Team Building Exercises

Productivity is the crux of competition. It’s no wonder then that managers are extremely concerned about making their teams more productive. Team work is more like construction work because every person’s contribution holds equal importance for the team’s success. All the workers contributing to the building of the edifice are not working for individual results, but for one common result. If one member is not included in decision making and feels minimized in any way, the collective work of the team is bound to suffer and this in turn hampers the desired results. For this, the leader must motivate members to work together by networking effectively to achieve the unified goal. The best way to inspire and energize employees so that they voluntarily direct unmitigated efforts towards accomplishing the common goal is by engaging them in team exercises. Team building exercises establish rapport in an amicable environment so that a better understanding among employees leads to increased production. There are many team building exercises that work wonders by creating a synergy among employees. Explore the information below to know details of some team building exercises.

Team Building Activities

Rope Knots Game
For this game you need to tie one overhand knot in a rope for each team member by maintaining a space of two feet between the knots. Instruct the group members to choose a knot on the rope and stand by it on either side of the rope. Next, tell them to grab the rope on either side of the knot with one hand. Now challenge the group to disentangle all the knots without anyone letting go off the rope. Participants can use only their free hand to untie knots. Make the group think of knots that represent problems for the group that need to be ironed out. The objective of this team building exercise is to make each person contribute to the overall success of the group by doing their individual part and aiding others when needed.

Road Map Game
For this game you will need one map for each team, some paper and pens. Divide the group into teams of two to eight and give a copy of the same map to each group. Instruct the team to plan a vacation while working within the set guidelines. Now, give each group a list of what they have for their trip, viz-a-viz, an amount of money, kind of car, size of gas tank and price of gas, the start or end destination, the time at their disposal, etc. Offer a paper and pen to each group to jot down their travel plans. The team that runs out of money or gas gets disqualified and the team that saw and did the most with what they had is awarded. The road map game facilitates planning and cooperation among team members.

Tag Team Game
For this game you will need a large sheet of paper, writing paper, pens and marking pens. Make four to eight member groups giving each a large sheet of paper, some writing paper, and a marking pen. Ask the groups to make the ‘ultimate group member’ by combining all of their best traits into one imaginary person. This ‘person’ should be given a name and then has to be drawn on the large sheet of paper with different attributes labeled against him or her. Next, the group needs to write a story about this person and elaborate on the impressive things that s/he can do. This team building exercise makes theteam members share their individual strengths in order to contribute to the overall success of the group.