If you were told there was one thing you could do to help your team communicate better, trust each other more and improve collaboration you’d be interested in that one thing, right?
Well, there’s good news! That one thing is team building activities.
Before you start picturing lame games in the office that make your employees wish they were working, know that isn’t the team building activities we’re talking about. Oh, no. That type of team building doesn’t do much for morale and productivity.
But when you choose the right type of team building activity it can have a huge impact.
Team building has the ability to boost employee engagement. That’s a big deal because a survey from Gallup found that 70% of employees are disengaged and that costs businesses an estimated $500 billion a year.
A study from MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory made a few profound discoveries about commonalities among the most successful companies. The researchers found that the most productive teams had strong communication and lots of face-to-face interaction. Therefore, interactive team building activities that build communication skills have the ability to dramatically improve performance.
Here are a few more things that make team building highly effective for businesses of all sizes in any industry.
What Makes Business Team Building Activities Actually Work
There are a few commonalities that effective team building activities share. Take a look below to see if your team building efforts will make a difference.
Get Out of the Office
The best business team building activities aren’t just another a regular day at the office. You want to take employees out of their element and get their attention focused on the activity. Events that are nothing like the normal work environment are also more memorable and that’s good for long-term benefits.
Don’t Make It About Learning a Lesson
Some of the best lessons in life are learned when you least expect it. If you try to make team building activities all about learning a certain business lesson some people are going to take it the wrong way. It can seem like they are being preached to or micromanaged.
Enjoyment Gets People On Board
If you focus on fun team building activities you’ll get the opposite effect that you get with events that are lesson-based. People will be on board from the get-go, which is exactly what you want. Employees will approach the activity with a more positive mindset and be open to trying different things that can have a positive effect on teamwork.
Shared Experience With a Common Goal
Instead of making the activity another work project, what’s most important is that it’s a shared experience with a common goal. This will get employees bonding in a natural way and encourage them to pull together.
Try Something New
Doing something new together gets people to see things in a different way, pushes them outside of their comfort zone and creates a strong connection among the participants. Employees can bring all of these things back to the office to boost productivity and creativity. If nothing else, doing something unique is a team building activity that won’t soon be forgotten.
A San Antonio escape room checks all the boxes above. You’ll find some of the best team building activities in San Antonio, TX at Extreme Escape. We’ve been rated the #1 corporate team building experience in the city!
Customers that have tried Extreme Escape for team building in San Antonio agree it’s an enjoyable experience that brings coworkers closer together. We have dozens of reviews on our Facebook page and TripAdvisor from corporate leaders and employees that think it was a great investment for the entire team.
Give us a call to reserve an escape room in San Antonio for your next team building activity!