rut and unleash their creativity.
Presenting your team with tasks and activities outside the office norm will require them to work together and be creative to come up with solutions.
Then, when those employees encounter a problem in the workplace, they’ll feel encouraged to think creatively in their search for solutions. Employees getting playful opens them up to creative and innovative ideas as well.
Employees that take part in team building activities and group outings experience a boost in their morale, this happens for two main reasons:
They undertake something new that excites them.
Your teams feel you are caring for them as an organisation.
Team building events can build comradery, make employees more excited to come into work, more enthusiastic about their work, and more comfortable approaching each other.
It also may help employees to feel more encouraged to step away from their desks and have some fun, which will enable them to return to their work feeling refreshed and re-energized.
Your organisational culture revolves around the energy in the office. We set the tone for a positive work culture when everyone is contributing their best. Every team is different, and each individual has a unique contribution to make.
Team building exercises and group outings are a great way for teams to have fun and interact with one another. These interactions translate into a positive work environment.
Team building programs can reinforce that culture, or they may evolve it. You can feel the energy in the office when the team gets back from a fun team bonding activity, giving the company culture a boost at the same time.
Regular team building events can improve your corporate culture, giving you a space to understand your employees’ wants and needs. Team building activities can help cut any toxicity and get everyone on the same page working together.
The benefits of which will flow back into the office.
Team building games can help organisations identify potential leaders. Some may assume planning and tactical roles, others encouraging their team members to find the best possible answer to a problem.
Both outstanding qualities in future leaders. The idea is to find a person who works positively with the team and motivates others at the same time.
In a more informal, creative environment, employees can exhibit skills not yet discovered in the office. Leaders can arise from the simplest activity, surprising you in the process.
A quiet new employee could surprise you by inspiring their peers and, with the right mentor, development opportunities, and encouragement, could be your company’s next rising star.
As humans, we are quick to form judgements and make assumptions about people, particularly when we only see them in one way. By their job role, for example. Meaning we overlook their other abilities.
Taking your employees out of their normal roles can reveal their true potential. For example, Steve in accounts might be a talented artist who can help your graphic design department brainstorm ideas during crunch-time.
An employee might write a regular blog about an interest outside of work, and you could put those writing skills to use on the company blog. Or perhaps an employee has been taking night classes, investing in their own CPD, and is ready to become your next thought leader.
According to Gallup, employees who get to use their strengths at work every day are 8% more productive and 15% less likely to quit. Getting to know your employees better during team bonding activities can help you uncover and tap into those strengths.
This is the big one. All of those points above? Individually, they’re great in their own right. Cumulatively? They add up to one thing, increased productivity.
If your staff are happier, they’re more productive. If they’re communicating better, they’re more productive. If they feel their skills are being utilised in the workplace, they’re more productive.
If the company culture is positive, and morale improves? Your employees are, you guessed it, more productive.
Let’s return to that stat at the start of this post, as it bears repeating: companies with a fully engaged workforce can generate twice the revenue.
Even if it wasn’t for all that, taking a break from work and making sure your employees are happy and feel respected is the decent thing to do.
Setting aside time for team building relieves stress and re-energizes your team, which increases productivity and motivation at work.
This isn’t our parents or grandparents world, where people would often work for one company for the bulk of their career. Now it’s much more common for employees to spend a few years at a company and then move on.
This can lead to staff feeling disposable. Corporate team building activities can show pride and satisfaction in your workforce by demonstrating how committed a business is to its worker satisfaction and output.
Investing resources in a team building activity shows that the company is committing time and money to employees. This generates loyalty to your organisation, which drives the desire to improve results.
But there’s still the question, which activities to go for? Here at Layered Reality, we produce immersive events that are the future of entertainment.
A 5D blend of virtual reality, live theatre, and real physical sensations, place you at the centre of amazing events.
You’ve probably tried an escape room before, or a themed bar, or some new take on traditional games. But have you been at the centre of a Martian invasion? Or journeyed back to the London of 1605 and immersed yourself in the Gunpowder Plot?
Previous groups have said: 'This was a great day out and I would go again without question.' 'Loved the creativity, the engagement, the music and especially the live talent! This is highly interactive.' 'The next level in entertainment! Everyone in our group couldn't help but get involved.'
(You can read more of our reviews here.)
To try something different, and really shake up your work’s outing, book your group in for one of our award-winning experiences today.
© 2023 Ellipsis Entertainment Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
