Most people know the typical “team-building activity” as something that HR does to keep employees and each department happy. However, there are many reasons why most companies, including start-ups, invest valuable time and resources into team-building activities.
These reasons include benefits like improving morale, increasing trust and camaraderie between teams, and identifying leaders, to name a few.
Let’s take a look at a few great team-building activities that can help bring those benefits and more to your start-up business!
Using an escape room is one of the best team-building activities to continually achieve success in your business.
This activity involves solving puzzles, riddles, and combining clues to figure out a way to “escape the room.” The room usually has different themes to make it more fun for participants.
Escape rooms focus on problem-solving, decision-making, communication, and leadership skills. Having multiple problems to solve simultaneously will pressure the team to work together.
Escape rooms can be done either in person or virtually, especially after the changes caused by the pandemic. Escapely is a great place to book virtual escape rooms.
A simple but effective team-building activity is the Whodunit game. This game involves each member writing on a piece of paper one interesting activity or experience that they’ve had.
The team then takes turns pulling pieces of paper and then guessing who is more likely to have done that activity. This activity focuses on collaboration and personal connection between teammates.
This game is great for recently formed teams or ones with a new batch of employees, as it encourages people to open up to each other and learn more about one another beyond their job scope.
This helps teams get closer together on a personal level and, subsequently, work better together.
Minefield is a fun-focused game in which two teams set up “mines” in a specific area that the other team has to cross. The catch is that the person crossing has to be blindfolded.
Their teammates can guide them to the end by giving them instructions on where to step and where to avoid. This inspires trust between teammates and improves communication skills.
This is not only a great team-building activity in terms of fun, but it can also train team members to communicate more precisely and efficiently.
Instead of speed dating, your start-up’s employees would be better off with speed networking. This gives an opportunity for employees who don’t normally interact to connect.
Usually, speed networking comes with a prompt or topic to discuss and connect to, but it can also be organically done through normal conversations and small talk.
This gives team members who do not normally work together to connect and find common ground. This helps with team unity between people from different departments.
It is a simple activity that needs no equipment and can be done in-office or virtually but it can lead to deeper, productive conversations between team members.
The Tallest Tower is a creative, collaborative team game that uses unconventional materials like marshmallows and uncooked pasta strands to build the tallest tower.
The focus of this activity is to get team members to put their critical thinking skills, leadership skills, and creative juices working all at once to win.
This game not only encourages members to work together to achieve a common goal, but also instills a competitive spirit into them. This can be highly beneficial to start-ups looking to expand.
This team-building activity tests team members' imaginations and perceptions of each other. It also gives team members the opportunity to see where they are different and similar.
The game is simple - Split a piece of paper into four quadrants. Four questions will be asked, after which each team member draws their answer to each question per quadrant.
After this, the team compares and explains their answers. This usually leads to interesting and useful discussions about team members' similarities and differences.
While team building often emphasizes group collaboration, individual mental exercises like solitaire games can also play a crucial role. Encouraging team members to engage in classic games like the Canfield Solitaire Card Game promotes focus, patience, and strategic thinking — all essential traits for start-up teams.
Unlike traditional solitaire, Canfield Solitaire requires players to think several moves ahead, fostering critical problem-solving skills. Incorporating short, friendly competitions with solitaire games during breaks can reduce stress, sharpen cognitive abilities, and create a well-rounded team dynamic.
These moments of reflection and focus can lead to greater productivity and better decision-making.
A simple and fun game, Wink Murder has team members gather in a circle, with one person secretly assigned to be the “Wink Murderer.”
They will try to wink at every person in the circle, “killing” them without being seen and caught by the other members. The game ends when either the Wink Murderer is caught or everyone is killed.
This game focuses on getting team members to be observant of each other and work together to beat a common enemy. This strengthens team bonds while also being fun.
No team-building activity list can be complete without mentioning the scavenger hunt. There is a good reason why this activity has endured.
The scavenger hunt can have different themes, ranging from simply taking pictures at popular sites in the city to full-blown Amazing Race-type activities.
It trains and encourages all the ideal team behaviors: collaboration skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, a competitive spirit, and leadership skills.
Aside from the training and team bonding this brings, it also helps people get out of their chairs and explore the outdoors together. This is a great change of pace from pure office work.
The Who Am I trivia game is simple but exercises each team member’s stock knowledge and intuition skills. It also encourages competitive spirit between teammates and coworkers.
One person thinks of an object, person, or event and gives three hints. The rest of the team has to guess it within the three hints to earn a point, and the team with the most points wins.
This trains team members to use their stock and trivia knowledge outside the work environment to their advantage while also keeping everyone engaged and competitive.
There are many reasons why team-building is important - Many of which benefit not only the team members themselves but the company and its culture.
Here are the major reasons why team-building is so important in any company, especially for start-ups.