Team building are a great way to make newcomers feel welcomed and build healthy relationships between existing employees. They also build up trust, communications and bring the morals up if the company is having a rough month. The team will work together in an informal environment and learn about each other. Here are 3 fun games that will energize and motivate your team:
1. The helium stick
This is a powerful exercise for small and medium groups that will teach the participants how to work together – and one of our favorite fun games for teams. A thin, long pole will be used as the helium stick (make sure you call it that way). Line up the participants in two rows facing each other and introduce the stick. Tell them to hold their armschest high with the index finger pointing out, then place the stick on their fingers. Each person’s fingers must touch the helium stick at all times without pinching or grabbing. If someone doesn’t hold the stick the task is restarted. The goal is to lower it to the ground by working together. The trick is that in the beginning, the stick will tend to float up and confuse the participants with its paradoxical behavior. They might want to give up after 10 minutes believing it is not possible. If some groups appear to succeed too fast make sure everybody is touching the pole.
2. The ice breaker question
This activity will facilitate communication between coworkers and get them to know each other better. First, the group must choose a leader that decides on a topic like marriage, leading the company, babysitting. Pair the participants into two-person teams and tell the leader to pose the following question: If you could ask only one question to discover if a person is suitable for the topic (ex.: babysitting their child), what would it be? Each person in the team must ask the question and provide an answer. The teams can have the same topic or you can mix it up by giving each a different situation.
3. Pass the clap
One of the most fun games, pass the clap focuses on visual communication. Ask the participants to stand in a circle and give someone the first ‘clap’. The person that has the ‘clap’ must face the person next to them and clap simultaneously when they make eye contact. Than that person passes the clap to the person next to them until the ‘clap’ returns to the first player. You can begin to time the ‘claps’ and tell the participants to switch places and move around the circle.
