Anyone who proposes swapping the office party for a team building event can expect some resistance. We cannot help but think about lame activities where bored colleagues stick post-it notes on the wall in an elusive search for blue sky ideas. But get a team building event right and it can improve communication, increase productivity and make the workplace more fun in the longer term.

Team building helps employees feel more valued and appreciated.

How team building can work for you

The idea is to find activities that will move colleagues past the stage where they nod in the corridor or communicate superficially about work, and let them form a relationship. That helps people, especially shyer team members, feel more comfortable with expressing their opinions, leading to more intelligent debate and the sharing of imaginative ideas. Throw in a bit of competition and you’ll increase the level of team bonding as people to celebrate together when they achieve something (but not too much – you don’t want to reignite office tensions).

There’s another bonus to team building – it helps employees feel valued. Businesses are often focused on keeping clients happy or improving the bottom line. Team building events are a time to look inward instead – that’s important because for most businesses, personnel are the single most important asset. If they have good morale, your business is going to do better. So taking a yoga class, a wine tasting session or a stand-up paddle session together will be more than worth the investment, generating a happy buzz that will carry back into the workplace.

And team building also helps to break down the barriers between senior management and the rest of the workforce. When the boss is someone you’ve built a raft with – even if you all sank afterwards – it’s easier to take good ideas or problems to them.

Dos and don’ts

Team building also helps to break down the barriers between senior management and the rest of the workforce

The first rule of thumb is to take your event out of the office – to get the full benefits, participants need a change of scene. You also need to avoid any reference to work – a team building activity needs to focus on the fun, not corporate patter. Then split everyone into teams, rather than letting them choose – otherwise, you’ll just get the usual cliques working together.

Also consider the areas where your team need help – it could be communication, planning, problem solving, or solving conflicts. Then choose activities that will work on those areas.

Employees are a business’s most important asset – invest in them through team building.

Build a DIY team event

Doing something meaningful can bring a team together, so you could start by getting in touch with a local charity, perhaps a hospice room needs painting, or the garden in an elderly people’s home needs a make-over.

Environmental organisations such as BirdLife Malta or the Gaia Foundation regularly need help with beach clean-ups or the removal of invasive species from nature reserves.

Let the games begin

Once you’ve done your good deed, you could follow up with a team game at the same location. Wrike.com suggests the Zombie Escape, a game that requires problem solving and collaborative skills. You’ll need a rope, a key and five to 10 puzzles or clues. Gather the team inside a defined area – you can use stones or cones to delineate this. Wrikes says, “Beforehand, select one team member to play the zombie – dead eyes, arms outstretched, muttering “braaaaiiiinnnnssss”. The volunteer zombie will be tied to the rope in the corner of the room, with 50cm of leeway. Once the game starts, every five minutes the rope restraining the hungry zombie is let out another 50cm. Soon, the zombie will be able to reach the living team members”.

The team will need to solve a series of puzzles or clues to find the hidden ‘key’ that will let them step over the cones and escape before it’s too late. You can have two teams create the clues and puzzles then swap to play the game.

Alternatively, try a scavenger hunt. This can be as simple as finding 10 items on a beach to win a prize, or as complex as following directions to different locations and solving clues there, culminating in a grand prize for the first team to arrive.

Work it

Game over? It’s time to burn off any excess adrenaline. The team could split up and take taster classes such as piloxing, fit yoga, pilates, or aerobics. Most of those classes can include pair or group work to keep the feeling of cooperation going. All that hard work should probably be rewarded with some refreshments afterwards.