Being a team leader means far more than keeping projects on track and moving forward. It also means finding ways to help team members build bonds that facilitate cooperation. That’s the best way to ensure maximum productivity and project success. Fortunately, some great activities work exceptionally well for fostering teamwork. Here are five team-building activities you should consider.
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1- Charter Fishing Trips
Sometimes, getting your team members to relax and get to know one another is crucial for effective team building. For that, few things work better than fishing trips. They can offer a serene environment with just a hint of competition among team members. Chartered fishing trips are an excellent option because they simplify trip planning. Additionally, they ensure that your team members remain close to one another for maximum bonding time.
2- Escape Rooms
Great team-building activities create ample opportunities for team members to collaborate. The best activities encourage team members to leverage their unique skill sets to solve a problem. That’s what makes visiting an escape room a near-perfect team-building outing. Escape rooms require participants to gather and interpret clues to successfully escape. So, the more observant members of your team get the chance to find hidden objects that provide the clues. Then, your team’s problem solvers must work out what the clues mean. Since most escape rooms are timed events, everyone must pull together to complete the challenge before time runs out.
3- Murder Mystery Dinners
If an escape room feels too high-stakes, consider a murder mystery dinner instead. Those combine a multi-course meal with an element of live theater. Additionally, your team members can either compete or work together to determine who killed whom. As the team leader, you may even be able to volunteer to be the evening’s victim. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to observe your team in action throughout the evening without directly influencing their actions.
4- An Egg-Drop Challenge
There are some team-building activities you can do without ever leaving your office. One of the best is to hold an egg-drop challenge. An egg-drop challenge involves splitting your team into groups and having each engineer a device to keep a raw egg safe when dropped from a predetermined height. A simple version can prompt your team members to safeguard their eggs when dropped from your office’s ceiling. If that’s not hard enough, you can do the same, but with a drop from your office’s higher floors to the ground below.
5- A Scavenger Hunt
Finally, scavenger hunts can be especially effective team-building activities, especially if you have a large team. It’s also an event you can hold just about anywhere, from the confines of an office to one that spans a whole city. For an extra challenge, you can even make each scavenger hunt item a clue to the location of the next. That forces team members to proceed in a specific order so they all end up at the same location.
A Great Team Needs a Great Leader
It’s important to remember that your team will only be as effective as its leader. Therefore, it’s a good idea to give some thought to the team-building activities you choose. Try to select events that will play to the strengths and weaknesses of your team members. That way, they’ll have reason to depend on one another to meet the challenges you set forth. Hopefully, the ideas listed above will help get you started on your team-building journey. However, don’t be afraid to think out of the box to choose a unique activity your team will love!