Top 13 Motivating Team Building Exercises Your Team Will Love

Team building activities are becoming more popular. That’s because they strengthen relationships between the team members and help to teach a healthy competition. It’s also a great way of spending time together and learning new things about each other. Let’s talk about team building activities and how they impact the work environment.

What Is The Purpose of Team Building Exercises?

The answer to this question is simple. The main purpose of team building games is to improve teamwork. Without effective teamwork, it’s impossible to produce a good product or service.

A team is like a second family and it’s important to take care of it. And every family needs a small dose of entertainment. That’s where a good team building game can help.

All the befits that accrue from team activity contribute to the growth of a team and every person as an individual:

The team can learn its strengths and weaknesses and how to work together on them
It enhances out-of-the-box thinking and creativity
Teams learn new strategies that can later apply at work
Team building teaches collaboration in a group where every team member is different and has distinctive point of view – it creates unity
It’s a great way to master problem solving and negotiation skills
People get to know each other while spending time productively
There’s a lot of fun and laughter that breaks the tension and helps people to relax
It’s a perfect employee motivational idea

A good team building activity boosts morale and helps to learn how to handle conflicts. It’s also an efficient way to build a personal rapport with each other. Team members can learn, inspire and get inspired, and share their knowledge with other people.

How Do You Build Team Building Activities?

There are two ways of organizing team building games. You can either prepare such activity by yourself or along with the people on the team, or select one of the available team building games.

The next step is to organize the office space (or find a suitable spot outside the office in the case of outdoor team building activities). Gather your team together and set a time limit – it can vary from 30 minutes to 1 hour or more. You can change rules or set them anew. It’s all flexible.

The ultimate objective is for each team member to get to know one another while having fun.

What Are The Best Team Building Games?

Whether one game is better than the other doesn’t really matter. What’s important is to have fun and spend time together.

If you’re looking for team-building activities that will strengthen the bonds between people on your teams and help them become better at problem solving and creative thinking, here’s the list of team building games you should try.

All the team building activities are top-notch, most popular, and most liked by teams across different organizations. Have fun!

1. Outside the Office

If you want your team to spend time together outside the office, you can simply go out and enjoy your time together. Go to the cinema, theatre, museum, a fancy spot in the city or a local pub. If people on your team like sports activities, you can go hiking, biking or take a walk in a nice park. You can arrange something more unique and special for your colleagues when you have a few days long holidays. A week’s hiking trip to popular destinations might be a great chance to get close to all your teammates. Depending on the trail features and weather conditions you can always plan your routes by consulting with trekking experts from Bookatrekking.com or any other specialized companies. Or, you and your staff can take time out of their day to participate in team building charity events. This way, your team can make a real difference while also helping out those in need at the same time. There are so many different activities to choose from. For example, The Prosthetic Hand Project gives your team the chance to help with the assembly of prosthetic limbs.

The idea is to break away from daily monotonous tasks and relax but also open to each other. It’s the simplest team building activity that allows you to spend time as the office family and value the presence of each other.

2. Board Games

team building exercises This activity is one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways of spending time together. The number of board games is enormous and there’s plenty to choose from.

Some of the most popular include such options as role-playing games with the famous Dungeon & Dragons, Monopoly in different variants, classic Battleship Game, Sorry! Game, Scrabble (great for copywriters and marketing teams!), Checkers, and many, many more.

To work on strategic skills you can opt for chess. It teaches problem solving and patience.

Even a jigsaw puzzle can be fun. Putting all the puzzle pieces together as a team can be surprisingly entertaining.

There are many options and everyone on the team can find something they like. And you can play the games at the office, in the conference room, go to the board games club or even play outside to catch some fresh air.

3. Escape Room

Escape Room is a great team-building activity that incorporates teamwork and problem solving.

This form of entertainment is very popular. The entire group is closed in a themed mystery room. The team must find a way out of the room in a limited time – usually, it is 60 minutes. People need to search for hidden clues and crack puzzles that can help in escaping the room. The game can be played in small groups or in one team.

Escape room lets all participants test their communication skills. It’s a challenging activity that stimulates analytical and creative thinking.

4. The Egg Drop

It’s a super simple but engaging team building activity. In the egg and drop, all participants are divided into small groups. Every team needs to come up with a solution on how to drop the unboiled egg from a second or third floor so it doesn’t break.

People can use any material they want to make the egg package, but to make the task more challenging, it’s best to use only the resources that are available in the office.

The egg drop is an amusing activity that requires collaboration and deep creative thinking.

5. Wolf, goat, and cabbage

team building exercises It’s an old activity dating back to the 9th century. It’s a simple team building game that doesn’t require any tools.

A farmer went to a market and purchased a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. On the way home, the farmer had to cross the river so he rented a boat. But crossing the river by boat, the farmer could carry only himself and only one of his purchases: the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage.

If left unattended together, the wolf would eat the goat, or the goat would eat the cabbage.

The farmer’s challenge was to carry himself and his purchases to the far bank of the river, leaving each purchase intact. How did he do it?

Solving this puzzle requires a lot of brainstorming and smart problem solving. It’s a perfect way for the group to test their analytical skills.

6. Three Truths and A Lie

In this team building exercise all participants seat in a circle. Every team member states three false facts about themselves and one lie. Other people try to guess which of these four is a lie.

The tricky part is to tell the four facts in a random order but also make it hard to distinguish the one lie from the three truths.

It’s a good team building game for remote teams as they have a chance to get to know each other better and learn interesting facts about others.

7. Office Trivia

This is a simple team building exercise even the most toughie person will enjoy. All team members take one thing off their desks (it can be a pen, notebook, paperweight, a mug, etc.) and gather in one room. All objects are placed in the middle of the room and people form a circle around it.

Then, the group must guess who the object belongs to. This game can challenge stereotypes and bring people together.

Remote teams also can play this activity. All participants send a photo of their home office and others on the team must guess whose office it is. This team building game helps to find out interesting facts about other people, their hobbies and learn more about the personality of each of the team members.

8. Team Building Kits

If you’re looking for a game kit dedicated to in-office play, Team Building Kits is the right solution. It was created by professional writers, game builders, and graphic designers.

There are four kits dedicated to different team skills:

Works as an ice breaker and helps to get to know each other
Helps to understand roles that need to be established and processes for problem solving
Teaches to determine best ways to communicate and delegate
Teaches to make better decisions in a specific time limit

In this team building game, all participants work together over a challenge and learn how to cooperate, lead, and talk with other team members.

9. Online Gaming Sessions

team building exercises Online gaming sessions are perfect for remote teams but also fans of video/PC games. People can meet virtually and participate in the session from every place in the world. It’s a great way to learn new things about each other and distance oneself from work.

If your in-office team also enjoys gaming sessions, you can create such an event every Friday evening. Bring some snacks, root beer, play some music and invite everyone in your company to spend time together. Make it an office warming party instead of a housewarming party. You can collect post event survey from your employees to make sure that such events stay productive and engaging.

You can make it more challenging by creating the scoreboard to encourage others to take part in the gaming session.

10. Folding Story (Consequences)

It’s a simple pencil and paper game. The rule is simple, write – fold- pass. One person takes a piece of paper and writes one sentence that begins the story. Then, they fold it so that the next participant cannot see the sentence and passes the paper. The person number two does the same. And so it goes on and on.

In the end, one of the participants reads the story out loud.

This team building game brings a lot of laughter and can be played even during work hours. Just pass the piece of paper to one another in the office and see what happens. Just wait for all the hilarious stories!

You can also check an online version of this team building game for inspiration.

11. Twister

Twister is a fantastic team building activity for those teams that want to exercise a little and have fun at the same time. It doesn’t require problem solving skills , only the distance to yourself and the ability to laugh at yourself.

The game includes a plastic mat with red, blue, yellow, and green spots; a spinner; and instructions. It requires two to four player, with the plastic mat in the center. According to the instructions, “A referee spins the spinner, then calls out the body part and the color the arrow points to (‘Left foot, blue,’ ‘Right hand, yellow’). All players, at the same time, follow the directions, placing the appropriate body part on a vacant circle. Players become increasingly entangled, until someone (or everyone) finally topples, and is eliminated.”

It’s a great tension breaker and doesn’t take much time. You can play it even during a short break. Take on the challenge and be the last one on your team standing!

12. Catch Phrase Game

team building exercises This team building game is an electronic game with 5.000 words and phrases. One of the team members holds the timer and a team must guess the word or phrase that appears on the screen by describing it in any way possible.

But be careful, there’s a time limit and if the buzzer goes off while you or someone on your team holds it, the other team will score a point. There are many categories to choose from to make the game more amusing.

It’s a great team activity for those who work with words – copywriters, writers, marketers, and everyone who enjoys working in a group.

13. Two Sides of Coin

Two sides of coin is one of the most popular team building activities. In this activity, people form pairs or small groups. One person in the group tells about one bad life experience. Others try to find a silver lining in this memory so the person can see the positive aspects.

Then the roles switch and another team member tells their story. It’s a good idea to finish the activity with a short summary – a discussion on what people have learned and how it will affect them both as team members and individuals.

It’s one of the best team building activities as it strengthens bonds between team members and teaches to see positive aspects of unpleasant situations. Using a storyboard maker can be a fun and creative way to visualize the narrative of team building exercises, capturing the progress and outcomes in a memorable format.

Do Team Building Exercises Really Work?

There are people who roll their eyes when they hear the expression “team-building-activities.” And that’s okay, not every person has to like this form of spending time together in a group of people you see for the most part of the day.

Don’t force team builder activities on your team or even one member who doesn’t feel like playing. Ask every team member of their opinion; not everyone feels comfortable playing team building games. It’s important to understand that every person is different and respect their opinion and decisions.

Moreover, there are some boundaries that should not be crossed. People should feel comfortable.

If you’re going out to a restaurant, don’t choose a too expensive place. On the other hand, don’t go for a dark, musty basement where you will be served cheap beer tasting like sweet suds. Choose a location that will be suitable for all team members.

Also, listen to other people in the group. When you’re playing team building games all participants should have the right to express their opinion. Imposing rigid rules will make others feel awkward.

If you want a team building game to come to fruition, you need engagement and willingness to work together of all team members taking part in the activity.

So to answer the question in one sentence, yes, team building activities do work if people want to develop their skills and overcome weaknesses, individually and as a group.

To Wrap It Up

Team building games help to teach how to work together in difficult situations as a group. Team members can also develop problem solving skills, learn techniques of time management, but above all, the team can have a lot of fun.

How do you spend time with people in the office? Do you have your favorite team building game? Let us know in the comments!

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Kate Borucka Kate is a freelance translator, copywriter, and a content writer specializing in time tracking software, time management, and productivity. When not researching new software, she's reading books, or spending time outdoors.