5 best activities for team building that are not boring

Team building activities are fun, create a conducive atmosphere for employees to build and nurture interpersonal relationships, and lead to an increase in productivity if executed well. But there’s a lot that goes into these events - from the type of activity to making sure that everyone feels comfortable taking part. Whether you’re working from the office or operating a 100% remote team, here are some of the best activities for team building in 2022 you should try.

Improve team communication using a blindfolded teamwork activity

The blindfolded teamwork activity can help nurture communication between and amongst teams, and it’s ideal for those working in the same office. Here’s how it works. Put teams into groups of two. In each group, blindfold one team member, and the other person is now tasked with directing them towards a particular destination with only spoken directions (no using hands to guide them!). This could be walking towards the CEO’s desk, moving an object around the office, or walking from one end of the office to the other. It’s amazingly fun to watch this activity and it also challenges teams to clearly communicate with colleagues. When implemented in a large team or between departments that rarely work together, this activity can strengthen their interpersonal skills and communication.

Host scavenger hunts

Want to build a company culture while learning about the adventurous skills of your team? Scavenger hunts are excellent for this and have a lot of activities to keep the team engaged. You could ask teams to search for an item that has been hidden in advance. Large companies could ask teams to find their co-workers whose names begin with the same letter as theirs or incorporate other types of scavenger hunt challenges. The goal here is to make the office fun and help employees build camaraderie. But these activities are not limited to the office. Virtual scavenger hunts can also bring remote teams together to have fun and build relationships. For example, a company can make a list of items and ask their remote teams to search for them in their respective homes. They are to present these items on zoom once the search is over. Then, the first person capable of locating all the items on the list from their home wins this round.

Organize a Hack Day

If you’re in the tech or startup ecosystem, chances are you’ve come across the term Hack Day or taken part in one. This is a day startups set aside for engineering teams to build and launch an idea within a single workday. Today, Hack Day has gone beyond engineering teams and now everyone, from design and operations to editorial, can take part. The idea is simple: individuals have small ideas that they usually may not pursue because of their day-to-day workload. This day is given to them to explore these ideas and show them to the entire team. This is a significant activity for team building and can nurture company culture if you can pair teams into two or three groups to come together and build something. Whether you’re working in an office or operating a virtual workforce, Hack Day is a time to have fun while working on your dream ideas.

Discover the musicians in your team by hosting karaoke nights

Karaoke is one of the best activities any team can implement, regardless of whether they’re working remotely or in the office. But since we are not in normal times, a virtual karaoke night could be ideal for teams of all sizes. To start, you will need to get a host to MC the event, motivate singers, handle the technical stuff, and manage smooth transitions between participants. After, give team members time to submit the songs they’ll perform so everyone can prepare before the event day. These karaoke nights give employees the opportunity to discover fresh sounds, share music tastes, and build lasting relationships.

Organize a jigsaw puzzle competition

Jigsaw puzzles can be brain-racking for an individual. However, bring two or more people into a team to solve these problems and you’re not only solving puzzles but also helping build interpersonal relationships between and among colleagues. First, get several copies of the same puzzles and put the team into groups of two or three. Assign each group the same puzzle and the team that solves their problem first wins. You can offer winners a prize to make it fun and worth taking part in.