There are many factors to consider when deciding on a team building activity (and even more so when deciding on the best, most appropriate activity for your group or situation). Hello?! Opportunities for Making Money through Teamwork! If you look up "team building events" online, you'll find listings for anything from indoor team training to charity events to outdoor scavenger hunts and ropes courses. While the results of wonderful shared-experiences that aren't team building exercises can be joyful and me


morable for teams, they won't actually foster collaboration unless the team's morale is already quite high to begin with.


The question now is how to choose the best team building activity for your company.

There are essentially three categories of group contests or missions. Below is a list of my recommendations and the situations where they work well.

Collective Instruction Through Playing Cooperative Games:

This can be any kind of group activity whose main purpose is to make everyone have a good time. As long as the party size is manageable and spirits are up, activities like these may be a lot of fun for very little money. Bowling and golf are always safe bets, but if you want to spice things up a bit, you can also do (or miniature golf). When looking for a fun place to take a large group for food and games, Dave & Buster's is a top pick (arcade games, pool, etc.). Activities like travelling to a theme park or enjoying supper and a show may make the most of a day off. Just about anything that brings you delight will do. There are literally dozens of companies out there that cater specifically to "non-team building" activities. My definition of "non-team building" simply refers to the fact that these companies derive the bulk of their revenue from some other activity, with team-building activities serving just as a sideline. Companies that focus on these kinds of entertainments include large resort hotels, cooking schools, racetracks (racing schools), theme parks, bowling alleys, and so on. However, once your group size increases to more than 20 people or if you have a specific challenge within your group that you want to improve, such as communication challenges, a new team leader, groups that have merged together, or other team issues, these types of team activities can actually be counter productive.

Classroom Activities That Foster Cooperation

Since most of us equate classrooms with being bored to tears, the general public has a negative connotation toward them. However, enthusiastic and entertaining team building firms and instructors are out there. Teams who invest in hiring professional facilitators to lead these in-class activities may see significant improvements to their team building efforts in a short period of time. When everyone is having a good time and contributing to the collective effort, everyone gains more from the experience, and the group as a whole is able to accomplish more than anyone could have imagined before. A corporate team building event like this is ideal if your company is merging with another and you need to establish a new team culture or if you just had a change in management and want to start again. Breakout sessions at an annual conference or company-wide quarterly meetings are also highly productive times to organise such gatherings. These facilitators may also deliver amusing and engaging keynote speeches at your conference or meeting. Finding organisations that focus on classroom activities is more challenging than finding shared-experience events. If the organisation prioritises major events above smaller ones like seminars and workshops, you may end up with a bunch of rah-rah activities that don't produce the best results. Google searches for "classroom team building" or "classroom team building seminars" should turn up a respectable selection of viable options from which to choose.

Mass Participation Team-Building Exercises:

This kind of event bears a remarkable resemblance to the small group team activities outlined in the previous paragraph, as well as the immense effort involved in actually executing one. To keep a group of eight people entertained, you may split into two foursomes at the golf course or rent two lanes at a bowling alley. However, unless the facilitators really know what they're doing, a lot of people will be standing about doing nothing and growing bored whether you have 100 people or 1000 people, and whether you do the same things. Here is where you should seriously consider spending some money on a professional team building firm if you have a large group and want your staff to have fun and stay active. (This is essential if your good name is at stake.) By the way, you should not have your event planner make this choice for you. A good number of event planners will go above and beyond to meet your needs as a customer. This includes finding great deals on hotel rooms, organising intricate activities, ensuring that the group's cuisine is suitable, etc (you). That is to say, they will accommodate your preferred team-building event or activity, even if they know it won't be the most effective for your group. Contacting a professional team building fun events berkshire on your own will provide far better results, as the experts there will help you select the ideal activity for your group. If you're dealing with a mediator like an event planner, they'll let you know if there's a problem, but if you're directly working with them, they'll tell you. The planner will bend over backwards to accommodate your needs, and they may even go so far as to engage an outside company to do it. You will most often run into the first type of group indicated in the preceding phrase. When there is a lot at stake at a big gathering, you need to exercise extraordinary caution.

Two basic questions will help you choose the best outing for your group. Let me start by asking if you are (1) aiming to modify some aspect of your usual behaviour. If so, you should hire a fantastic team oriented keynote speaker or get in touch with a team building organisation that focuses on classroom team training. Second, how many people are in your group? Bowling is a great way for a small group of people to hang out and have a good time. Contact a company that specialises in presenting large charitable team building outdoor events or entertaining corporate activities if you are in charge of organising a large group and you just want everyone to have a nice time. You can save a lot of money with their assistance, and they will ensure that the event runs properly.