Team Activities at Work

By Aastha Dogra

Have you ever thought as to why do organizations today emphasize so much on team work? Why is it that along with individual targets, there are team targets given to be achieved as well? The simple logic behind this is that in any organization, there are three kinds of employees, i.e high performers, average performers and below average performers. If teams are formed with a mix of all these three categories, then there are better chances of targets being met and productivity increasing. As the old saying goes, a "TEAM" is "Together Everyone Achieves More". Read more on teamwork.

Organizations today rely on a number of things to build team spirit among their employees. They hold seminars, conduct events and even have their employees participate in a number of team building games, to make them feel bonded and part of a group. Such team activities at work go a long way in breaking the ice between the employees, helping them to know each other personally, understanding their communication and working style and thus, contributing immensely to a better working environment. Read more on team building.

Fun Team Activities at Work

Games

Games are perhaps the most effective of team building exercises. They not only teach the employees a lot of lessons about team work, but they can be lots of fun and serve as perfect ice breaker activities for team building.

Know Each-other Game: This game has to be played in pairs of two so divide the employees accordingly. For this, both the participants should be given ten minutes to know as much as they can about each others life. After that all the employees assemble in a hall. Now, each pair has to come up on the stage and introduce their partner to all of the other employees. Read more on icebreakers for meetings.

Make Your Own Game: This game can be played in smaller as well as larger groups. To play this game, simply divide the employees into teams and give them full freedom to design any activity or game of their choice, which they will afterward present in front of all the other employees. This is an open ended game which requires lots of communication as well as co-operation on the part of the team members. While designing the game, people in the group will automatically assume different roles such as one will be the leader, another will be the facilitator, and another will be the follower and so on.

Events

Organizing special events once in a while is another of the team activities at work which brings people closer. An organization can have unique events like "Karaoke Lunch" or even simple celebration of birthdays of their employees, where employees can interact and get to know each other personally. Having theme days such as "Red Clothes Day" where everyone comes dressed in red or, a "Hawaiian Day", where everybody comes dressed in casual tees and shorts, is another team activity at work, where people can have fun together and enjoy each others company. Read more on team bonding activities.

Seminars

Conducting seminars on topics such as importance of teamwork in business and giving the employees practical advice on how to handle different situations at the workplace when working in teams, will help immensely in better communication among the employees. During these seminars, training should be provided to the employees, both managers and subordinates, on how to work together, listen to each others opinion patiently, understand each others expectations, etc. so that they can work together efficiently and productively in teams.

Team activities at work should be conducted on a regular basis as working together in teams has a lot of advantages. Teamwork leads to proper division of work and specialization of work too, where work is assigned to a person in accordance to his skills and experience. This leads to increased output as well as job satisfaction, both of which contribute immensely to targets being met and high quality output, resulting in goodwill generation for the business.

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