If you read nothing else, read this…

  • Employers need to think about why they offer team-building exercises.
  • If staff are involved with the decision-making process, it can make the activities more effective.
  • Team-building activities require good communication to be successful.

Something suitable

Kuljit Kaur, head of business development at motivation and employee benefits services agency PM&M, believes that employers need to carefully consider the make-up of their workforce when selecting team-building exercises.

She says: “Before [employers] even think about the end result, they need to think about why they’re doing it. They must also look at your workforce demographic carefully, because there’s such a wide range of team activities on offer.”

Classic or quirky?

Once employers have considered the best way to both motivate staff and encourage them to interact, they will need to select the best activity to suit them, whether they opt for traditional team-building exercises such as parties, or something a little more unusual.

For instance, United Biscuits attempted to break the world record for ‘Most books toppled in a domino fashion’ in February with Guinness World Records. Although the main aim of the task was to refocus the workforce for the year ahead and encourage staff interaction, the 150 employees involved also managed to break the record by toppling 5,381 books.

All attendees rated the event excellent, 94% said that it helped them work more effectively with colleagues, and 97% said they were more motivated in their work, which reflects just how effective unusual exercises can be.

Farrella Ryan-Coker, head of human resources at Guinness World Records, says: “The key to an effective team-building event is planning. Whoever is overseeing the project should identify a list of outcomes they want to achieve because it’s vital for ensuring team-building activities also have a lasting benefit rather than just being fun.”

However, there is scope for both classic and contemporary team-building, says Kaur. “Something trendy like a Segway session pushes staff out of their comfort zones, but going out for meals or to the cinema are always popular.”

From sports to food

Team-building activities can range from nights out to team sports or meals. Gemma McNeilis, head of brand at Chiswick Park-Enjoy Work, says: “[Employers] have to offer staff a breadth of activities because different people want different things.

“Interest groups like chess or book clubs let people engage with each other on their own. We also have a cycling club where people tend to go for a drink together afterwards, and in our running club people chat along the way.”

Highlighting the event

Having team-building activities in place is one piece of the employee engagement puzzle; but a lack of effective communication around the activities can limit their value for staff and the organisation.

Kaur says: “If employers emphasise how effective the activity was on social media, in a meeting, or on the internal intranet, more employees will feel the motivational effects of it.

“Effective team-building can have a vast, ongoing, positive effect if done well, particularly if employers and staff emphasise how enjoyable it was.”

Doing so can also help to ensure that such events are worth the time, effort and cash to implement.

But when introducing team-building exercises, employers do not necessarily need to be overly involved. McNeilis says: “Employees don’t tend to enjoy something when it’s enforced; some even steer away from it. So labelling something as a ‘team-building activity’ can put people off because it feels too corporate.”

Investing time and effort in getting the right approach can pay off for both employers and staff. According to research by NGA Human Resources [name of report?] published in August 2015, around a third (32%) of workers are most motivated by non-monetary benefits, which reflects how important team days out, meals, sports and world record events can be for productive, loyal and engaged workforces.