Turn ANY Office Activity Into a Team Building Event

Hunger Games style Nerf battle in the office? Team building. Bringing a photographer in to shoot new profile photos? Team Building. Office trashcan hoops tournament? Yes, team building. I can make cleaning the storage closet a team building moment. Team building activities aren’t limited to facilitator led sessions. Embrace the idea that it doesn’t matter WHAT you do. It’s about reflecting on what happened while you were engaged.

Every team building event should add value to your organization. After the event you need to reflect on what happened during the activity. Can you recognize how it affects, helps, or changes how you do your job? My goal as a facilitator is to help groups find that meaning. Any facilitator will help find where you’ve increased communication, elevated engagement, strengthened relationships, or increased trust. Each of those benefits has a direct effect on productivity and profits. If you don’t have a facilitator handy, below are 3 easy questions that can help you find meaning in ANY activity. Going Bowling? Ask these questions. Volunteering at a shelter as a company? Ask these questions. Covering a coworker’s car with Post-its? Post on Instagram then ask these questions.

Before you unleash these on your group, consider how You would answer them. Ask your first question to the group then count silently and slowly to 10. The group will break and speak before you do. The hardest part is staying silent until they break. You can do it.

1. Why did we do this activity?

• This makes the group to consider the cause and effect of this outing. If you went bowling it wasn’t because you were dying to wear the shoes. Or because you really wanted to win a bowling match. What’s the greater truth to this action? Increased cameraderie? Building forearm muscles? Try to steer them away from catchall answers like “team building”.

2. What worked or didn’t work during this activity?

• Exploring what worked and didn’t allows the group to reflect on their behaviors as individuals and a group. It opens the successes and failures to discussion. A great follow-up to this is “Where else does this behavior, problem, or habit show up?”

3. What have we learned that we can apply to the workplace?

• This is the key question. It connects the activity and the people to an actionable idea. And idea that will have an effect on the success of your shared work endeavor.

Adjust the questions to fit your activity. Remember, If you’re not debriefing your team outings or activities the value IS being lost. Increase your productivity, highlight engagement, and boost profits by utilizing the power of reflection. 

If you’d like help creating that Hunger Games style Nerf battle, call us. Or if you need an experienced facilitator to work with your team, call us. You know what? Just call us. We’ll chat and reflect on why you called us and you’ll soon be stuffing your bank account with profits. Be prepared for questions though – james@fireflyteamevents.com – 877.267.7149

FireFly Team Events creates events that your team actually WANTs to do. Crazy fun immersive events that help you build happy, healthy, and engaged teams. Call somebody else if you want to trust fall. We produce team building events in Los Angeles and Orange County and anywhere people have teams. http://www.fireflyteamevents.com