Download pdf - Fun Team Building: Fresh Takes on Traditional Weekly Team Building

FRESH TAKES ON TRADITIONAL:

WEEKLY TEAM BUILDING

WHERE TO FIND INSPIRATION

Trying to create unique team building activities can be a challenge, and finding the right resources to bring your group back to life can be difficult and time consuming.

Here are some of our recommended ways to get everyone (including you, leader) inspired for your next meeting:

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1. ASK FOR HELP

Ask your people for their favorite team building or icebreaker activities, and really use them. The asking, by itself, is a great team building activity.


2. SOCIAL MEDIA

It’s a good way to get access to a variety of people. Pose the question to your friends and team to see what their favorite activity is.


3. PINTEREST

There are many resources available on Pinterest, more than just recipes and DIY projects. Search around and see what other activities have been pinned and get creative — put your own spin on what you find.


4. BLOGS/RESOURCES

Team Building leaders love sharing their ideas. What a great way to learn how to run these activities and discover what you should take away from them by following blogs and articles found online. Bonus? It’s a great way to build community and support for leaders, too.


5. FUN TEAM BUILDING POCKET GUIDE

I thoroughly believe in sharing, so here are a few of my favorite team building activities for a variety of groups and situations. Simply go to http://www.funteambuilding.com/resources/pocket-guide-group-activities/


6. HIRE A PROFESSIONAL

At some point, it does become necessary to hire a third party to facilitate. So if you’re ready for a little reinforce-ment, then go ahead and hire a professional to come in and lead your group for a day or a half-day to get those team building juices flowing.


A FRESH TAKE ON THE TRADITIONAL

To help inspire you with some creative ideas, here are a few unique and fresh takes on

traditional activities. These require little to no props, and they aim to engage everybody,

stimulate laughter and energize. Best of all, they allow for compelling

debriefs that stimulate, inspire, and motivate.

INTUITIONTHIS ACTIVITY BRINGS OUT EXCELLENT OUTCOMES SUCH AS COOPERATION, TRUST, LISTENING, LEADERSHIP, PATIENCE, FUN, AND MORE!

Requires no props and 10 – 30 people. Or, you can break down larger groups into smaller groups of 12 – 20.

People sit in a circle or around a table. The goal is to count in order without talking over someone else. For example, if there are 18 in the group, someone starts by saying 1, then another person says 2, then another says 3, and so on until you get to 18. It has to be in a different order every time, all done ran-domly (people can’t say the same number repeatedly). If two or more people speak simultaneously, the activity starts over. There will be plenty restarts! If the group finds this too easy, simply request them to close their eyes. Another great outcome of this activity is its ability to bring up discussions about com-munication. It makes for an excellent debrief with lots of juicy topics.


SCAVENGER HUNTTHIS ACTIVITY ENCOURAGES THE TEAM TO WORK TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY’LL HAVE TO RELY ON EACH OTHER TO GET TO THE NEXT LOCATION SAFELY.

This one requires a bit more planning because you have to plant clues and make sure those clues line up. It’s a great idea to ask members of your team to help you create the details of this activity! Creating it accomplishes the teamwork as much as playing it. You can break your larger group into smaller groups, or keep them all together. Then, hide clues around the area (or campus) and have the group work together to figure out where to go next. If you want to make it even more challenging, at each location have a team member (a) lose their sight (b) lose their hearing or (c) lose their ability to walk.


FACE-2-FACETHIS ACTIVITY PRODUCES LAUGHTER AND ENERGY THROUGHOUT THE ROOM

The only props needed are index cards and pens for this fun activity. It’s also an excellent activity to start a meeting, insert in the middle for an energizer, or end a meeting. Each person needs an index card and pen. Then request each person to find a partner and stand face-to-face with that partner.

The directions: Without looking down at your index card, draw your partner’s face! You will see lots of laughter and energy throughout the room. Here’s the catch: when everyone is finished, ask them to give their drawing to their part-ners, so each is holding the index card of their own face. Then ask them to po-sition the face card on their forehead, walk around the room, and show every-one what they look like! For the debrief, ask the participants what they learned from this. The answers will surprise you.

(And don’t forget the camera for this one!)


TIPS FOR YOU

4. LEAVE THE EGO: focus on the group and what they need to learn. Follow their lead.

2. BE PUNCTUAL: Start the activity on time, and end it on time – people love that.

5. ASK GOOD QUESTIONS: then step back and let the group figure it out. (Don’t give them too many answers; they need to work together to figure it out.)

3. ALLOW FOR SPONTANEITY: some of the best learning comes from the unplanned moments!

6. LAUGH AND HAVE FUN: lead by example. If you’re having fun, then the group will have fun.

TIPS FOR YOUNow that you know where to look for creative inspiration when developing your own icebreakers and team building activities want to encourage you to keep these few tips in mind when leading the team throughout the year:

1. KEEP THE LIST OF ACTIVITIES GROWING: use this resource and others we’ve suggested and add the ones that work for your team to easily accessible lists and folders.

5. ASK GOOD QUESTIONS: then step back and let the group figure it out. (Don’t give them too many answers; they need to work together to figure it out.)

DON’T GIVE UP!LEADING WEEKLY ACTIVITIES IS A LOT OF WORK, AND YOU CAN DO IT! The Fun Team Building team is here to help with some inspiration to make sure you can keep your meetings fresh and engaging. What’s your favorite twist on the traditional? We’d love to add it to our list!

Visit Fun Team Building’s website at www.funteambuilding.com to sign up for expert Larry Lipman’s free monthly newsletter, friend him on Facebook, and check out his blogs. You’ll never run out of ideas!
