Here
Are Some Great Team Building
Ideas
Murder Mystery Parties
Game
Shows
Interactive Games
Casino
Night Parties
Team Building Cooking
More Team
Building Ideas
Treasure
/ Scavenger Hunts
Chili Cook-Off
Corporate American Idol
Corporate Olympics
Fishing Trips
Office Yoga
Corporate Survivors
Corporate Fear Factor
Team Builder
Services
teambuilding, teambuilder
Team Builder,
Team Builder free team building games training ideas
and tips
free team building games ideas and theory for
employee motivation, training and development
Here are techniques, theory and ideas for designing
and using your own team building games, exercises
and activities, and the free team building games,
exercises and activities available in this site
(free team building games are here - plus tips as to
whether team building games and activities are
suitable). Team building games, exercises and
activities help build teams, develop employee
motivation, improve communications and are fun - for
corporate organizations, groups, children's
development and even kids parties. Team building
games, exercises, activities and quizzes also warm
up meetings, improve training, and liven up
conferences. These free team building games ideas
and rules will help you design and use games and
exercises for training sessions, meetings,
workshops, seminars or conferences, for adults,
young people and children, in work, education or for
clubs and social activities. Team building games,
exercises and activities can also enhance business
projects, giving specific business outputs and
organizational benefits. We cannot accept
responsibility for any liability which arises from
the use of any of these free team building ideas or
games - please see the disclaimer notice below.
Always ensure that you have proper insurance in
place for all team building games activities, and
take extra care when working with younger people,
children and organizing kids party games.
Great teamwork makes things happen more than
anything else in organizations. At the heart of the
best examples of teamwork is love and spirituality
which helps bring mutual respect, compassion, and
humanity to work. People working for each other in
teams is powerful force, more than skills,
processes, policies. More than annual appraisals,
management-by-objectives, the 'suits' from head
office; more than anything. Teams usually become
great teams when they decide to do it for themselves
- not because someone says so. Something inspires
them maybe, but ultimately the team decides. It's a
team thing. It has to be. The team says: 'Okay. We
can bloody well make a difference. We will be the
best at what we do. We'll look out for each other
and succeed - for us - for the team. And we'll make
sure we enjoy ourselves while we're doing it'. And
then the team starts to move mountains.
using and planning team-building activities
People are best motivated if you can involve them in
designing and deciding the activities - ask them.
Secondly you will gain most organizational benefit
if the activities are geared towards developing
people's own potential - find out what they will
enjoy doing and learning. Games can be trite or
patronizing for many people - they want activities
that will help them learn and develop in areas that
interest them for life, beyond work stuff - again
ask them. When you ask people commonly you'll have
several suggestions which can be put together as a
collection of experiences that people attend or
participate in on a rotating basis during the day or
the team-building event. Perhaps you have people
among your employees who themselves have special
expertise or interests which they'd enjoy sharing
with others; great team activities can be built
around many hobbies and special interests. If you
are planning a whole day of team-building activities
bear in mind that a whole day of 'games' is a waste
of having everyone together for a whole day. Find
ways to provide a mix of activities that appeal and
help people achieve and learn - maybe build in
exercises focusing on one or two real work
challenges or opportunities, using a workshop
approach. Perhaps involve a few employees in
planning the day (under your guidance or not
according to the appropriate level of delegated
authority) - it will be good for their own
development and will lighten your load.
team exercises for
developing new ethical organizations
Team-building exercises and activities also provide
a wonderful opportunity to bring to life the
increasing awareness and interest in 'ethical
organizations'. These modern ethical business ideas
and concepts of sustainability, 'Fairtrade',
corporate social responsibility, the 'triple bottom
line', love, compassion, humanity and spirituality,
etc., are still not well defined or understood:
people are unclear what it all means for them
individually and for the organization as a whole,
even though most people are instinctively attracted
to the principles. Team-exercises and discussions
help bring clarity and context to idealistic
concepts like ethics and social responsibility far
more effectively than reading the theory, or trying
to assimilate some airy-fairy new mission statement
dreamed up by someone at head office and handed down
as an edict. Fundamental change has to come from
within, with support from above sure, but successful
change is ultimately successful because people 'own'
it and see it as their change, not something handed
down. See for example the Triple Bottom Line
exercise.
Ensure that team-building activities comply with
equality and discrimination policy and law in
respect of gender, race, disability, age, etc. Age
discrimination is a potential risk given certain
groups and activities, and particularly so because
Age Discrimination is quite a recent area of
legislation. Team-building facilitators should be
familiar with the Employment Equality Age
Regulations, effective 1st October 2006. While this
is UK and European legislation, the principles are
applicable to planning and running team-building
exercises anywhere in the world, being consistent
with the ethical concepts.
See also:
buddha maitreya's japanese garden and meditation
centre
fantasticat - the Fantasticat ideas for motivating,
teaching and developing young people - grown-ups
too..
free quizzes - questions and answers - trivia,
general knowledge, management and business quiz
free motivational and amusing posters - ideas for
themes and maxims to underpin team-building
how to run workshops - tips for motivational,
development and team-building workshops
role playing process and tips - for role play games
and exercises
free team building games, exercises, activities and
ideas (for kids and children's party games too) are
here.
see also the free puzzles and tricks - ideal for
team building exercises.
see the training and business acronyms for more team
building and training sessions ideas.
easy way to start to the team building process
If you are a manager, supervisor or team leader, and
are wondering how to select a team building
activity, an easy and effective way to begin the
process is to simply ask the team what sort of
activity they would prefer. For example - do they
want to play games, or would the team prefer to use
an activity that focuses on a work issue, or work
skills, in the way that workshops can do. Asking a
team what they want to is particularly relevant if
the team is mature and/or contains mature team
members. Younger inexperienced teams will need more
guidance and perhaps a list of possibilities to
choose from.
Involving the team in deciding what activities to
use is empowering and participative, and will help
to lighten your management load.
Refer to, explain and remember the POB acronym,
which is a great mnemonic (memory aid) to reinforce
the need for all team members to be involved and
engaged in team work - teams work best when everyone
contributes - which means no passengers. It's the
team leader's, or manager's, or facilitator's
responsibility to structure and help teams to ensure
that all team members have the opportunity and
incentive to contribute and participate in team
activities, and ultimately the team's success.
It is helpful to use and refer to these models when
using, planning, designing, and evaluating team
building activities or games:
Kirkpatrick's learning evaluation model
Bloom's Taxonomy of learning domains
See also the Team-Building Activities Evaluation
Form and Outcomes Notes (Excel file).
Introducing team members to Kirkpatrick's and
Bloom's concepts can also help them to develop a
clearer understanding of their own needs, and their
preferred methods of training and development -
individually and for the team.
team building games and activity tips
And here are some tips for more conventional team
building activities:
Practice the team building exercise yourself first
to check that it works, check timings, materials,
and to ensure you have all the answers. Anticipation
and planning are vital.
Make sure all team building games instructions are
clear and complete - essential for keeping control
and credibility.
Become proficient yourself first with any team
building games or equipment that you use.
Always have spare materials and equipment to allow
for more people, breakages and the inevitable
requests for freebie items ("Can I take a couple
home for my kids?...")
Take extra care when organizing teambuilding
activities and games for young people, especially
kids activities and children's party games.
Attaching a theme to team-building activities helps
make the exercises more memorable - see the free
motivational posters for ideas and examples
tips for quick games and exercises for warm-ups and
team building
First of all - use your imagination - you can
simplify, adapt, shorten and lengthen most games and
exercises. To turn a long complex game into a quick
activity or warm-up, scale down the materials,
shorten the time allowed, and make the exercise
easier. Most of the games on the free games page can
also be used for children's education and
development, and for kids party games - adapt them
to suit. The number of members per team affects
activity time and complexity - teams of four or more
need a leader and tend to take longer than a pair or
team of three. Increasing or reducing team size, and
introducing or removing the team-leader requirement,
are simple ideas for increasing or reducing game
complexity and exercise duration.
Whatever you choose, as the facilitator, practice it
yourself first so you anticipate all the possible
confusions, and so that you have a good idea of how
best to do it (you'll generally be asked by the
delegates after the exercise). Think carefully about
team sizes - pairs or teams of three are best for
short 'construction' exercises, unless you want a
leadership element in the game. Without a leader,
too many team members causes non-participation and
chaos, so avoid this (unless the purpose of the
exercise is to demonstrate why teams need
leadership).
For a quick game any newspaper construction
exercises in pairs is good - if people have done the
exercise before add an extra challenge aspect to
make it different (maybe give each team a banana to
support on top of the construction and/or limit the
team to just 2 or three sheets of paper, or ban the
use of sticky tape) - whatever, if you have a slot
of 20 mins, allow 10 minutes for the exercise so as
not to rush the introductory explanation or the
review. Remember your tape measure, and practice the
activity yourself to try to come up with an ideal
solution for when they ask at the review.
Alternatively pick three or four lateral thinking
puzzles and split the group into two teams. Use
quizzes too. Larger teams are fine for quizzes
because teamworking is less crucial. Giving a tight
deadline will encourage the teams to share out the
puzzles, which emphasizes leadership, communication
and use of skills and resources.
Think about the points that the exercise are
illustrating so you can review afterwards sensibly.
tips for working with syndicate groups for team
building or training
Team building games and training exercises work
better using syndicate groups, or teams. This is
particularly so if you want a competitive element,
which is very effective in building teams and team
spirit. Working with syndicates also encourages and
enables more participation, activity and ideas, and
managed well, it makes the trainer's or
facilitator's job easier. Using syndicates in team
building needs thought and planning - here are some
pointers:
think about what you are trying to achieve and
structure the teams accordingly.
always plan in advance how you intend to structure
the syndicates.
threes work best when you want everyone to be
involved. pairs ensures everyone is involved, and
generally work quicker than threes, but are less
dynamic than threes.
groups above threes will require a leader to emerge
or people will be left out.
groups of four or five are good for providing the
opportunity for leaders to emerge.
groups of six or more require quite competent
leadership skills within the group.
ensure clear instructions are given to each
syndicate, and these are best given in writing as
well.
more pressure is put on the team if only one set of
instructions is given - less pressure results from
giving each team member a copy of the task
instructions.
the best number of team members to achieve a certain
effect will vary according to each exercise or game
or activity.
you can change or keep the make-up of the syndicates
as you change exercises, depending on the precise
team building and relationship aims.
some people are not comfortable being in the same
team or group as their subordinates or manager.
you have the option to nominate individuals to
perform certain functions within the team, eg
time-keeping, leading, scribe (recording),
communicating, etc.
ensure syndicates have necessary equipment and
materials, depending on format - eg flip chart
paper, pens, laptop, acetates.
ensure suitable space and working area exists for
the number and size of syndicates you plan to work
with.
train the team building trainer ideas
These ideas concern training people (or learning for
yourself) to become a great team building
facilitator.
The job of training managers and trainers how to run
team building sessions is different to running a
team-building session per se. It's important that
delegates experience the effect of different types
of team building, and also and the effect of the
many variables which might apply (team numbers, mix,
location etc); different types of games and
exercises and their purpose (games, quizzes,
competitions, warm-ups, exercises, workshops, etc),
and the theory surrounding team building and
designing team building activities (personality and
psychometrics; leadership; communications; planning
and preparation; follow-up; stress, fun and physical
activity; etc).
how to become a great team builder
Becoming an expert in team building is a wonderful
career specialty to pursue. The growing popularity
of team building, and the recognition of structured,
organized team building as a significant factor in
the performance and well-being of individuals, teams
and organizations, will fuel growth in demand for,
and provision of, specialist team building training.
(If you can recommend any particularly good team
building design/facilitation training courses do let
me know.)
Team building potentially includes a very wide
variety of methodologies, techniques, theories and
tools. And also values and philosophy. At the
foundation of good team building is compassion and
humanity - genuine care for others. This is what
sustains and fuels people in organizations.
It follows then that to become a great team builder
you should open yourself to philosophical ideas and
values, as well as learn and experience as many
methodologies and related techniques as you can,
which together will combine to give you the
character, skills and breadth for becoming an
inspirational leader in team building - and in the
training of team building to others, be they
trainers, managers, facilitators or team leaders.
Here are some examples of useful methodologies,
concepts, etc., that are useful for anyone involved
in team building:
Facilitation is a key element - and there are some
quite advanced techniques surfacing in this area now
- beyond organizing groups, rooms and refreshments
etc., for example Jim Rough's excellent 'Dynamic
Facilitation' concept.
Look at Kirkpatrick's learning evaluation model
Also look at Bloom's Taxonomy of learning domains
Train the trainer courses - many and various, from
the inspirational to more theoretical - include lots
of relevant learning about working with groups.
Consider and talk about the growing importance of
love and spirituality in organizations.
Motivational and communications methodologies such
as NLP, and Transactional Analysis.
Psychometrics (personality testing) and team role
understanding.
Sports psychology contains some really useful and
relevant elements.
So do meditation and belief.
So do modern life-balance philosophies such as the
thinking of Cherie Carter-Scott, and Don Miguel
Ruiz.
Outdoor survival, 'outward bound' courses, and
personal challenge activities are also useful to
experience and understand, in terms of what they
offer people and how the process develops at a deep
level.
And always remember the importance of fun, games and
toys - for example juggling, plate-spinning, board
games, tricks, puzzles, etc - use your imagination -
school education suppliers and exhibitions can be a
really useful source of ideas, providers and new
products.
Whether you find a dedicated team building
trainer/facilitation course or not I'd recommend you
access as many of the above sorts of methodologies
and concepts - and anything else that inspires and
stimulates - whenever the opportunity arises.
team building variables
When planning and running team building activities,
exercises, games, etc., certain variables have a
significant influence on the way the activity works.
When planning team building - or any group activity
- think about and use these factors to suit the
situation, logistics, team/group numbers, and the
aims of the exercises.
team mix (age, job type, department, gender,
seniority, etc)
team numbers (one to a hundred or more, pairs and
threes, leadership issues)
exercise briefing and instructions - how difficult
you make the task, how full the instructions and
clues are
games or exercise duration
competitions and prizes
venue and logistics - room size and availability
(for break-out sessions etc)
materials provided or available
stipulation of team member roles - eg., team leader,
time-keeper, scribe (note-taker), reviewer/presenter
scoring, and whether the exercise is part of an
ongoing competition or team league
With a full day or more it's very useful to include
something on personality types and how this affects
teams, style of management required, learning styles
(eg Kolb, VAK, etc). If you use psychometrics in
your organization, if possible expose delegates to
the testing and theory - it's interesting and a
great basis for absorbing the issues. It also adds a
bit of hard theory to the inevitable other soft
content.
Ongoing competitions are excellent for team
building, but If you are training the trainers don't
run a competition through the whole day - mix up the
teams from time to time to show how team dynamics
can be changed and the effect of doing so. Also
demonstrate how games take on a different meaning if
numbers are changed (eg larger teams require
leadership or there'll be passengers (see the POB
team-building acronym); and, you can play the same
game with 3 and 6 people and it completely alters
the conduct and outcomes).
Change and demonstrate gender and age mixes also -
team mix is a crucial area of understanding.
Use a mixture of games to cover different logistical
and environmental constraints - small room, large
room, syndicate rooms, outdoors.
Include a mixture of games to develop different
skills and aspects within team building -
leadership, cooperation, communication, breaking
down barriers, planning, time-management, etc.
Ask the delegates (in syndicates) to design their
own games to meet specific scenarios. As well as the
ideas, look at all the variables: clarity of
instructions, timings, team numbers and mix,
logistics, venue requirements, etc.
Outdoors, use traditional games like rounders,
cricket, touch rugby, relay races, to demonstrate
the big team dynamics, and the physical exercise
effect - stress reduction, endorphins and neuro-transmitters,
etc.
Also cover 'workshops' and how to plan and run them
- practical sessions dealing with real business
issues, with real content and real action-based
outcomes, including the team-building effect - use a
real business issue as an example. This would also
require some pre-session preparation and coached and
measurable follow-up, which are also extremely
useful and under-used mechanisms.
team building and happiness
Here's a simple easy tip for team-building,
motivation, and creating happy atmosphere:
Buy a big basket. Buy lots of sweets or candy,
lollipops too, wrapped preferably (to stop them
going all sticky overnight) and put them into the
big basket. Put the big basket of sweets and
lollipops on the table before people arrive for
work, or the meeting, or the training session.
And then watch people smile. Sweets and lollipops
break down barriers. They are a universal language
for feeling good and being happy.
After a week or two of different sweets throw in
some bubblegum. Also some bubblegum with collectible
cards.
This gesture is not restricted to the training room;
you can put baskets of sweets all over the place.
Even in the reception and the board room; and even
in the finance director's office.
You can ask the receptionist if she (or he) would be
so kind as to make sure that the sweet basket is
always filled to the brim (at the company's cost of
course), and to make sure she (or he) always invites
every single visitor to dip their hand in and take a
big handful for their kids. And you'll see how
wonderfully well people react to being treated in
this way.
Go spread the word - put a big basket of sweets on
your table.
When you've firmly established the practice of
having baskets of sweets everywhere, you can move on
to fresh cut flowers.........
A little bunch of fresh cut flowers in a vase, on a
table. It's worth a million words.
(Next of course you'll need to appoint a flower
monitor, which every right-minded person will want
to be, so you can have one per floor, or one per day
of the week, or one per department, whatever...)
See also:
love and spirituality in management and business -
bringing compassion and humanity to teams and work
fantasticat - the Fantasticat ideas for motivating,
teaching and developing young people - grown-ups
too..
free quizzes - questions and answers - trivia,
general knowledge, specialist subjects increasing,
eg management and business quiz
team-building activities evaluation form and
outcomes notes (Excel file)
free team building games, exercises, activities and
ideas
free posters - inspirational, motivational, amusing
- for teams and team building
free puzzles for team quizzes
free guide to running teambuilding workshops
and see the businessballs main site if you are not
already there
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