Top business analysts all agree – team building increases your company’s bottom line.
It’s very important for coworkers to feel friendly and comfortable around each other. Team cohesion can be inspired by a whole host of team building activities.
The hot summer months lend themselves to a plethora of fun team building activities that will boost morale of even the most curmudgeonly of employees.
Here’s a list of possible team building events you can plan for. This list can also be used for clever networking meeting ideas.
- Cook-off
- Beach party
- Go-kart racing
- A charity event
- Camping trip
- Sports day
- Community clean up
Cook-Off
If your team consists of microwave noodle enthusiasts, admittedly this summer team building activity may not be the right fit for your company.
However, most functioning adults love cooking, and almost everyone loves eating.
The basic premise is this – buy a whole bunch of ingredients and divide the participants into teams.
Next, provide the team with tasks – one team should make an entree, the other a main course, one should make a pizza type, while another makes some sort of dessert. You can add an extra twist – pick an ingredient each team has to use in their dish.
Of course, make sure you have a safety catering option, so people don’t go hungry in case of a kitchen mishap.
If you hold this type of event outdoors, it’s guaranteed fun for everyone – the ones who cook get to show off their skills, while the others have a chance to lay back, enjoy a responsible drink and wait for lunch to be served.
Beach Party
A beach party is a perfect opportunity to get your employees to loosen up, relax and really get to know each other.
You will, of course, be best off renting out an enclosed area of a waterfront so your team can have the privacy to really get down to some serious unwinding.
The great thing about a beach party is – you don’t really have to do anything else. Provide them with ample drinks and a great view of the sunset, and people don’t ask for much more.
Of course, you can plan out some activities. Just make sure you’re not pressuring anyone to participate.
Here are a few examples of beach party activities for your team building event:
- Sandcastle competition
- Tug-of-war
- Barbecue
- Scavenger hunt
- Volleyball tournament
- Open cocktail bar
Depending on your company culture, the dress code should be casual. Swimsuits should be allowed but in good taste. Revealing beach attire can entice the wrong kind of atmosphere for a work event.
Go-Kart Racing
If you’ve got a particularly ambitious set of people working in your company, go-kart racing is the best way to induce a healthy competitive spirit.
This adrenaline-pumping activity will provide a chance for everyone to show off their skills. You can divide the staff into teams, have different departments race each other, for example.
Of course, you will need to set up a prize pool for the winners. Also, you will need to insist on complying to safety protocols enforced by the go-kart racing provider.
Charities
Hosting a charity event is one of the best ways to engage your employees as well as do something good for the community. Summer months lend themselves to a whole host of charity fundraising activities.
- Hold a charity run. Donate a certain amount of money for each mile run.
- Visit a children’s hospital and bring gifts. Spend some quality time with the kids.
- Visit the local home for the elderly and take the residents out for a walk.
- Organize a charity auction where the proceeds go to an organization of your choosing.
- Have a cooking day and donate the food to a local homeless shelter.
Camping trip
Camping isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. You can be sure of that. But if you have a team of outdoorsy types, organizing a camping trip is a definite home run.
There’s something about sitting around a campfire that brings out the most primal community instinct in humans. You can be sure that an experience like this will create strong and valuable connections between your employees.
You don’t have to go down the Appalachian Trail. As a matter of fact, that isn’t a very smart idea. A simple overnight camping trip will do the trick. Have your more outdoorsy employees help everyone pitch their tents, or hire a professional to do the work for you.
If you have a particularly urban team, you can research ‘glamping’ – the much more comfortable version of camping.
Company Picnic
Sometimes the simplest solutions work the best.
All cliches are cliches for a reason, and a company picnic is no exception.
Some food, some drinks, a big table, and some music. That’s all people need to get the conversation started and bond on a personal level.
Make sure you find a spot that can host your entire workforce, and you don’t need to do much more. If you’re really a controlling type, you can organize picnic games like scavenger hunts, tug of wars, or badminton tournaments.
Sports day
Let’s face it – us corporate office types spend most of our lives sitting down at a desk. That’s no good for anyone.
A company sports day can send the best type of message to your staff.
A good way to entice interaction and a competitive spirit is to organize a tournament and provide prizes for the winning teams. Here’s a list of sports you can consider for your summer team building event:
- Basketball
- Badminton
- Tug-of-war
- Three-legged race
- Archery
- Volleyball
Your best bet is to have a few sports to accommodate everyone’s fitness levels.
Community clean-up event
Here’s another way to hit two birds with one stone – induce cohesion within your staff and help the community. Teams that can collaborate are teams that succeed, research shows.
The first thing you need to do is find a nearby location that needs cleaning up. Depending on the size of your staff, this can be just a busy intersection, a block, or maybe even an entire neighborhood.
Provide your employees with gloves, shovels, rakes, brooms, and trash bags, and start collecting. You can unclog the drains, clean graffiti, and report abandoned vehicles.
Proper hygiene is paramount. And almost equally as important – a nice meal after the event, to cement the good feeling after a job well done.
Also, make sure you get your hands dirty as well – it would really send the wrong message if the boss just stood on the sidelines, while the team collects trash.
Conclusion
There’s no shortage of summer team building activities.
There are just a few things you need to make sure of. Don’t force your employees to participate in events that make them uncomfortable. Don’t treat your employees like children – people are perfectly capable of entertaining themselves without someone looming over them and forcing them to partake in activities. Make sure the atmosphere is civil, and be careful with alcohol. And the most important thing – let people have a day off and not think about their work assignments if you want them to truly relax and build relationships.
