Team development activities are not like everyday office tasks, but fun and creative ways to engage your team members.

Unlike team meetings, there is no such thing as regular mandatory team development meetings. They are not something you have to attend at a certain time every week to solve a certain problem. But this is all the more reason why your team should host team development activities. By having your team learn something they didn’t know about a co-worker or find common strengths within coworkers that were previously unknown, your team will bond & become a more cohesive unit. Why not position your team to work together better and be better leaders with the help of team development activities.

What Are Team Development Activities

Team development activities are purposeful group activities undertaken by work teams that ideally lead to a greater sense of connection and collaboration among teammates. Activities such as running team games and activities, holding group discussions, hosting away days, or simply learning something together as a team, can effectively create team bonding. The hope of team development activities is that team members will come together in a purposefully directed activity that will help team members bond and function better as a unit. Desired outcomes include greater job satisfaction, employee engagement and organizational success.

Why Are Companies Investing In Team Development Activities

Team development activities can potentially have several very significant benefits. The general hope is that they contribute to the overall success of the organization  in important ways. More specifically, these goals include:

  1. Foster collaboration and teamwork: team development activities ideally allow team members to gain a greater understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses in the workplace, as well as how they can better collaborate together as a team.
  2. Boost employee morale and engagement: development activities can also increase a sense of positive morale as a unit as a result of feeling valued and more connected to other teammates.
  3. Enhance communication skills: team development activities can help teammates communicate better in everyday work situations. Activities can help team members enhance skills like active listening, expressing ideas clearly and providing constructive feedback .
  4. Develop leadership potential: team development activities allow team members to become exposed to different roles within the team, as well as help identify emerging leaders and foster leadership development within the organization.
  5. Improve overall performance and productivity: team development activities can aid in companies functioning better as a unit, helping a company achieve business goals and organizational success.

Examples of Team Development Activities

Team development activities are not like everyday office tasks, but fun and creative ways to engage team members in ways they might not ordinarily engage with one another. Through having slightly different roles than usual in these activities, teammates grow bonds, and learn a little bit more about each other.

Office Scavenger Hunt

Office scavenger hunts are great ways to develop team bonding. The objective: conduct an office scavenger hunt as you would any other scavenger hunt, but instead of clues, be sure to utilize office trivia, inside jokes or aspects of your company culture to lead you to your ultimate finds. This activity is a great way to bring large groups together and encourage team spirit.

3 Question Mingle

This activity helps enable the entire team to get to know one another.  This activity works by having groups of three each write a question to ask one another. They then proceed to ask one person their question, later trading questions to ask another person’s question. This activity facilitates a sense of bonding by allowing teammates to ask the questions they want to ask each other.

Passions Tic-Tac-Toe

Passions Tic-Tac-Toe is a great way to have group bonding turn into real fun. It involves teammates filling a tic-tac-toe square with a core passion in each square, comparing notes with other teammates, and proceeding to count converging interests. This activity is great because it allows people to open up about core characteristics in a fun and laid-back way.

Who Is Responsible for Team Development Activities?

Various leading team members will be responsible for team development activities. These include the HR department, the team manager, and senior management. It will be important for the team members in these roles to delegate activities, because they might know what strengths their team has and what areas could be improved. In addition, they must have a vision for what the day will look like (e.g. what games will be played, in what venue will the activities take place, what will invitations look like). If these decisions come from a centralized place, they are more likely to be unified and effective.

Should You Implement Team Development Activities At Your Business?

Team Development Activities have a place at every business. In whatever office you go to, co-workers will have different working styles, different ways of approaching problems, and different strengths and weaknesses. There are always ways in which team members can learn to have greater affinity for one another, to have greater ease in collaborating, and to have greater understanding of themselves relative to their co-workers. Moreover, team development activities are enjoyable. They foster creativity and positive emotions, and perhaps satisfy curiosities that have always been present. And with the potential for interesting venues, exciting themes, and the ability to create greater productivity, there is no reason why every business shouldn’t host team development activities.

Choose Shiloh Adventures For Team Development Activities

At Shiloh Adventures, we offer not just one, but a variety of different activities that can satisfy your team’s needs. From our low ropes course, to our zipline tour, to sports and arts, we have many ways you can address your team’s team development needs. We are located conveniently in the heart of the OKC metro, so we consider ourselves very central and easy to get to for most, if not all the members involved. We are ready for you, for any organization to learn more about yourselves and the people around you. A team development adventure awaits you at Shiloh Adventures, and  you will have the best feeling once you come out the other side! 

Looking to help your team become stronger? Check out the team building exercises provided by Shiloh Adventures in OKC. Our outdoor adventure course is packed full of activities that are designed to be fun and foster team building. Our camp leaders have helped build stronger teams of all types from corporate companies to local youth groups. Team building doesn’t happen by accident and we are happy to provide a fun space for the team building you need. Give us a call today to learn more about how Shiloh Adventures can strengthen your team.

Contact Shiloh Adventures

Phone: (405) 858-7011

Email: info@shilohcamp.org

Return to blog