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How to Create Effective Team Building Experiences

We can’t stress enough how important having a good team is. And while we’ve already touched on how to create effective team-building experiences in our article Why is Team Building Important?, there’s still so much to be said about creating productive team-building activities that will pull your employees together. And that’s what we’ll be doing today as we break down what makes team-building experiences effective and how you can apply it to your respective teams. If this is something that you’re interested in, read on to learn how to create effective team-building experiences!

Build connections

One element of a good team-building experience is its ability to create organic connections between your team members. And while it’s always great when new friendships are made, it also carries a lot of value from a business perspective. A Psych Central article explains that teams function better if the members get along with each other. This makes sense, as it’s easier to communicate with people that you get along with — and open communication is key when working in teams.

One great way to do this would be to schedule a day out with no formal team-building exercises in mind. Give your team some space and let them interact naturally. By removing the pressure to get along from the equation, your team is more likely to build personal connections with each other. Remember that you wouldn’t want people to feel like they’re being forced to interact, as these won’t make for good and lasting relationships.

Help everyone feel included

The last thing you want to do is make someone feel left out of the team during a team-building exercise. This becomes increasingly important as Inc details how a huge percentage of employees now work remotely, making it a little harder to make them feel included during team-building activities.

This is why you need to be taking your mobile workforce into account, whether it’s planning team activities when your mobile workers are in or taking the time to plan an activity especially for them. A survey conducted by Verizon Connect found that only 62% of remote workers felt looked after by their company. With companies increasingly relying on mobile work for convenience’s sake, it’s only fair to make sure they’re being taken care of, too. Even hosting a virtual get-together will go a long way into making them feel like they’re also part of the team. One way to do this would be to schedule an online quiz night via video conferencing. Invite both your in-house and mobile team members so that they can interact with each other as well.

Ask for feedback

Lastly, you’ll want to get your team’s feedback after a team-building exercise. Fast Company highlights the importance of feedback, as it is a good way to promote a healthy and supportive work environment.

There are two reasons for doing this. First, you’ll want to know what worked and didn’t work so you can make the necessary changes to ensure the next team-building exercise is a step above the last. The second reason is you want to make your team feel like they have a say and that their opinions matter. Doing so will increase engagement and help them become more vocal about things concerning work. And as we’ve already mentioned, being vocal and communicating effectively will do wonders for your team.

Written solely for the use of Virgin Incentives By Jen Bree

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