If you are in charge of the best team development occasions, then you already know how challenging it is to come up with great team building ideas that everyone will participate in willingly. The success of these occasions does depend a great deal on the approach and the ideas used - not that we are trying to add more pressure to your job! You know from others’ attitude before these occasions what has happened in the past. If your co-workers are looking forward to it, then that is great news, and just what you are hoping for, but if your co-workers are mumbling, and making excuses as to why they cannot attend this event, you know that it has not been well received previously.

So, what great team development activity can you come up with to help your business develop to its full potential? As mentioned before, this can be a very demanding project, but it is also one that can reap great rewards if done properly. There are businesses who specialize in organizing these events, and they have a long list of activities that can be worked to suit your particular business. Of course, there is a fee for this, but leaving it to someone outside the company can be a good move, and remove a lot of the stress from someone in the company trying to organize it. And even if you do hire a company to help, there will still be things for you to remain on top of, and organize - you will not be out of a job!

However, despite the advantages of using outsiders, it is still possible to organize team building activities, without much expense, and without having to use many hours of business time organizing it. Simple things, like dividing the whole company into teams so that no department members are in the same team, and then going on a scavenger hunt. This lets groups of workers that would not normal mingle have the time to get to know them a little or a little better.

Now, the scavenger hunt is a good team development activity, because it gets everyone moving, rather than the off-putting idea of everyone sat in a circle having to talk about themselves to the group. But be aware, because of the threat of cheaters, you may have to make a few adjustments to the way you run this for your group. One company had every team take a picture of themselves at certain locations, so every member was in the photo, except the one taking it, of course. This reduces the chances of cheating! Different options of the hunt can be utilized. It can lead to other ideas than having to collect certain items. You could search for a fire hall, and take your photos there, then maybe a police station, or a book store open late, or a tea shop, or… There are plenty of options, and because of digital cameras, which many people will already have access to, there are few costs involved. You can delete the photos later, or download to your computer, and then print so that you have a record of who was in which team.

There is little stress involved with this idea of a scavenger hunt. It is an advantage if you know the location you are hunting in, but even if you don’t there are ways to find out where you need to go. Communication is important with this idea, and this is what you want for this team building idea, the chance for company members to interact over something that really isn’t important!

Of course there are many other great team building event ideas that are just as much or even more fun for everyone to take part in, but that is for another day.

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