Staff team building activities

Want to try a fun experiment? Ask your direct reports right now if they want to do some team building activities.

You don’t even have to tell me their reactions – I can imagine them already: backs stiffening, eyes rolling, minds wandering. The very mention of the words “team building” usually evokes an immediate response among staff, and it isn’t good.

And why should it be? For most people, any experience with formal group bonding events in the workplace has been underwhelming at best, and downright miserable at worst (myself included). Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, most people today are working harder then ever – the last thing they want is to hear is that they have to give up a portion of their workday to go do some “rah rah” teamwork thing, which will most likely be cheesy, lame and completely ineffective.

Staff HATE team building activities.

Which is such a shame; now more then ever, hard-working employees need to feel motivated, have their morale boosted and receive a well-deserved “thank you” from the bosses for a job well-done. When done correctly, however, well-planned events which are customized for both specific audiences as well as specific goals can be extremely effective in not only making staff happier, but in producing better teamwork which can be replicated back in the office – resulting in more efficient, higher-quality work, as well as happier clients.

Unfortunately, the perception of teambuilding activities in NYC and elsewhere being what it is, getting your team excited about even the idea of a team bonding event is going to be a challenge. In order to get your people to “buy in” to doing an event, it must be one which truly resonates – something which instantly screams “fun,” “unique” and “social,” and which is appropriate for the group’s culture and style.

Here is a useful guide to help match appropriate team building activities to your company’s culture.