Maintaining your teams connected, engaged, and productive is not easy, especially when many work remotely or hybrid. However, keeping the team spirit is vital for every organization as it helps build a better work culture, encourages communication, and increases collaboration.
Hence, incorporating team building or bonding activities helps your employees work together, increases their motivation to complete tasks promptly, and polishes their delegation, trust, and accountability skills.
With remote/hybrid working and restrictions changing worldwide, team building in 2022 requires good planning and careful execution, but above all, lots of creativity. So, what are the trends looking like for this year?
Virtual Team Bonding for Remote Teams
Virtual team-building and team bonding activities are the most accessible solutions to connect and engage teams, regardless of their location. They are a perfect method to help your workforce quickly adapt to a new remote work lifestyle and minimize the negative impact of online workplace cultures and the added stress of the global health crisis.
Our Favorite Activity: Virtual Happy Hour
Get your team together for a virtual happy hour once a week or once a month using a video conferencing platform. This activity can last 15-30 minutes if you want it to be spontaneous and intentionally unproductive. However, you can also make it more structured- add a theme, create fun activities and games to play, and take care of the drinks and snacks. The best thing about this better-designed version of this team bonding activity is that people will actually want to take part and enjoy it even though it will mean sitting in front of the computer.
Outdoor Team-Building Activities for Hybrid Teams
Hybrid working becomes the new normal as many employees are heading back to the office but not five days a week and not nine-to-five, they split their time between the workplace and remote working. So, heading out into the great outdoors for these teams is a fantastic way to reconnect.
As team members attend the office on different days, outdoor team building activities provide a great way to deepen relationships between them, sharpen problem-solving and communication skills and connect with nature.
Our Favorite Activity: Corporate Tree Planting Day
This team-building activity is an excellent way for teams to work together, connect and make a positive environmental impact in their local communities. For best result, plan this team-building as full-day activity.
Divide your workforce into smaller teams of two to three people. Arm them with a spade, a tree, a spiral to protect it, and a cane to support that spiral. Challenge the teams to track down prearranged locations, plant the tree, and take photos as evidence. Remember that you will need to arrange your tree planting activity through a reforestation organization or with your local authorities beforehand.
Team-Building Focused on Well-Being for Teams Returning to the Office
In many companies, employees are returning to the office, and many are saying that they feel increased stress. So maybe doing team-building at work will not be such a great idea. Let’s face it, even pre-pandemic, these types of team-building activities typically resulted in more eye rolls among teammates than high-fives. And now it is even trickier. For this reason, providing your employees with a space to breathe or a gentler place to recharge is a great way to help every employee improve their focus and engagement.
Our Favorite Activity: Introduction to Yoga
Introduction to yoga (or you can also opt for guided meditations) aims to provide your team with health benefits, such as decreased stress and increased flexibility. The idea is to take your team out of the office and into a space that feels calm- it can be outdoors (woods, park, beach) or in a retreat complex, depending on your budget. The important thing is that the surroundings must get people to relax. Yoga is a great team bonding activity and an example of a team-building workout that can lead to stronger relationships and improved communication.
Bottom Line
Every company wants its employees to work well together and be more productive, successful, and fun to work with. However, for your workforce to be always on the top of their game, you must create an empowering working culture. The best way to do that is to regularly plan and execute fun and meaningful team-building exercises that build trust and a spirit of unity among your teams.
They can help you foster friendships among team members, drive team cooperation, inspire productivity and motivation and boost team spirit and morale. Most importantly, they will help you promote positive company culture. So, if you need a place to start, take advantage of our top three corporate team-bonding ideas and surprise your team with an adventurous and enjoyable day.
