I am in the process of transitioning from my current position of corporate accountant to
What are your favorite team building exercises?
Answers
Stay away from structured, out of a book, and at the office endeavors. Find out what your team does for fun outside the office, and let them bond doing it. I have had great experiences bowling, playing miniature golf, and even with a long fondue type meal. Also, just taking the team out for lunch as a surprise with no warning always scores big points.
Chris
Set the tone-not as a drill sergeant or micro manager, but as a human being and team leader. You do all need to work in line with the company vision and strategy, so ask them to articulate what they understand that to be and how they add value to its creation/execution. Get alignment across the team.
Establish/agree on personal values, what to do if someone needs help/makes a mistake, etc. Be fair, equitable, set boundaries, make sure mutual trust is a given.
Then get out the way- a good manager creates an environment where his/her team can really do well and enjoy their work. :)
Be open to their daycare and healthcare issues. If they need a little time off to take Johnny to the doctor, let them go. If you are supportive of their needs they will be supportive of yours.
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Completely agree. That's one thing about the company that has been very helpful. My supervisor has been excellent about things like that.
I agree with Ernie to get out of the office. That's where people become themselves especially if they are enjoying themselves. One idea is the Escape Room/Game (if there is one near you). It is a great team building event. Everyone has to work together to figure out the clues to "escape" the room... and it's fun! It's only an hour but I guarantee they'll be talking about it for days.
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That's a great idea. There are a few around me in Knoxville. I've heard great things about them from folks I know.
HI Randy. I totally agree with you. What happens when the person takes the time off, but is not willing to put in extra time when needed?
When I worked in a
Personally, I didn't care for anything recreational, but I understood what they were trying to do and went along with it. I prefer to bond with people over collaborative projects and sommething that adds real value to my life and
Like many accountants, I relish what is functional and reject fluff.
So taking the great advice from above coupled with gathering ideas from your team could be a winning combo.
I agree with everyone post, however before you implement any changes, take the time to get to know your team (listen & observe). Since you initially will have four direct reporting team members, I always found that inviting each one individually either for coffee or lunch was a great way to personally get to know them. Then when planning your team building games, make sure to include them in the planning.
As Jaime mentioned, not everyone may care for anything recreational. However if you include your entire team in the planning of the game/outing, they will feel appreciated and part of the team.
Hi Stewart,
If in return they don't put in the time when needed they either don't advance or they get fired. Flexibility goes a long way but people still need to get the job done.
Even without "exercises", I have found that keeping the workplace atmosphere "light" and at the same time accomplishing goals impacts heavily on team relationships, effectiveness or efficiency.
1
I've never understood organizations that run on artificial deadlines that aren't prioritized in the first place.
That leads to both constant fire fighting and those not fire fighting running around like chickens without their heads. Both activities are completely unproductive!
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Having conducted dozens - if not hundreds of workshops for business/corporate and government employees, I am certain that most hate team building exercised that do not seem relevant to the task at hand. So, fun and cute exercises are enjoyed by those who are happy wasting time, but are resented by those valuing the time the give to the workshop or meeting.
Thus, team building exercises should be relevant - the questions should have face validity for the participants.
Sometimes I create a puzzle - with each of the pieces respresenting some aspect of the company - or the problems to be solved. Participants need to put the puzzle together to make a whole - which makes a valuable point about contribution to the bottom line.
Other times, I have them talk about themselves in ways they haven't done before so people can get to know each other better and thus develop trust.
In other words - I design my exercises to fit the situation - and to NOT waste time.
The one exercise I have found to be enlightening is having a charity/team building event, see below for example.
Go to a local bike shop and get a number of packaged (boxed) bikes for primary/middle school aged children. Prior to the event (without everyone knowing), open the boxes and exchange some of the hardware between the boxes, so that the individual bikes cannot be completed, without negotiating with other individual(s)/team(s) for their resources/hardware. The only instructions I initially provide is that "all components to complete the assembly of the bikes are included in the boxes". You can make this event substantially harder by separating each group so that they cannot see or hear what the others are doing.
Individuals come out of this exercise
Once the event is completed and all bikes are built, we donate them to local charity, which happens to be the Children's Hospital.
I typically find team building events which are focused on the functional work the team does, usually leads to lower participation levels, vs an event tied to a bigger cause. An event such as the above usually has great response due to their individual competitiveness.
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Human Capital