Why Is Team-Building Important in the Workplace?

Research has found that team-building can have a major impact on many areas of your organization. A Team Building Hub survey found that 63% of leaders felt team communication improved after participating in team-building activities, and an additional 61% felt team morale improved.

Team-building is a key strategy we recommend to increase employee engagement at your organization. Whether your people are remote, in the office full time, or somewhere in between, a bonded and collaborative team makes a world of difference.

Employees are more likely to enjoy their work and work well together with others when they have developed good social bonds. Building a solid team takes time, experience, and getting into the day-to-day of work, but company outings and retreats can help push things along by giving employees a chance to bond on a deeper level.

Below, we’ll explore the best benefits to team-building activities and a few tips and tricks for how to improve morale at work. Find out how satisfied your employees are with BambooHR.

Why Is Team Building Important?

Team-building activities help employees value each other's strengths, learn how to rely on each other, and create positive dialogue (among many others). Ultimately, team building can ensure everyone works well as one cohesive team. As the saying goes, teamwork does make the dream work, and fostering team-building exercises can help keep that dream team together.

Benefits of Team-Building Activities

Team-Building is useful in a broad sense, but it also has more specific, tangible benefits. These include:

• Communication: Team-bonding activities encourage open dialogue. Whether revealing a random fact about themselves or brainstorming ideas, it allows people to talk to others within the company they may not always work with and therefore not always speak with.
• Morale: Getting away from the desk, having time to share thoughts and feelings, and learning how others are feeling can boost morale and produce a new sense of satisfaction in the job.
• Skill development: Team-building activities can promote problem-solving, creative thinking, and leadership qualities, among other skills. This can spark inspiration and encourage employees to continue developing these skills.

Best Team-Bonding Activities for the Office

If you don’t have time or budget to do team bonding activities at a retreat or away day, there are still plenty of reasons to try team bonding activities in the office.

Team-bonding activities like "Two Truths and a Lie" and "Office Quiz," encourage personal sharing in a fun and relaxed way, building trust and connections. When your team learns more about each other's backgrounds and experiences, they are more likely to work collaboratively and support one another.

Let’s talk about how a few creative activities, like Desert Island Item and The Egg Drop, can add a dose of vulnerability and innovation to your team. For example, Desert Island Item is a great way to uncover people’s values and what’s most important to them. The Egg Drop, on the other hand, is all about collaboration and problem-solving. By encouraging these types of activities, you’ll help your employees feel more connected to the company and its goals.

Sales Pitch is one of the most effective team building activities for coordination and communication. It helps employees develop skills such as brainstorming, delegating work, and public speaking. These skills can increase the confidence of employees and help them to work together more efficiently, ultimately leading to more productive and cohesive teams within the workplace.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our mega list of 60+ team-building activities for work.

Team-Building Activities Away from the Office

Sometimes employees feel strained interacting with one another inside the office. This is where doing team-bonding activities in a different environment can help. When employees are taken outside the office and are surrounded by an informal setting, they can relax and enjoy each other’s company.

You have a few options for finding the perfect location for your team-building activities. Some employers provide a weekend retreat that includes dinners and seminars. Others may hire a hall or a different workspace.

Because employees spend time together after hours and in different situations as a whole group, employees have more opportunities for bonding and relating to one another in finding common interests. It’s nice to get away from the ringing telephones and other office noises and really get to know each other.

Building Skills and Strategies

At the retreat, you can include exercises that’ll help team building and increase the skills of your employees. For example, you can have employees rely on and trust each other by having them do trust falls or work together with relays or even a contest to see which team can build the tallest tower out of dry noodles and marshmallows. You’ll find employees rally around each other, and they learn how to best work with one another.

These team-building efforts can give employees game plans for how to deal with various problems after they’re back in the office. This can also be a good time to address any other problems that affect the company or re-inspire your employees by covering the company’s vision. Brainstorming sessions, formal presentations, and games are all fun ways to tackle many issues that come up at the office.

How to Encourage Employees to Take Part

Even if you make attendance for the team-building activities mandatory, some employees may not want to take part. There are some ways you can encourage everyone to get involved, including:

Prizes

Your employees will remember the prizes they get for creating the tallest marshmallow tower. Even if it’s just a candy bar or something more useful, like reusable grocery bags imprinted with a special message or your company’s logo. What’s more, you’ll create brand awareness each time your employee takes a bag to the grocery store!

Company Swag

Employees love getting free stuff. When you are on a retreat with your employees, you can offer them other new products with your company name and logo. For example, let’s say you’ve planned a picnic lunch for employees. Why not give each of them a picnic lunch in personalized lunch bags? Employees will appreciate the gift. This type of branded promotional product makes great incentives for employees.

Invest in the Activities

If employees see that you’ve taken time to plan and invest in the team-building day—such as a retreat—employees will have a renewed sense of loyalty to your company. They will likely be happier—and happier working together—and everyone will have a fresh perspective on how to best work together in the future.

Enjoy the Fun of Team Bonding

Team-bonding activities and team retreats are more than work; they’re fun. They present great opportunities for employees to bond on a deeper level beyond their office desks. Find out how your employees are feeling with BambooHR.