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7 team building methods & how to choose the right one for your team

Team building is important. It’s an essential part of any company’s success. 

 

It’s also a buzzword.

 

A boss or team leader isn’t going to get very far using team building in their workplace without giving it some serious thought. 

 

Quality team building should lead to specific results. It can improve communication, boost morale, and hone collective skills. At the end of the day, good team building should help you build and retain a unified, cohesive, and effective team.

If you're new to team building, you should also be aware of challenges you might face and ways to encourage employees to engage in activities before you get going.

7 team building techniques: Start with purpose

Team building can be fun and interesting. But it also needs to have a purpose. Team building activities for strategic planning, in particular, can vary depending on many factors, such as: 

  • Corporate structure
  • The size of your team
  • Interdepartmental groups
  • The goals of your organization

 

Each of these is important to consider. For instance, is your group made of veteran leaders? Are team members part of a new IT department? Does the group have people from different professional backgrounds? Are they struggling to perform, or are they already effective?

 

Your team building methods will change depending on your answer to questions like these. As you figure out your needs (more on how to choose your methodology further down), you can figure out which of the following effective team building methods are right for your situation.

1.  Ice breakers set the tone

Ice breakers are by far the most common team building tool. They consist of short, quick, and often free team building activities

 

Ice breakers can have a few different team building goals. For a new team, they are a good way to “break the ice.” They get everyone laughing, talking, and interacting.

 

Even for veteran teams, a good ice breaker game can set the tone. It can get brains going in the morning. It can also help everyone focus and prepare to work as a group.

2.  Activity-driven ideas bring your team together

Activity-driven team building focuses on developing rapport and community. Unlike ice breakers, these tend to focus on more intensive team building. They can be much longer and work well with old and new teams alike.


A few good examples of activity-driven team building include fun things, like:

 

These team building activities, and others like them, help teams relax and unwind. They foster team bonding, too. 

 

If a team is tired and needs a break, pulling out a good activity-driven team building game can be the perfect solution. It can lighten the mood and help everyone recharge for a bit without the need to use personal time to do so.

3.  Communication team building avoids issues

Bad communication is public enemy number one in the workplace. The problem is that there are so many things threatening good communication for most modern teams.

 

Remote work, in particular, can keep groups from getting on the same page. So can the interactions of full-time, part-time, and contract workers. Trying to sync up teams with flexible schedules is another common issue.

 

Team building for communication focuses on addressing these ongoing concerns. It focuses on things like emotional intelligence and working as a group — no matter the circumstances — to achieve a common goal.

 

It doesn’t matter if a team is brand new or has a long history of working together. All teams need to communicate well, and communication team building can help.

4.  Trust-building is a subtle essential

Things like communication and engagement within a team are all well and good. But they won’t get you very far without a solid level of trust within the rank and file. That’s where trust-building team building techniques come into play.

 

These are activities that work on the relationship aspect of your team. They help people learn about one another’s personalities, history, and inclinations. They break down digital barriers and humanize your workforce. 

 

Rapid turnover has become common. Remote work creates geographic barriers. If your team is struggling to establish trust due to the natural disruptions of the 21st-century workforce, trust-focused team building is a good option.

5.  Problem-solving sharpens your group’s impact

One of the key functions of a work team is to solve problems together. After all, if you could figure out issues on your own, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t need to work together in the first place.

 

This need to problem solve creates an interesting issue for some teams. Even when individuals are excellent problem solvers, often their approaches can vary.

 

That’s where problem-solving team building can be a game-changer. Problem-solving games focus on presenting a challenge to your team. They must group together and pool their collective skills to overcome the issue. This naturally helps them learn to lean on one another's strengths when working together.

6.  Skill-building invests in the long-term

Problem-solving and communication are skills so important that they get their own official team building methodologies. However, the truth is that there are many other beneficial skills that team members can learn as a unit.

 

If you have a group working together over the long term, you may want to consider skill-based team building. These can focus on a variety of different talent-based objectives, such as:

  • Time management.
  • Leadership
  • Critical thinking.
  • Collaboration.
  • Active listening.

 

Some of these complement other skills. For instance, critical thinking is an important facet of problem-solving. Active listening improves communication, too.

 

Others stand on their own. A group that knows how to manage time well is invaluable. Stoking leadership potential within your team is also a good idea.

7.  CSR-focused activities boost morale

Most of the suggestions on this list are inwardly directed. They both focus on and benefit your team.

 

In the case of CSR-focused team building, you turn the attention outward. CSR (corporate social responsibility) is about adding value outside of the four walls of your enterprise.

 

For instance, if your team is physically present “in-office,” you can pick a local community to spend time supporting. If you’re online, there are plenty of digital CSR options there, as well.

 

The important thing here is building the dynamic of your group through a common, value-added goal. As you impact others positively, your team shares memories and develops their rapport with one another. As a result, your team will feel a big boost in their morale.

How to do team building the right way

There are many team building methods and techniques that you can use. Each one has its distinct purpose and power. 

 

Of course, it’s difficult to utilize these correctly if you don’t know what kind of team building you’re trying to accomplish. So, for this last section, we’re going to briefly run over how you lead a team building activity. 

 

Here are the steps that it takes to team build the right way:

  1. Identify your needs and goals: Every company’s goals and needs are different. Make sure to ask questions and analyze your team’s current situation. Where do you need to improve?
  2. Choose the methodologies that will help you reach your goals: Once you’ve identified needs and goals, you’ve detailed your problem. Now you need to find a solution. Consider which of the 7 team building techniques listed above will help you address your problem.
  3. Make your team building plan: With a clear problem and potential solution in hand, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty details. Consider how you can apply your team building solution. Keep group limitations — the need to team build remotely, for instance — in mind. As you flesh things out, look for solutions, like a quality video conference platform, that can facilitate your team-building efforts.
  4. Conduct the team building session: With your plan in place, it’s time to invite your group. Some activities will only take 5 minutes before the next meeting whereas others will require a dedicated workshop. Once you’re gathered, make sure to explain what’s going on. Set ground rules for any games or activities you engage in. Define roles clearly, too. And, for goodness sake, make sure to keep things as light and fun as possible.
  5. Follow up: This last step is easy to overlook. It’s also one of the primary ways that successful teams are built to last. Remember to circle back around with your team after using a team building method. As you do, strive to accept negative feedback, celebrate success, and reinforce the lessons learned.

 

This five-step process — backed up by the techniques listed above — can give you the firepower to effectively bring your team together.

Using team building methods to crush your group’s goals

Strategic planning team building activities should be ongoing. It requires a lot of thought, effort, and resources.

 

Fortunately, there are team building tools, tips, and techniques that can make the job easier. The methods recommended above give you a way to address the “technique” part of the equation. A quality team building tool like Gomada can help with the other.

 

The most important thing for leaders to do is to take team building seriously. This isn’t an item on a to-do list. You shouldn’t do it just to impress corporate, either. 

 

You need to team build because it’s beneficial for your team. So, review the methods and techniques. Then go through the steps to identify, craft, and execute a killer team building strategy. Once you understand have that down, you can continue with making team building a monthly habit.

 

Doing this the right way will bring your team together and keep them working smoothly and productively for a long time to come.

Jaron Pak

Entrepreneur & Writer

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Free

15-30 min

No

No

Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz

Free

15-30 min

No

No

Run a guided recognition activity

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

run-a-guided-recognition-activity

Paid

1-2h

Yes

No

Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

02. No

organize-a-virtual-cooking-class

Paid

15-30 min

No

Yes

Hire a stand-up comedian

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

02. No

hire-a-stand-up-comedian

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Team building is important. It’s an essential part of any company’s success. 

 

It’s also a buzzword.

 

A boss or team leader isn’t going to get very far using team building in their workplace without giving it some serious thought. 

 

Quality team building should lead to specific results. It can improve communication, boost morale, and hone collective skills. At the end of the day, good team building should help you build and retain a unified, cohesive, and effective team.

If you're new to team building, you should also be aware of challenges you might face and ways to encourage employees to engage in activities before you get going.

7 team building techniques: Start with purpose

Team building can be fun and interesting. But it also needs to have a purpose. Team building activities for strategic planning, in particular, can vary depending on many factors, such as: 

  • Corporate structure
  • The size of your team
  • Interdepartmental groups
  • The goals of your organization

 

Each of these is important to consider. For instance, is your group made of veteran leaders? Are team members part of a new IT department? Does the group have people from different professional backgrounds? Are they struggling to perform, or are they already effective?

 

Your team building methods will change depending on your answer to questions like these. As you figure out your needs (more on how to choose your methodology further down), you can figure out which of the following effective team building methods are right for your situation.

1.  Ice breakers set the tone

Ice breakers are by far the most common team building tool. They consist of short, quick, and often free team building activities

 

Ice breakers can have a few different team building goals. For a new team, they are a good way to “break the ice.” They get everyone laughing, talking, and interacting.

 

Even for veteran teams, a good ice breaker game can set the tone. It can get brains going in the morning. It can also help everyone focus and prepare to work as a group.

2.  Activity-driven ideas bring your team together

Activity-driven team building focuses on developing rapport and community. Unlike ice breakers, these tend to focus on more intensive team building. They can be much longer and work well with old and new teams alike.


A few good examples of activity-driven team building include fun things, like:

 

These team building activities, and others like them, help teams relax and unwind. They foster team bonding, too. 

 

If a team is tired and needs a break, pulling out a good activity-driven team building game can be the perfect solution. It can lighten the mood and help everyone recharge for a bit without the need to use personal time to do so.

3.  Communication team building avoids issues

Bad communication is public enemy number one in the workplace. The problem is that there are so many things threatening good communication for most modern teams.

 

Remote work, in particular, can keep groups from getting on the same page. So can the interactions of full-time, part-time, and contract workers. Trying to sync up teams with flexible schedules is another common issue.

 

Team building for communication focuses on addressing these ongoing concerns. It focuses on things like emotional intelligence and working as a group — no matter the circumstances — to achieve a common goal.

 

It doesn’t matter if a team is brand new or has a long history of working together. All teams need to communicate well, and communication team building can help.

4.  Trust-building is a subtle essential

Things like communication and engagement within a team are all well and good. But they won’t get you very far without a solid level of trust within the rank and file. That’s where trust-building team building techniques come into play.

 

These are activities that work on the relationship aspect of your team. They help people learn about one another’s personalities, history, and inclinations. They break down digital barriers and humanize your workforce. 

 

Rapid turnover has become common. Remote work creates geographic barriers. If your team is struggling to establish trust due to the natural disruptions of the 21st-century workforce, trust-focused team building is a good option.

5.  Problem-solving sharpens your group’s impact

One of the key functions of a work team is to solve problems together. After all, if you could figure out issues on your own, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t need to work together in the first place.

 

This need to problem solve creates an interesting issue for some teams. Even when individuals are excellent problem solvers, often their approaches can vary.

 

That’s where problem-solving team building can be a game-changer. Problem-solving games focus on presenting a challenge to your team. They must group together and pool their collective skills to overcome the issue. This naturally helps them learn to lean on one another's strengths when working together.

6.  Skill-building invests in the long-term

Problem-solving and communication are skills so important that they get their own official team building methodologies. However, the truth is that there are many other beneficial skills that team members can learn as a unit.

 

If you have a group working together over the long term, you may want to consider skill-based team building. These can focus on a variety of different talent-based objectives, such as:

  • Time management.
  • Leadership
  • Critical thinking.
  • Collaboration.
  • Active listening.

 

Some of these complement other skills. For instance, critical thinking is an important facet of problem-solving. Active listening improves communication, too.

 

Others stand on their own. A group that knows how to manage time well is invaluable. Stoking leadership potential within your team is also a good idea.

7.  CSR-focused activities boost morale

Most of the suggestions on this list are inwardly directed. They both focus on and benefit your team.

 

In the case of CSR-focused team building, you turn the attention outward. CSR (corporate social responsibility) is about adding value outside of the four walls of your enterprise.

 

For instance, if your team is physically present “in-office,” you can pick a local community to spend time supporting. If you’re online, there are plenty of digital CSR options there, as well.

 

The important thing here is building the dynamic of your group through a common, value-added goal. As you impact others positively, your team shares memories and develops their rapport with one another. As a result, your team will feel a big boost in their morale.

How to do team building the right way

There are many team building methods and techniques that you can use. Each one has its distinct purpose and power. 

 

Of course, it’s difficult to utilize these correctly if you don’t know what kind of team building you’re trying to accomplish. So, for this last section, we’re going to briefly run over how you lead a team building activity. 

 

Here are the steps that it takes to team build the right way:

  1. Identify your needs and goals: Every company’s goals and needs are different. Make sure to ask questions and analyze your team’s current situation. Where do you need to improve?
  2. Choose the methodologies that will help you reach your goals: Once you’ve identified needs and goals, you’ve detailed your problem. Now you need to find a solution. Consider which of the 7 team building techniques listed above will help you address your problem.
  3. Make your team building plan: With a clear problem and potential solution in hand, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty details. Consider how you can apply your team building solution. Keep group limitations — the need to team build remotely, for instance — in mind. As you flesh things out, look for solutions, like a quality video conference platform, that can facilitate your team-building efforts.
  4. Conduct the team building session: With your plan in place, it’s time to invite your group. Some activities will only take 5 minutes before the next meeting whereas others will require a dedicated workshop. Once you’re gathered, make sure to explain what’s going on. Set ground rules for any games or activities you engage in. Define roles clearly, too. And, for goodness sake, make sure to keep things as light and fun as possible.
  5. Follow up: This last step is easy to overlook. It’s also one of the primary ways that successful teams are built to last. Remember to circle back around with your team after using a team building method. As you do, strive to accept negative feedback, celebrate success, and reinforce the lessons learned.

 

This five-step process — backed up by the techniques listed above — can give you the firepower to effectively bring your team together.

Using team building methods to crush your group’s goals

Strategic planning team building activities should be ongoing. It requires a lot of thought, effort, and resources.

 

Fortunately, there are team building tools, tips, and techniques that can make the job easier. The methods recommended above give you a way to address the “technique” part of the equation. A quality team building tool like Gomada can help with the other.

 

The most important thing for leaders to do is to take team building seriously. This isn’t an item on a to-do list. You shouldn’t do it just to impress corporate, either. 

 

You need to team build because it’s beneficial for your team. So, review the methods and techniques. Then go through the steps to identify, craft, and execute a killer team building strategy. Once you understand have that down, you can continue with making team building a monthly habit.

 

Doing this the right way will bring your team together and keep them working smoothly and productively for a long time to come.

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