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The Ultimate List of 11 Best Team Building Activities

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November 20, 2020

Best Team Building Activities

We all know what team building is and how important it is to build a cohesive team of employees to boost the overall efficiency and productivity of the organization.

The reason you are here is that you are looking for a comprehensive list of the best team building activities to boost engagement and productivity of your employees.

Here in this blog, you will find the list of ultimate team building activities to enhance the bonding, interpersonal communication and performance of the employees in your team.

 1. Blind retriever

Blind retriever is one of the best team bonding activities to boost team bonding. In this game, one person is blindfolded and the job of the other members in the team is to lead or guide the blindfolded person towards a hidden object or particular point in the given time.

This game is the best way to boost teamwork. It also helps to determine how your team responds to instructions and performs under pressure. Additionally, It is one of the best 5-minute team building activities, which you could easily accommodate in between a work session.

To play the game, divide your team into groups of two or more people. Blindfold one person from each group and then ask the others to guide the blindfolded team member to a designated spot. The first group to successfully direct its blindfolded colleague to the spot wins.

 2. Scavenger hunt

The scavenger hunt is one of the best corporate team building activities to break the monotony of a workday. It is a great way to boost collaboration and teamwork among your team members.

You can either choose to play this game outdoors or indoors, depending on your available space.

Divide your team into small groups of three to five people. Hide different objects at random places around your office and give turns to different groups to find those objects.

The 1st group that successfully finds all or the highest number of hidden objects wins.

 3. Pair up

Pair up is a wonderful game that can be used for simple team building activities and boosts team bonding.

In this game, write a collection of pairs or sets on different sheets or pieces of paper. For instance, salt & pepper, tall & short, day & night, etc. Then stick the papers to the back of the employees. And then, have them figure out what they are so that they can find their corresponding colleague.

This is a fun game that also serves as the perfect icebreaker among new hires or for an altogether new team.

 4. Circle of appreciation

Circle of appreciation is one of the simplest yet most-effective team building exercises. You need to do two things:

  • Instruct your team to make a circle.
  • Tell your employees to share a quality they appreciate in the teammate standing on their left, one by one.

When everyone is done sharing a positive quality, reverse the order and instruct them to share one quality they appreciate in their team member standing on their right.

You can add humour to this by asking your team to share one funny moment of their teammates.

 5. What is my name?

This is among the more tried and tested team building games. It is most commonly used within a team to boost employee engagement and creative thinking.

The game is simple: Ask every team member to write the name of a well-known personality on a sticky note and stick it on the back or the forehead of another team member. This other teammate then has to go to every other person in the team asking stereotypical or probing questions, such as “am I a woman or a man?”, etc.

The first person to successfully guess the right name on the paper wins.

 6. Blind drawing

This is among the more effective and fun team building activities. It is great for a small team and develops communication, leadership skills and proper interpretation of information.

You would need paper, a pen and pictures for this activity.

Divide your team into groups of two people. Make them sit with their backs to one another. Give one of them a picture and provide the other person with a pen and paper.

The team member holding the picture has to explain it to the other person without describing the picture as it is. And the person with paper and pen has to replicate it based on the information given by the other team member.

For instance, if the picture is “dog is eating doughnuts”, then the employee holding the picture needs to help his colleague to draw it without saying “dog is eating doughnuts”.

This activity boosts communication and leadership skills in an employee. It helps you understand how well a particular employee in the team communicates the information innovatively.

Then, reverse the roles between the two and restart the game.

 7. Mystery dinner

It is a game that allows employees to leave their comfort zones and work together as one team. This game can be an icebreaker for a new team or a team of new recruits.

This is among the more exciting team building activities for work and is one of the best examples of team bonding.

In this game, you simply need to invite a bunch of employees from various teams for dinner to a cafe or restaurant or someone’s place. The company has to bear the expenses.

The group will only be told the time and date of dinner a few days in advance. Then, only on the actual day when the dinner is to take place, they will receive an email giving them the location and whom they should be going to the dinner with.

This game helps employees to leave their comfort zones and meet newer people. The activity helps better communication between different teams and departments and helps employees understand how the other team or department works.

 8. Human knot

Human knot is perfect for a large group of employees. This game helps to boost cooperation and communication among the employees. It is very simple and does not require much effort. However, it cultivates time management and problem-solving skills among your employees.

Playing this game is very simple and time-efficient. Divide your employees into groups of six to two people, depending on the number of employees. Then ask the group to stand in a circle facing each other.

Tell the group to raise their right hand and hold another person’s hand from the circle. Then asks the group to raise their left hand and hold another person’s hand from the group. The hands in the group will form a knot. Set the timer and ask the group to untangle the knot in the given time, without leaving the hands they hold. The group to untangle first wins.

This game boosts teamwork, problem-solving skills and creative thinking. It is also a great icebreaker activity.

 9. Team lunch

Team lunch is by far one of the best team building ideas that help develop camaraderie and builds stronger professional relationships.

All you need to do is to group your team and decide on the best place and day to go out for a team lunch together. It may be your cafeteria or a nice restaurant. The focus should not be on the location but on how to make the activity effective for your team members.

You can add an extra flair to a team lunch by asking every member to cook their favourite food at home and bring them to the office for a team lunch or Potluck.

This will offer a great opportunity to test and enjoy the wonderful culinary skills of your team members.

 10. No smiling

Yes, you read it right. No smiling is an incredibly hilarious team-building activity, which can be easily done in a meeting room or conference room just before the start of the workday.

The hardest thing, other than hitting sales targets, is to not smile or laugh when you are specifically instructed not to do so.

So, throw the “no smiling” challenge to any employee. Make the participant stand facing the other team members. And tell the other members to crack the funniest of jokes or to make the best attempt to make the participant smile.

Add a time factor to make things competitive. The participant who does not smile at all or, at least, does not smile for the longest time, wins.

 11. Karaoke night

Everyone loves singing. Arranging a karaoke night for your team could be effective.

Not every member would like to sing in front of an audience. Make it a point that every member, despite their not-so-great singing prowess, goes on stage and performs for the team.

Add a few tricks or customise this activity to make it more interesting and engaging. For example, you could ask them to sing the song in a different language altogether or sing the song backwards. This will bring humour and engagement to this team building activity.

Sure, you may have the best team in the world, but to cultivate the habit of support within the team and to maintain a cohesive team spirit, you would need to reinforce positive relationships within team time and again by indulging in effective team building activities.

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