Teambuilding: feasibility, results and prospects of team-building activities

Every experienced manager understands that successful, long-term business operation depends not only on such components as a competent strategy, the availability of a financial and production base and highly qualified employees. An equally significant success factor is also the optimization of work within the team. This is precisely the goal of a process such as team building.

In this article we will look at the definition of team building, its tasks and types, and analyze various approaches to team building.

What is team building

Team building (English: team - team, building - construction, creation) is a set of activities designed to create team spirit among the organization's employees and unite the team. The main task is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of personnel, improve interaction between them, which ultimately affects the improvement of business indicators.

The first attempts to manage the effectiveness of personnel groups were made in the 40s of the twentieth century in the USA and Western Europe. They acquired the appearance of a coherent theory towards the end of the 50s. In the 60s, American psychologist Carl Ronke developed the Outdoor Ropes Course program (the now famous ropes course). It revolutionized ideas about team building and formed the basis for most team building strategies. Rohnke used the Army's assault team training using mountaineering equipment. In combat operations, cohesion is more important than anywhere else, which is why it was the army psychological experience that was recognized as the best for corporate team building.

There is an opinion that team building originated from sports, where the victory of both a group of players and an individual athlete is achieved only thanks to the team. If it's football or basketball, then without interaction between the players, victory cannot be achieved. If it is boxing or tennis, then it is difficult to become a winner without an experienced trainer, consultants, doctors, massage therapists, etc.

In the USSR there were also many events and programs designed to unite the team, but in modern Russia the Western experience of team building has received greater development. At first, the mechanical transplantation of European and American developments into domestic realities mainly caused surprise and rejection in teams, but then foreign theories were adapted, and now team building is one of the most promising forms of corporate management.

Types of team building

If we are talking about formats, then let’s immediately figure out what types of team building there are. And then at the beginning of the article I promised you about riding ATVs together with colleagues, and now I’ve smoothly moved on to business training. So, team building is of the following types:

1. Sports team building. Initially, the whole essence of joining a team was taken by businessmen and psychologists from sports. In order for the company’s employees to receive the same “team spirit” that any team has during competitions.

This is exactly the concept of team building that everyone imagines (tug of war, sack races, overcoming obstacles, etc.).

2. Psychological team building. All activities aimed at developing psychology and developing employees as individuals (surveys, testing, training, performing special tasks).

The format most often takes the form of an imitation of some kind of story, where everyone has their own role.

3. Creative team building. It is often carried out in creative companies, as it requires people to be open-minded and can include everything related to creativity. For example, from creating a company musical group to going together to an impressionist exhibition.

4. Exotic team building. The most uncommon type of team building. This is when employees get together according to the traditions of one of the countries. Each is entrusted with their own stage and thus, in a simple manner, they become closer through informality and spiritual life.

You can highlight dozens more types of team building for employees. But they will all be a branch of these 4.

In this case, it doesn’t matter what you call the ship, the main thing is that you understand how it works and how to get to your cherished goal with it. Therefore, choose team building options specifically for your company.

WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 32,000 people. TURN ON

In-scale / marketing

Why is team building needed?

There are four main goals of team building:

1. Uniting the team, creating a sense of common goals.
2. Improving interaction between team members and increasing the level of trust. Replacing competition with cooperation. Simply put, so that no one is embarrassed to ask a neighbor and, on occasion, be ready to respond to someone else’s request. And I also didn’t worry about the fact that “this one sits all day, idle, and here I work for three people, and we get the same salary.”
3. Increasing staff loyalty to management. By participating in trainings on an equal basis with ordinary specialists, the director is perceived by them as a person, and not as a position. The logic of his decisions becomes more understandable to the team and causes less rejection.
4. Psychological relief for staff. This is especially true for departments working in a stressful, monotonous mode.

Organization of team building

Proper organization of such an event involves taking into account the following factors:

• Budget. Costs for team building must be reasonable. An amount that is more than necessary may not pay off. Less than necessary - goals may not be achieved.
• Select date and time. One of the main criteria is not to interfere with the personal lives of employees and not to disrupt their plans. The ideal option would be to organize the event on a working day, warning the team in advance.
• Selection of ideas. If ideas for the upcoming event are expressed by future participants themselves, based on their personal preferences, this will be a significant additional advantage.
• Props for team building. Providing all the necessary details should be the responsibility of management, not employees.
• Possible errors and miscalculations. Naturally, no one is immune from mistakes. But factors such as a preliminary analysis of the microclimate in the team and a clear understanding of the goals set will help avoid undesirable consequences.

When is team building needed?

There are several situations in which team building is essential.

Situation 1. Low employee motivation. People go to work without the desire to improve anything in their activities. They mechanically perform their duties and wait for the end of the working day. If possible, they avoid completing tasks. Accordingly, labor productivity is low, the team is torn apart by quarrels and squabbles, and it is absolutely impossible to encourage employees to conquer any new heights.

Situation 2. Organizational changes in the company - mergers, acquisitions, splitting or merging departments, and so on. Employees who find themselves in new conditions may feel like strangers in the company, abandoned, disadvantaged, and lack attention. Team building in these conditions makes it possible to integrate employees into a new corporate environment.

Situation 3. Conflicts within the team. This does not mean one-time quarrels between employees, but constant tense relationships between people (for example, for career reasons) that interfere with work. Team building events provide an opportunity to identify common ground between even the most irreconcilable disputants and turn competition into cooperation.

Situation 4. The company has just been created , and it is necessary to form an efficient team from the newly recruited employees. Team building is very good for this.

What are the goals?

Team building is aimed at creating highly effective connections in the work environment, allowing the business to steadily grow and evolve.

This is possible by achieving the following goals:

1. Acquaintance. It is extremely difficult to establish productive connections when you simply don’t know anything except your colleague’s name. This situation is typical for a newly formed team or in the case of reorganization, accession, merger, division and other organizational changes.
2. Uniting employees. Which subordinates work for the idea? Practically, no one. This is normal: we need to go to work to earn money, support our families, pay bills, pay off our mortgage. In the whirlpool of everyday problems, you don’t really think about which pier the organization is moving towards. Team building demonstrates the importance of realizing unity of purpose and involvement in a common cause.
3. Increasing the level of mutual assistance. Modern realities are such that salary depends on personal performance, implementation of the plan, percentage of sales, etc. In such conditions, competition is a common occurrence. Why help someone if I have no benefit from it? Team building can stop the race for personal achievements and develop in people the desire and ability to ask for help and not refuse in response.
4. Mental and psychological relaxation. Team building is a great way to shake things up, change your surroundings, test yourself in a new role, and do something that never even occurred to you before.
5. Motivational boost. Very often, bogged down in everyday work, a person becomes apathetic, inactive and indifferent. Your gaze increasingly stops at the clock; most of all, you look forward to the end of the working day. Team building gives a good punch on the nose, teases, poses, at first glance, an impossible task. And when the group copes with the task brilliantly, the understanding comes: “we have conquered this height, why not conquer the next one.”
6. Smoothing out conflicts. When it comes to protracted enmity and fundamental hostility of several people, the whole company suffers. Team building is not a panacea for problems and squabbles. But it will help you recognize others and understand that the guys who are so annoying are actually cheerful and sociable.
7. Reducing dissatisfaction with superiors. Correctly selected team-building tasks put the manager on the same level as ordinary employees. And a good boss will try, just like everyone else, to contribute to a victorious conclusion. After this, the staff begins to perceive the director not as a dissatisfied, powerful, important turkey, but as a person capable of listening and supporting.

How is a team different from a group?

This is not an idle question, since team building is necessary for a group of employees to turn into a team.

Briefly about the main thing

Now that you know not only what team building is, but also all the ins and outs, you see that team building is simple only as a definition. But its organization, implementation and results are a rather complex and lengthy process. But I am not dissuading you now under any circumstances.

On the contrary, I urge you to carry it out, but not just anyhow, but by consistently and methodically preparing for it.

Perhaps the corporate culture of your company implies reserved employees, so organizing creative team building will be a disastrous step. Or maybe not.

Nobody knows your company better than you. One thing I can say for sure is to avoid template scenarios and hackneyed games like “Stream”. And your employees will repay you with the same reverent attitude towards work.

PS What does marketing have to do with it?! If you have a scattered team, then all requests will be merged, and tools will be implemented through fingers. Therefore, you can increase sales without increasing traffic and customer service. Strange but true!

What is team building like?

There are four main types of team building.

Historical

Participants in the events, in one form or another, “live” famous historical events with new introductions. For example, one of the agencies is conducting a historical reconstruction of the “Storm of Koenigsberg”: the team determines both the strategy for taking the city and tactics, and directly participates in “combat actions” stylized as real events of 1945, and the presenters periodically complicate the quest, adding new obstacles to it , which, of course, did not exist during the Great Patriotic War. What is important here is not so much historical accuracy as mutual assistance within the team. There are also simplified events where participants are immersed in a stylized environment. This is, for example, a historical quest prepared for one of the Ukrainian insurance companies:

Historical quest “Gold of Hetman Polubotok”

Sports

It occurs most often - these are various kinds of competitions (usually on the street, sometimes in the halls), relay races, games. Despite the name, special physical training is not needed: tasks are selected taking into account the age and physical condition of the employees. For example, giant basketball, when the team’s task is to throw a ball with a diameter of 4-5 meters into a huge basket standing a couple of tens of meters away. Without the efforts of each player, it will not be possible to throw the ball to the basket, and the distance to the basket is selected taking into account the capabilities of the participants.

An example of sports team building for 600 employees at the same time:

OMD DoctorTeam team building for 600 people in Moscow 2016

Psychological

Another common type of team building is the use of trainings, tests, joint problem solving, and searching for a way out of difficult situations. Their meaning is that employees learn to better understand the logic of other people’s decision-making, learn to “get used to” in a team, find out the psychological roles and attitudes of their colleagues - this later helps in solving work problems. The simplest example of such team building is “confidence” exercises:

team building for trust

Creative

The most interesting type of team building, but also the most difficult to prepare. Here, participants stage plays, sing karaoke, draw pictures together, organize dance battles, conduct historical costume reenactments, and so on.

For example, team building on a ship, where participants tried themselves in culinary fights, in the role of pirates and in many other competitions:

Team building on a boat | Big Jack

Exotic

Expensive types of activities, carried out mainly in specific climatic conditions. This includes river rafting, rafting, mountain climbing, joint travel to exotic countries, and so on. Or this collective grape harvest in Crimea:

TEAM BUILDING. CRIMEA. VINTAGE

Team building activities are also divided into office team building and outdoor team building.

In the office

It is impossible to organize a major sports competition within four walls, in a limited space, but the office is quite suitable for trainings, intellectual competitions, quests and other forms of team building. The advantages of such team building are that the events take place in a familiar environment, and after them the work premises are perceived in a completely different way, which introduces an element of additional motivation.

Outdoors

Here, on the contrary, a change of scenery plays a big role. Outdoor team building can be organized outdoors, at recreation centers, in country camps, at stadiums, and so on. The content of the events is not limited - they include competitions and relaxing joint recreation with trainings and competitions. Often, company management chooses a rope course as the main one (more about it below).

This is the kind of on-site team building that was organized for STADA Pharm Development:

Team building for STADA Pharm Development Ltd

Tips for conducting

I can immediately say that if you organize such an event for the first time, it is unlikely to be 200% successful.

And that's bad news. The good thing is that due to the novelty and the fact that your employees will be participating in it for the first time, they will receive it with a bang in any case. But it is not exactly.

From myself I can add only a few tips and nuances, paying attention to which your event will go much better. They are not the only ones, but as they say, these are the top reasons why your event may fail:

1. Fun. This is important, very important indeed. If employees come, eat, listen to a boring lecture about how great it would be to live together, then the event will not only fail, but will also work against you. It should be fun, perky, positive;
2. Dinner. Here I think there is no need to comment. You won’t force your employees to carry grilled chicken in foil and boiled eggs, will you? You must take care of their lunch so as not to hear the rumbling of hungry bellies. This is actually very important. For example, when Adidas employees tell me about their team building events, first of all they note how well they were fed and how huge the portions were;
3. Equality. What kind of team building and trust in each other can there be if a subordinate, who was appointed senior in the team, is afraid to reprimand his manager, who is “messing up”. Only trust and equality will help to hold the event fully and reveal all sides of your employees;
4. Aftertaste. And also feedback. After a while (for example, a week or two), I recommend that you collect feedback on the past event and what can be improved in it. And also wishes for the following. Thanks to the analysis, you will understand what was done correctly and what needs to be improved;
5. Nature. Organize it in nature. Even if it is held in late autumn or winter. Firstly, in nature, away from offices and cozy apartments, a person opens up completely. And then it is much easier to identify leaders and conflicts if they exist. And secondly, in nature it is much easier to unload emotionally, which means your involvement in the process will be higher;
6. Heterogeneity. Remember when I wrote that in team building, as in the bathhouse, everyone is equal? So, another point that needs to be paid attention to is that these are diverse teams, and not the marketing department versus the legal department. Mix them up so that they have no other chance than to develop “team spirit”;
7. And you too. You, as a leader, also need to participate in this event. Moreover, preferably with the smallest employees. Yes, at first they will be shy, but then they will get the hang of it. As a bonus, the staff’s trust in you will increase (if you do not put pressure on them) and, as a result, understanding and acceptance of the decisions you make. And this is expensive.

There is one more recommendation, but it will not continue the general list, since it is optional.

You can connect your clients to your games. Such an event will take place in less close contact, but will bring your clients and employees closer together for longer-term and loyal work.

Team building options

There are two ways to organize team building events:

1. On your own. The employer plans and organizes the events himself. This method is convenient if the company is very small (team building is carried out by the manager himself, a creative person) or, conversely, it is large, and it has a specialist or department involved in organizing corporate events. Pros: cost savings (although not always), full control over the process, confidentiality (and this is an important factor in team building).
2. With the involvement of third party companies. There are many companies on the market that organize team building events - from seminars to elite competitions in exotic conditions. Such services cost a lot, but you won’t have a headache about anything - they will develop a script, rent a room or territory, organize coffee breaks, and so on, your team will only have to come and participate.

We are holding an event

For a team building event to be successful, the following stages of preparation should be completed:

1. Decide on goals. Do you want to make your team closer, resolve conflicts, increase employee motivation, or strengthen your own authority? The content of the program depends on the chosen goal.
2. Decide on a budget. Wrapping yourself in a sheet is inexpensive, but going rafting down the river is not cheap.
3. Find the person responsible. This may be a third-party company or an in-house department with authority to conduct events.
4. Choose a time. It all depends on the initiator of team building. If the initiative comes from the authorities, you need to focus on the working day. It is unfair to deprive people of their rightful day off because you wanted to strengthen the atmosphere of mutual assistance in the team. If the employees themselves have expressed a desire, a day off will do. The best option is to arrange a vote.
5. Work out all the details. Order a round-trip bus, take care of snacks and a full lunch, take into account weather conditions and the characteristics of the team - this is the minimum for a good organization of team building. Every little detail is important, for example, pre-arranged pens, notebooks and badges.
6. Introduce a "spy". According to Western standards, during team building, a competent instructor who understands psychology must be present on the site. He will draw a psychological portrait of each participant individually, as well as general compatibility. Of course, the companies preparing the event do not employ such a person. Therefore, you can ask an employee who enjoys your favor and trust in the team to observe his colleagues. He will be with everyone, carry out tasks and draw conclusions at the same time. This should be an objective person who will soberly assess the situation, and not run to knock on management.

How to Host a Team Building Event on Your Own: A Step-by-Step Guide

Just reading a couple of Internet sites about team building and downloading a script is not enough to hold a good event. Here's what you need to do to achieve the desired result:

Step 1. Define goals, objectives and budget

What exactly do you want – to smooth out contradictions in the team? Form a single team from disparate groups? Relax together? Just introduce employees to each other? How? And how much money are you willing to spend on this?

Step 2. Choose a format

Will it be a ropes course, wool team building or regular office training? Will you go to nature or go to the nearest sports complex? Will you “make movies” or prefer sports competitions? You can choose for yourself, but it would be smarter to interview employees. Offer several options to choose from. If the decision is shared, employees will participate in the event more actively and interestedly.

Step 3. Consult with a team building specialist

You can simply talk to the appropriate expert from a specialized company. Or you can hire a staff development coach so that he can tell you how to conduct the event and prepare the team morally.

Step 4. Develop a script

The easiest option is to download from the Internet and adapt it for your team. Below we will give you some interesting ideas. You can try to prepare the script yourself; this makes sense if you already have experience in holding similar events. The idea must correspond to the goal of team building and the composition of the team. It is not very good to organize endurance competitions if most of the employees are elderly people.

Step 5. Choose the right time

Ideally, team building games should be conducted during work hours. This is logical from all points of view: the employer needs a team, first of all, to achieve his goals. And employees will be much more interested in team building activities that are not held on their legal day off. Although a lot depends on the relationships in the team. If people themselves take the initiative to go out into nature together on Saturday or Sunday, their desire must be encouraged.

Roman Kozhin, former employee of Uralsvyazinform:

When I worked at , during the May holidays, the company organized corporate outings for us in nature, where we came up with various games and competitions, which, in essence, served as team building. During such events, we met employees of other departments, whom we almost never saw during working hours, and learned how to interact together. After meeting in an informal setting, it was then easier for us to communicate at work and solve some joint problems. And some employees developed close relationships during team building and corporate events, which later ended in marriage. For most of them, work was then associated with the fact that they found their soulmate there. This made the attitude towards both the work itself and the employer much better.

Step 6. Organize an event

For team building to take place, you need to take into account many everyday nuances. Arrange transport if necessary. Provide participants with hot meals or prepare coffee breaks. Take into account possible worsening weather conditions. If the event is divided into blocks or sections, provide activities for those who have already completed or have not yet started participating in their block (entertainment, buffet table, etc.). If team building is outdoor, it is important to comply with all safety requirements for participants, especially if we are talking about extreme events - rafting on a mountain river, climbing mountain peaks, and so on. Before the start, participants are given instructions.

Why is it needed?

Buddhists have a legend that the answer to just one question provides answers to many more questions. And this question sounds like this: “And for what?” And it is very easy to apply to team building.

It is clear that the company needs a strong and effective team. But here's what for? Why is team building needed?

Below are a few points that will fully answer the question of why team building is needed and why team building in an organization should not be neglected:

1. Unite the team. Create that same “team spirit” in the company. Which should transform your employees from disparate mechanisms into a single, ideally working system. Almost agile methodology;
2. Improve interaction. Colleagues also need to be trained to communicate with each other. Correctly set tasks, give feedback and help in work. Such qualities are especially needed in Scrum project management;
3. Strengthen the authority of the leader. Leaders are often treated as tyrants. But if employees see that the leader reveals himself completely differently in informal situations, then their opinion may change dramatically;
4. Remove the “load”. Family, children, stress at work. Everyone has it. And it can lead any employee to stress or even dismissal. But if the company helps you unload emotionally, then people, albeit unconsciously, will be distracted and will be grateful.

As a result of all these actions, the goal of team building in the organization is a positive background, and most importantly, an increase in sales.

Because the company becomes not just friendly, but results-oriented. I really like the comparison with the fingers, which, when combined, turn into a fist.

Unsuccessful team building: main reasons

Events organized independently often do not meet the employer’s expectations and leave a bad taste among the staff. The same thing happens when the organization is handled by inexperienced third-party specialists. Why is this happening?

Reason 1. Boring script

This does not necessarily mean that the planned game turned into a boring lecture about the importance of unity. It could be different: the office quest turned out to be too difficult, and most employees simply did not want to rack their brains over the rules. The historical reconstruction was conceived on a too narrow topic, unfamiliar to the employees, which is why they were unable to use the logic of decision-making of historical characters and sat bored. Or maybe the new specialist who was preparing the team building downloaded a script from the Internet that had already been used last year.

Reason 2. The event is too busy

The organizer organized several energetic competitions, trainings and competitions, and then a debriefing for an hour and a half. Everyone was so exhausted that they didn’t even want to think about any team. Sometimes at off-site team building there are no normal conditions for rest, people have to stand for an hour or two during the event, this also does not improve the perception of management’s ideas.

Reason 3. Participants were not fed

No matter how prosaic it sounds, it is precisely for this reason that team building events often fail. Employees, accustomed to comfortable meals, had to jostle around the tables, some did not get something, others had to eat cold food. The worst thing is when the organizer says: “Now there is a half-hour break, there is a cafe two blocks from here, you can go there for a snack.” In this case, a team can be formed on the basis of indignation at the employer.

Reason 4. Poor organization of team building

One hundred participants of the away team building arrived on three buses, unloaded at once, went to the organizers’ tables, and there was a bunch of badges mixed up. Pandemonium, swearing, half an hour down the drain, everyone is angry, looking at each other like wolves. All that was left to do was to correctly arrange these unfortunate badges on the tables.

Reason 5. Forced participation

“And if they don’t go, we’ll deprive them of their bonus,” some managers do this too. They organize events on weekends or holidays, force female employees of pre-retirement age, despite their obvious reluctance, to climb rope nets along with young people, and so on.

Reason 6. Weather conditions are not taken into account

You cannot organize outdoor team building in uncomfortable temperatures, rain, sleet or stifling heat. It is not always possible to predict sudden weather changes, but you can adjust the event program. Otherwise, people will freeze, get wet, or someone will get sunstroke, and what they will remember in their memory is not the training, but an unpleasant feeling.

Reason 7. Psychological discomfort of participants

This happens when management withdraws from participation and remains an observer in general activities (employees feel like experimental specimens). Or it requires special treatment during the competition. Even if the director simply does not stop attempts to please him by his subordinates, this already turns team building into a formal, pointless event.

Varieties

Based on the location and time of the event, the number of participants, gender and age differentiation, many types of team building can be distinguished.

Team building in the office and outdoors

The benefits of “team building” in the office are as follows:

• Firstly, the office is an environment that has long been familiar to employees, it does not cause discomfort, people feel more confident.
• Secondly, after office events, new associations arise: the office is no longer perceived as a boring place where you only need to work.
• Team building in nature is different in that the subject of its scenarios is almost unlimited. This can be a relaxing holiday or an active sports competition, or even an overnight trip with various activities at different times of the day.

Summer and winter team building

The warm season, of course, is conducive to “forays” into nature, where you can organize not only various sports competitions, but also more interesting events. For example, “Field Survival,” where participants are divided into teams, and each of them is given a limited set of tools and supplies. After that, conditions are set for completing certain tasks. Joint challenges are guaranteed to strengthen team cohesion.

In winter, you can enjoy group ice skating, ski relay races or snowshoe races.

Team building for men and women

Men's team building is mainly characterized by a military focus (paintball, airsoft) or sports competitions associated with speed and adrenaline, such as kart rally or raft building with the construction of rafts and team tasks on the water.

It will be more interesting for a female team to take part in culinary competitions or creative team tasks, such as building a city out of cardboard.

Children's team building

This is a great alternative to the usual activities in kindergarten, a party with clowns and a sweet table. By taking part in competitive team games, the child learns to interact with friends, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of opponents, and make original decisions in non-trivial situations.

Team building for large companies

It is most difficult to ensure coherence in large companies. For employees of large enterprises, this type of team building is perfect, such as holding a collective street flash mob, which makes you feel like part of something whole and grandiose.

How to avoid mistakes

If the event was unsuccessful, you should not sprinkle ashes on your head or conclude that team building is not for you. First of all, you need to understand the causes of the errors. Is the problem with the script or the organization? Not enough resources or just bad timing? To find out the reason, the best option is to collect feedback: conduct a survey in the team, verbally or in the form of a questionnaire. It includes both possible reasons for employee dissatisfaction and positive team building factors. Depending on the survey results, you will be able to adjust the organization of the process - for example, entrust it to a specialized company, change the format, number and composition of participants, and so on.

How to order a team building event

If a decision is made in favor of hiring a company specializing in this for team building, two important steps should be taken:

• Provide the organizers with the most accurate information regarding exactly what goals you are pursuing and what result you will consider positive.
• Agree with the organizers on all the fundamental points: budget, preferred scenarios, time and location, number of participants, etc.

To summarize, we can note the following: based on the fact that team building has become the most widespread in business practice throughout the world, it is indeed one of the most effective tools for optimizing work processes in a team and, as a result, a significant increase in productivity.

Team building ideas

There are many types of team building activities. However, most often the same set is used in different variations. Let's divide them into ideas suitable for outdoor team building, as well as for office ones.

Ideas for office team building

Corporate games and indoor competitions are not only training on professional topics.

Office quest

A simple group game that gives a lot of room for creativity. The team is divided into several teams. The presenter hides an object (this could be a prize for the winners or any thing, preferably of symbolic significance). To find an item, there are several clues. Access to each is given to the team that solves the proposed tasks faster than others. These tasks are done by analogy with wedding competitions for grooms: you need to guess encrypted proverbs, correctly put together cut fragments of an image, remember phrases from famous films, and so on - there can be any number of options. The essence of the game is that those who can better use collective knowledge usually win. The quest, like any other intellectual team building, works to unite employees and increase the level of mutual respect in the team.

Minefield ("Sappers")

In a large room (conference room, long corridor, foyer, etc.) objects are placed on the floor or walls without any system - bottles, paper or plastic cones, balls and others. These are "mines". Participants are divided into pairs - necessarily by lot or so that the pairs include representatives, for example, of two different departments. One person is blindfolded, and the second must show the way without touching the partner with his hands and using only a few phrases. Several couples are invited onto the playing field at once, resulting in slight pandemonium, and it becomes very difficult to pass without stepping on a “mine.” The event is a good way to introduce different departments when merging two companies or reorganizing the structure of a company.

Yin and Yang ("Salt and Pepper")

An excellent corporate game for “warming up” the participants of a team building event (the most convenient number is from 10 to 50 people). Each employee receives his own number. The number leader invites participants and attaches a drawing to their back. Paired drawings - Yin and Yang, Tom and Jerry, salt and pepper shakers, man and woman. The participants’ task is to find out their own drawing from their colleagues and find a matching one by answering other people’s questions. Only leading questions are allowed, without specifics. A time limit is set. Through this game, employees get to know each other, learn to ask questions correctly and find the people responsible for a particular task.

Lunch discussion

Theme for an organization where most employees eat in the same canteen or cafe. A draw is held between employees to determine who should sit at the same table with whom (management must also participate in it). Naturally, the usual lunch companies are broken up and new ones are formed. Then everyone is given a common topic for discussion - for example, important changes in the company, a new motivation system, projects that concern everyone, and so on. Employees not only get to know each other better, but also receive a lot of new information. Such activities are recommended to be carried out in companies where the staff lacks information, employees are overly isolated or divided into competing groups. Before conducting such team building, it is worth asking the opinion of employees and under no circumstances forcing them, since for some people, eating is a purely intimate matter. It is best to “lure” personnel with the prospect of receiving exclusive information from first persons.

Drawing a masterpiece

What takes place here is not competition, but cooperation: the team is divided into teams, each of which draws some part of the picture (often the participants are not told what kind of painting they should get). At the end, all the parts are combined into one. Such an event helps staff visualize the concept of teamwork and allegorically shows the content and result of activities in the workplace and in each department.

Ideas for team building in nature

Going out of town with the whole team means not only sharing libations, but also many opportunities to unite the team in other ways.

Rope course

The most famous training, which is very loved by the heads of many companies. It requires a lot of rope (you can also use cables, parallel bars, climbing equipment), several groups of 8 to 12 people and a qualified trainer who is not new to this type of team building. The essence of the ropes course is in exercises carried out by the team “above the ground” - at a height of up to 2 meters (“low”) and up to 15 meters (“high”). Here is an example of several such exercises:

• “Trap” – 4 trees are tied with a rope like a ring, the team is inside. The task is for all players to leave the “ring” from above the rope without touching it and almost without talking to each other. Participants should not be at risk (you cannot swing a player and throw him outside). It requires the mental and physical efforts of the entire team to correctly determine both the method of “taking out” the participants and the sequence of leaving the “trap”.
• “Web” - a grid is stretched vertically with the number of cells according to the number of participants. The team needs to move from one side of this “web” to the other. You cannot get into most cells on your own; you need the help of other participants. If someone touches the ropes, the whole team goes back. You cannot talk during the transition.
• “Labyrinth” - a labyrinth is laid out from a rope on the ground. Each participant must complete it blindfolded, using only the team's hints (the number and format of the hints are limited). Any step leads to the entire team returning to its original position. The exercise requires great unity and great patience from the participants.

The peculiarity of rope training is that there is no time limit. The exercise is considered completed when the last participant completes it. The course gives the team collective responsibility for decisions made.

Psychology of team building

What is the psychological aspect of team building? Any employee is not only an employee, a specialist in his industry, but also, first of all, an individual, with his own character, his own set of beliefs and habits, and a personal attitude towards one or another factor influencing the work process.

At the same time, every leader must understand that no two people are alike. What is a stick for one may not be a stimulus for another. And the “carrot”, which the second one gratefully accepts, will be perceived by the first one as something to be taken for granted. However, people do not reveal many facets of their personality during work interactions. They are used to hiding them.

In order to see some personal aspects, a person needs to be “taken out” of everyday work, provided with conditions in which he will relax and feel not so much as an employee of the company, but as a participant in an interesting gaming or educational process. These are exactly the conditions that various team building activities provide.

By revealing his “I”, a person thereby shows a certain degree of trust to others and in the future it will be much easier for him to interact with his work colleagues. And for a manager, such games and trainings will be an excellent opportunity to better study their subordinates and draw conclusions regarding approaches to stimulating a particular employee.

The effect of team building: what does it depend on?

You need to understand that even the most successful event is just one episode in the life of the company, which can benefit the team, or may remain only a pleasant memory. Psychologists believe that to achieve an effect, team values ​​must not only be declared, but also implemented in everyday activities. The manager can hug the participants of the rope course as much as he wants, but if, upon returning to the office, he publicly humiliates or infringes on his subordinates, there will be no sense in the event. Team building should not be based on mantras about the company as a family, but on very specific measures: recognition of employee success, prospects for development in the profession, fair resolution of conflicts, support for initiative. Then the person will have sufficient motivation to continue working in the company and to support team values.

There are several situations where team building will only worsen the situation in the organization:

• if the manager professes a purely administrative management style and believes that his subordinates should take him for granted (team building in this case turns into an attempt to adjust the team to the director’s values, which very rarely gives results);
• if the main value of the company is considered to be individual achievements, and the motivation system is set up to encourage them (for programmers working partially remotely on individual projects, there is no point in forming a team);
• high staff turnover despite the fact that management does not see anything wrong with it;
• management's fears of competition from lower-level employees;
• the company does not have a clear motivation system, management evaluates employees based on internal feelings (in these conditions it is difficult to formulate the direction of team building, since employees do not know what specific competencies they need to develop for career and professional growth);
• the team already exists and is working normally (the case when the best is the enemy of the good).

What is better: order a team building organization or conduct it yourself?

Every leader must decide this question for himself. On the one hand, organizations specializing in team-building activities have a whole staff of qualified employees - psychologists, presenters, trainers, etc., and also have a set of ready-made scenarios and the manager can only choose the most appropriate one.

On the other hand, the authority of management in the eyes of the team will undoubtedly increase if employees know that the head of the enterprise plans this event himself, taking into account not only the goals set, but also the preferences of his subordinates.

Categories of team building programs

For large enterprises, team building will be a good event that will help solve business problems, bring employees closer together, establishing friendly relationships.

Categories of team building programs

1. Educational. You can learn difficult material in a playful way.
2. Role-playing. You can reincarnate, feel like an actor, musician, cook.
3. Creative. Employee talents can be identified.
4. Entertaining. They help you spend your day pleasantly and profitably and get a charge of positive emotions.

Our capabilities

• We can organize team building in any form, including the formats of a computer game, text correspondence, group call and video;
• We will provide you with a competent and patient moderator for the entire duration of the event;
• We can maintain a team standings table or an individual rating based on the results of completing tasks for greater excitement and intrigue;
• If necessary, we will invite real TV, film and pop stars to participate in the online event;
• We will help you create and demonstrate to everyone the final product of the meeting, be it a comic book, a painting or a video clip.

Our programs

Rope Course

The training is aimed at developing teamwork skills and creating an effective working team. A powerful tool for solving team building problems.

Script programs

The best solution for Companies that want to combine corporate leisure with solving team building problems.

Corporate quest

Quest for employees is a new popular team building format. It will be of interest to both our new Customers and those who have been cooperating with us for a long time.

Water programs

We invite you as a whole office to escape from stuffy Moscow and go to the nearest Moscow region, take a risk and harness the water elements on rafts created by yourself.

Programs in the Team Spirit format

To organize a bright and memorable corporate holiday and corporate parties

New Year, February 23, March 8, Maslenitsa

Thematic programs dedicated to your favorite holidays

Team building indoors

If you want to conduct a program for employees without leaving the office

For children

Children's team building - let's make a holiday for the children together!

Corporate tours to the Caucasus

We organize various types of recreation and business events in the Caucasus.

Corporate party for the New Year

Team building for men

Team building for men, in most cases, is represented by strength competitions or events similar to military training, this is due to the fact that the stronger sex quickly succumbs to the thirst for victory and prefers to be in an atmosphere of combat.

Team building airsoft

To organize the idea, they use a large area, within the boundaries of which the team members remain in the game until the first hit of a conditional bullet. The competition is as close as possible to combat conditions: soft pneumatics and military uniforms are used.

The team plans its tactics to defeat the enemy and complete the tasks assigned according to the scenario.

Since the weapons are filled with beads without pigment, there may be disputes during the game about who should be eliminated.

High altitude team building

In the practice of team building, there are cases where company managers organized a very unusual form of interaction and unification for their employees - climbing to the top of a mountain.

She has a similar experience, having gathered 17 of her colleagues to conquer Everest. It should be noted that such an event becomes a real test, requiring preliminary preparation, both theoretical and physical. Despite all the possible difficulties of the project, the result of the project exceeds all expectations and ensures a truly cohesive team and unity of spirit.

Detective

Two groups of employees need to unravel a murder case while at the crime scene. Participants have only a couple of supposed clues, with the help of which they must reconstruct the details of the crime, find other evidence and identify the killer.

The event lasts about two hours, during which the team members learn to reason together, accept and evaluate everyone’s point of view.

Raftbuilding

A competition that can not only unite a male team, but also develop physical fitness and strength.

Raftbuilding is a whole adventure that includes a number of activities:

• Preparation by the team of their own watercraft (they use improvised materials during production);
• Launching the finished raft into the water;
• Participation in a water quest and completing team tasks.

Radio controlled World of Tanks

Men of any age are interested in computer games in which violent armed conflicts unfold. The game World of Tanks has millions of fans around the world, and using its plot as a basis, you can create an excellent scenario for corporate team building.

According to the legend of the event, participants are armed with radio-controlled tanks or other similar military vehicles. To become the title winner, the team, as expected, must destroy the opponent’s equipment. The participant whose tank was turned over is immediately eliminated from the game.

The event must be supervised by an independent arbitrator, since the assessment must be fair and the opponents’ military strategy must be conscientious.

Karting rally

Adrenaline and speed in the context of team building for adult men will not only unite a team of employees, but also cause a lot of positive emotions.

To hold the event, you must use only specially prepared tracks or the entire rally arena. Participants will have to compete with each other for speed. The team that manages to cover the given distance faster becomes the winner.

In order to bring the competition as close as possible to real-life marathons, the racing cars used must reach good speed. When organizing such team building, it is necessary to take safety regulations seriously.

What is this

Typically used in a business context, the term applies to a wide range of activities related to improving team performance. If you look at modern dictionaries and textbooks, you can find a similar definition: “This is a process that includes a series of operations, each of which has the sole intention of uniting the team, thereby optimizing the internal activities of the company.” Classic events include:

• psychological trainings;
• business games;
• spending time together (recreation, sports, theme parties).

During the interaction stage, participants are connected by a goal, which allows them to more easily understand each other, as well as realize their role in the work process. The English term “team building” can be literally translated as “team building”, which perfectly reflects the essence of the word. Indeed, the logical conclusion is the creation of a single and cohesive association, bound by common tasks.

How do online team building activities work?

Team building programs have several general principles in their mechanics:

• Briefing. To ensure that team building goes according to the script and without delays, the event will have its own curator or instructor who will explain the rules in detail and help the teams interact.
• Division into teams. To pay more attention to each employee and allow participants to get to know each other well, it is better to divide the team into several groups. This way the work will go more smoothly.
• Providing props. You don't have to make do with improvised means or make unnecessary purchases of consumables. We will send links to the necessary applications and useful online tools, and also deliver packages with blanks that you absolutely cannot do without.
• Limited time allocated. Online team building lasts no less than a real meeting. Typically, participants need several calls: a general call for briefing, a team call to discuss the task at hand, and another general call to sum up the results. You can organize an event for 3-5 hours or extend team building over the weekend.

Examples of ideas

To date, many team building scenarios have been developed. Next, we propose to consider the most popular of them.

Office pastime

Games, competitions in the spirit of KVN and other entertainment events perfectly increase the internal motivation of employees and have a beneficial effect on the coherence of actions. Organization options include:

• intellectual duels;
• Board games;
• brainstorm.

In addition, “Mafia” has recently become increasingly popular. This game allows you not only to have fun, but also to learn to feel and understand each other better.

Outdoors

Is there anything more bonding than going out into the fresh air together? The best option is to rent some kind of country base and organize competitive competitions, for example, a football match. As an incentive for both teams, arrange barbecue at the end of the evening, complemented by intimate conversations, songs with a guitar and pleasant company.

Creative

A very extravagant solution is the collective creation of a painting. It is organized as follows: workers are divided into two teams; each of them should paint an image of the company. What is noteworthy is that each element of the created picture symbolizes some positive and negative aspects of the company.

results

The most obvious result is the unity of people. A series of events held allows us to reach a completely different level of professional connections and relationships, when there is no personal competition, and everyone is interested in maximizing their own responsibilities.