Team building activities in a hybrid workplace

When asking ‘What is team building?’, you may imagine staff sanding in circles to conduct team bonding, or department managers falling backwards to be caught by administration staff during trust games.

Team building activities are indeed often games or exercises. But really, any workplace activity that improve collaboration skills can fall into this category, from office to outdoor to virtual team building activities. As well as sharpening teamwork, collaboration and problem-solving skills, plus improving general motivation, they should ideally entertain and positively challenge work teams.

What is effective team building post-pandemic?

With so many companies and organisations allowing remote, hybrid and home working, organising group team building activities isn’t as straightforward as it was a few years ago. Team bonding is, however, just as important ever.

Many managers have turned to virtual team building activities while still recognising the high value of in-person team building exercises. Indeed, with so many employees working in isolation and not having so much facetime with colleagues, it’s arguably more vital than ever to proactively build team comradery and communication skills.

Why does team building matter?

When building a team, its effectiveness will be defined by much more than the combined talents and abilities of the individual team members. To succeed, the team members should be motivated to perform at their best within that team, and be inspired to help their team achieve its goals.

To do this, the team members should communicate effectively and work well in conjunction with each other. Some individuals may not naturally have strong communication or teamwork skills, in which case team building activities can oil the cogs of their teamwork abilities. Some employees may not have strong work relationships with certain members of their teams, perhaps because they don’t often work directly together, in which case team building exercises can help break ice and forge better relationships.

Group team building activities can be huge factors in increasing motivation levels in work teams. By forging stronger relationships within the team, building trust and respect, you can build a team with members more willing to work hard for each other as well as the business.

Top team building activities

1. Quizzes: For team building in a hybrid workplace

A team quiz, or ‘pub quiz’, is one of the most popular team building games and can take place either in-person or virtually.

Assigning the role of quiz master can be a fun way to give more responsibility to a team member, plus help sharpen their organisational and diplomacy skills. With Zoom, it’s straightforward to present picture, music and video quiz rounds in a similar way to a traditional pub quiz.

It’s useful to make sure that quiz teams include team members who may not normally interact closely with each other and are of differing levels of seniority. This can help forge new working relationships and improve work team harmony and respect.

2. Murder mystery: Another top virtual team building option

A murder mystery event is another fun team building activity that can take place virtually, making it a good option for hybrid workplaces.

There are now companies offering high-quality online murder mystery events that can be tailored to a team’s size and interests. Packages for online murder mystery games can be a more affordable option. Enthusiastic team members may also want to design and execute a murder mystery event themselves.

When researching potential murder mystery games for your virtual team building exercises, it’s wise to consider whether the content of the game features any topics that may be sensitive for some team members.

3. Team member insight: Quick hybrid working hits

Virtual team building activities don’t have to be lengthy, meticulously planned events. A simple, effective team building activity could be asking team members to tell a short, interesting story about themselves at the end of a virtual meeting or workday. It could be recommending a book or film they think would resonate with the team. Anything that allows them to show a bit more of themselves to the team can help the team work better together.

Other corporate team building activities

Just because you have a hybrid work environment or allow full remote working, doesn’t mean your work teams can’t convene in person for fun team building activities. Group team building activities can be great ways of getting a full work team together in-person, forging relations that are normally conducted online.

There are many outdoor team building activities to consider, from a scavenger hunt, to more active events such as paintballing or go-karting, if suitable for all members of the team. Team building centres offer packages of activities and events, often including meals, that can be tailored to a team.

For office based indoor team building activities, you could organise an ‘Office Olympics’ event featuring a variety of fun team building games. Table tennis, egg and spoon races and bean bag toss games are just a few potential options. These activities could be undertaken on their own for shorter, more spontaneous team building activities.

Planning team activities: A team activity

When considering potential corporate team building activities and how to build high performing teams, don’t forget that they are supposed to be highly-inclusive and fun. Talk to the team about options, get their input, and implement team building activity plans that are likely to motivate them. Your plans should allow your team to enjoy themselves, whether in the office, taking part in an outdoor team building activity, or online.

At PageGroup, we work with leading employers to help them attract, hire and retain high performing, satisfied teams. Whether you’d like to understand more about team building activities or are looking to hire new talent, we are available to help. To arrange a call with one of our specialists, get in touch today.