Looking for some inspiration, perhaps some ideas for corporate team building activities that you can put into practice for your organization this year?
We have your back. Here are some of the best of them for 2024, along with the reasons the costs are justified.
(And some employee appreciation gifts you can get customized to celebrate the occasion!)
Why Corporate Team-Building Activities Are Worth the Investment in the First Place
There are many more reasons that team-building activities are valuable for your organization than we have room for here, but some of the best of them are:
- Team building activities break down barriers to communication, encourage friendly discourse, and make employees at all levels feel more involved, creating a sense of belonging.
- They encourage collaboration and help foster critical thinking, problem solving skills, and can even boost motivation.
- They give employees an opportunity to work with each other outside of the pre-established professional bounds experienced at work.
- Team-building activities can build bridges across departments that otherwise might not form organically “on the clock.”
- And, good team building activities are usually fun for all – everyone has a good time doing them, and they don’t feel like “work” in the conventional sense.
This is just a snapshot into the value of team-building activities. As stated, there are many more, but this alone is a good justification!
So, on that note, what are some good ones?
Escape Rooms
If you’ve never done an escape room, definitely make it a point to try one. They’re a whole heck of a lot of fun – but beyond that, they can constitute really valuable, highly effective corporate team building activities.
This is because they require everyone in the room – more or less – to work together, on a tight schedule to find and interpret clues and solve puzzles, under a time constraint. Those collaborative skills are exactly the sort of thing you need on the job, and an escape room is a fun, low-stress way to cultivate them.
Doing an escape room with your team from work is also a golden opportunity to commemorate by having personal items customized. Custom T-shirts, drinkware, and koozies are great gifts, but there are lots of others, too.
Scavenger Hunts
In order for it to be an effective team-building exercise, the scavenger hunt in question must be a collaborative one with a collective goal – not a free-for-all.
Assuming you meet those conditions, a scavenger hunt then gives you the ability to hone the same skills that would be used in an escape room.
The difference is, you can design the scavenger hunt the way you want, with the goal you want, on your own timeline – no need to adhere to the schedule of the escape room location.
Plus, like escape rooms, they’re a lot of fun and will foster communication and collaboration.
Also, for what it’s worth, you can make the actual employee appreciation gifts the items your employees have to find, and sort of make it like a “finders keepers” sort of thing. That’ll add a little competition and motivate them! Plus, it’s a great way for you to get creative with branded promotional products like tech and computer accessories – who wouldn’t want to find and keep those?
Improv
There are all different sorts of improv games and workshops you can try out for team-building, such as:
- Pass the Clap: Basically, you “pass” a clap to another team member while making eye contact. Seems trivial, but making eye contact is known to improve interpersonal relationships, and the synchronization required is a form of non-verbal communication.
- One Word Stories: Basically, you “tell” a story by letting each member of the group contribute one word at a time until the story is complete.
- 3-Line Scenes: Like a one word story, but instead, each member contributes a whole sentence or phrase, until the “scene” is complete. It’s creative, fun, and gets participants thinking!
Although there are many others, and many of them are quick, easy to do, and lighthearted, which makes them great for most participants.
Field Days
Field days will take a little extra planning and effort, but they can be among the most productive – and enjoyable – team building activities out there.
Plus, you can choose what sorts of activities and events will be a part of the field day – and plan it after work hours or during an off-day so that those that participate will be more at ease.
Races, obstacle courses, and other physical trials will have your employees working together, which is not only fun for all, but will naturally involve skills that are transferable to the workplace.
If there’s one great company promotional item that’s made for field days, it’s customized t-shirts or performance athletic wear. Customize and give them out as mementoes of participation!
Cooking Classes
Cooking classes are valuable for several reasons. For one, everyone has to eat, and lots of people love to cook. On top of that, cooking classes are educational and not competitive – which is a bonus for shyer members of your team, as it encourages participation.
Cooking classes can be a great way to get a crew together, help foster interpersonal relationship building, and offer a bit of education on top of it.
Here’s a great opportunity to get creative by giving out gifts that foodies will love. Kitchen accessories and customized cookware are great for this sort of thing!
Team Lunch
Alright, so team lunches are definitely not “team-building activities” in the traditional sense of the word – but they are still a great way to get the crew together in a venue where everyone can let their proverbial hair down.
Plus, in most cases, team lunches don’t require special planning or setting aside a specific day or time, outside of traditional work hours, to coordinate. You can just make team lunches a thing on any given work day, choose a location close to the office, and get everyone together.
Support the Initiative with Promotional Items Customized for the Event
Having promotional items customized for these team building activities will give you something to hand out to participants to cement the memory in their minds, and they also make nice employee appreciation gifts.
Just what sorts of promotional products you should hand out to keep employees engaged depends on what the activity is. If you do a field day or scavenger hunt, customized water bottles or t-shirts are a solid bet. Going with a cooking class? Consider cookware or kitchen accessories. Planning on doing an improv workshop or something indoors? You can’t go wrong with branded apparel or desk accessories.
And, if any of these promotional items you’ve customized for the event leave over, you can always use them down the line as giveaways at trade shows or for employee appreciation gifts!