Team Building Activities

I remember every team-building exercise being a completely miserable experience when I worked in an office. Mainly because the company was never willing to put any money into it and there's only so much you can do for free. But also because (like you said) participation is mandatory and the activities were always things I never would have done otherwise. We did do bowling once, but it was during work hours otherwise very few people would have shown up. I remember that being fun, but of course you're limited with money.

The only advice I can give you is to make it some kind of competition. I mean, a real competition...not something like Bingo. How about a ping-pong tournament? That's something everyone can play, no matter what they're age or physical ability. You could serve popcorn and sodas to the people watching/waiting for their turn and encourage them to cheer the players on. Just set it up as a elimination thing until it's down to the best two people. Now that's something I could see people getting into. Of course, there's the logistics of locating/borrowing a ping-pong table and getting it into the conference room....but I just come up with the ideas. You make them happen. ;-)

I don't know how large your company is but I've found that with groups that are just awkward sitting around having pot lucks (and then tend to stick with their own little group anyway) it helps to have activities where they work in groups on some common goal with some healthy competiton with the other groups. Humans tend to identify with their immediate "group" so every dept thinks they are more efficient than other dept. Non -management thinks management is the problem and vice versa. It's human nature. So this is kind of making group dynamics work for you. Pick a theme, and put them in groups that mix management with non management, different dept members with other depts, etc. The theme can be holiday related (like a charity drive, or a cookie bake off, or holiday charades) or health related like walking the most steps in a month (pedometers are cheap), or silly relay races and pit them against the other "teams" and you will have people form new bonds with people they don't normally interact with. Good luck!

How many people are you talking about here? My mom's work goes bowling once or twice a year, but it's after hours. My husband's work plays a board game that is actually pertinent to the job.

Maybe you all could have a catered lunch instead of a potluck every now and then, (okay that's not free, but maybe everyone can donate or something). There are always going to be grumblers!

Well, here are some things to try:

http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/twe...

http://www.businessballs.com/teambuildinggames.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Team-Building-Activities---Incr...
(they have good advice here, but I think are very mistaken that the games are usually "much loved" by employees!)

Management sounds a little like Micheal Scott from The Office (if you watch that show)

I would think maybe changing it up and playing board games that most people have sitting at home. Have a Monopoly table, Life table, Munchkin table, etc. and let people pick the type of game they wish to play. It would be fun and get them socializing a bit more maybe. Not sure what else to suggest.

D. P.

the best team building we did for our company was laser tag. it was a lot of fun and brought out sides of people you didn't really see at work. we've also gone on some hikes together, the red rock jeep tours, taken trips to explore wineries, taken yoga classes together. we've talked about water parks too. something that is slightly adventurous or non familiar is the key to team building because you build trust and also support each other to do something that may be hard...

Maybe a game day..... play pictionary (can do that on a dry erase board), charades, Beyond Balderdash is a fun game for a lot of people (you have a word with definition or date and why it's important, etc....you give only the word and others have to make up thier own definition and everyone guesses which one is right). How about organizing some sort of drive for a shelter or collect used items to donate to Goodwill or other group like the food bank?