2021 hasn’t been a great year in terms of employee morale and productivity. Now that things are somewhat normalizing, getting back into the groove of things is only a matter of time. A great way to get everyone back into the work-life and rebuilding previous employee engagement is to implement these 7 team builng ideas.
1. Setting Team Goals
Nothing increases engagement and morale like working towards a common goal. Include them in the planning process rather than setting the goal yourself for your team members to follow. A great way to achieve this is through teroGO’s virtual races.
You and your team can customize the goal of the challenge, time spent, and the allowed activities. Allow the input of your employees when setting up the race to involve everyone.
Our races here at teroGO are all in partnership with non-profit organizations. Not only will you be cultivating teamwork and employee engagement with your team, but you will be contributing to a good cause as well.
The ability to share sweaty selfies and virtual highs give with all participants of the challenge will further foster a community connection and lead to greater engagement and productivity.
2. Host Out-of-Office Activities
Think about a retreat, or a trivia night, or any other fun event you think may benefit your team. Sometimes right before or right after a big project, you need to rekindle the team spirit to enhance engagement.
There is a conception that the workplace instills in employees that makes them believe the office is all about hard work, and all the fun goes out the window. This can lead to tired and burned-out employees that lack engagement.
Once you take your team out of that environment and create a new one full of open communication, encouragement, and most of all fun, it will change their mindset and elevate employee engagement. This is one of the team building ideas that are more underutilized, but we highly recommend you give it a try.
3. Incentives
Nothing gets people going and boosts morale like proper incentives. Incentivize the team’s end goals to include everyone. For example, if the team reaches the goal in the allotted time, the manager will take everyone out for a nice and lavish dinner.
It’s always a good idea to split the ultimate goal up into milestones, as it can be quite demoralizing when the end goal is substantial. It will be hard to see progress, especially if the journey is long. With milestones, you can celebrate small wins with your team along the way, and this will trigger more engagement.
4. Embark on a Learning Journey Together
Self-improvement is a coveted trait to have in an employee. It’s important to give your staff members the impression that the workplace is a place to earn a salary and a place of endless potential growth.
Try to lead your team in an activity or exercise that most of them haven’t experienced before. This learning journey will create endless opportunities for you to help each other and open doors to transparent communication. This will then strengthen existing relationships and create new ones.
What you decide to undertake doesn’t have to be in line with their field. Take a creative route and sign up for a painting class or even a singing class. The arts are always a great form of engagement activity because it requires collaboration in many ways.
Another great idea is to have a designated person in the team to teach other members something they excel at each week or month. This will give everyone a chance to be the “leader” and create an equal platform that can carry over to the workplace.
5. Get to Know Each Other
In a workplace, your fellow personnel may become lifelong friends or at least people you have to see every day for years on end. A great way to break the ice with new hires and open the eyes of old veterans is through a show-and-tell-like sharing activity. This is one of the team building ideas that will help you to get to know each other better, which is extremely helpful for productivity.
Have each employee bring something or share something that is of great importance to them at the beginning of each quarter or year. It will preferably be something that has a hand in who they have become today or has taught them an invaluable lesson. Through sharing these life experiences, we can hope to cultivate more employee engagement.
6. Give Some Personal Time – In the Office
You will be amazed by what much-needed personal time can mean and the difference it can make. Only about 2-3 hours are fully utilized and productive in an 8-hour workday. However, there is a way for managers and leaders to turn things around and avoid time wasted.
You can do it by encouraging your staff members to pursue their own activities for 1-2 hours a day. Encourage inter-department mingling for everyone to get fresh new perspectives, ideas and give your team a sense of freedom. To avoid having your employees goof off during this time, personally green light all the potential activities they wish to pursue.
Through this, you will hopefully see a better energy flow throughout the workday and more revitalized employees with more enthusiasm.
7. Decorate the Workplace
Have photos of all the previous events and activities you and your team have participated in inlining your walls. It serves as a reminder for fun times in the past and more entertaining events ahead. These photos will also be a great motivator, instilling teamwork and company values in each employee.
Conclusion
These team building ideas have a myriad of benefits. It will push all members to achieve a common goal, foster personal growth, develop a sense of community and strengthen working relationships. Happy and satisfied employees also equal a lower turnover rate, which will lead to higher productivity.
Written by Jess Lin.
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