HR & Engagement Writer
1
10 Fun Team-Building Activities for Teams in 2024
7 min read
Published: Apr 29, 2023
Revised on: Mar 1, 2024
Fostering camaraderie and collaboration within teams has become more crucial than ever. As organizations evolve, engaging activities are designed to transcend physical boundaries, strengthen team bonds, and ignite creativity among members, ensuring a dynamic and resilient team environment. Whether your team operates in-person or remotely, innovative activities promise to infuse energy, foster connections, and inspire a shared sense of purpose among team members, leading to enhanced cohesion and success.
What Are the Benefits of Team-Building Activities?
Team-building activities offer several benefits that contribute to a more cohesive, efficient, and motivated team. Here are some key advantages:
- Improved Communication
- Enhanced Collaboration
- Boosted Morale and Motivation
- Developed Trust
- Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
- Conflict Resolution
- Increased Productivity
- Retention and Satisfaction
- Creativity and Innovation
When well-planned and executed, team-building activities can significantly contribute to a harmonious and productive work environment.
What Are the 5 C's of Team Building?
The 5 C's of team building represent essential elements for creating and maintaining effective teams:
- Communication: Clear and open communication is crucial for team success. It involves active listening, expressing ideas, sharing feedback, and ensuring everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.
- Collaboration: Teams need to work together cohesively, pooling their skills, knowledge, and resources to achieve common goals. Collaboration involves leveraging individual strengths to achieve collective success.
- Cooperation: Cooperation emphasizes the importance of working together harmoniously, respecting each other's opinions, and supporting one another to accomplish tasks and overcome challenges.
- Commitment: Team members need to be dedicated and invested in the team's objectives. Commitment involves staying focused, motivated, and accountable to achieve shared goals.
- Conflict resolution: Conflicts can arise in any team. Effective teams learn to manage and resolve conflicts constructively, using disagreements as opportunities for growth and innovation rather than allowing them to disrupt team dynamics.
Fostering these 5 C's within a team can lead to improved productivity, increased morale, and better outcomes for the group as a whole.
Top 10 Team Building Activities for Teams
From innovative virtual adventures to hands-on challenges, we've curated a collection of ten exhilarating team-building activities designed to ignite camaraderie and synergy among your team members. Embrace these activities to energize your team and cultivate a thriving collaborative spirit that propels your organization towards its goals.
Two Truths and a Lie is famous among team-building games because it strengthens relationships and improves team bonding. Employees learn about one another beyond the regular back-and-forth emails, meaning they can engage their colleagues with fresh eyes. This is especially useful for cross-functional teams who need to align on projects and communicate effectively.
How to Play:
- Gather your employees in a circle
- Have a single player share three facts about themselves, making sure to include one lie
- Then, listening team members have to guess which of the three facts is a lie, and this goes around in turns until everyone has shared personal facts
It’s Best For:
- Deepening employee engagement and improving collaboration
Tools:
- Remote teams can play this fun team-building activity with productivity tools
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
2
Scavenger Hunt
Nothing beats the satisfaction of smashing your goals, but finding the treasures in a scavenger hunt comes close. Hosting this team-building activity at the office is a great way for employees to learn more about your organization, even as they flex their problem-solving muscles to reach a shared goal. Pro tip: A reward for the winner will surely get your employees fired up to participate.
How to Play:
- First, you’ll have to hide common objects around the office. Don’t forget to leave a clue for how to find the next object
- Group your employees into teams of twos or threes and distribute the first clue
- Team members should work together to find the hidden items
- The first team to take a photo of all the hidden items wins!
It’s Best For:
- More than three people
- Encouraging team bonding and sharpening problem-solving skills
Tools:
- Pen and paper
- Common office items
Remote-Friendly?
- No
3
Survivor
Survivor is one of a list of team-building exercises that gives space for creativity to shine. In this team-building exercise, employees attempt to survive an imaginary situation using only a few available items. This team bonding activity can energize or refresh your employees at the start of a new year or after a long sprint.
How to Play:
- Start by grouping your employees into two or more teams, and provide them with six items
- Teams should select only three items they will use to survive the imaginary situation
- Each team should present their survival strategy, and votes can be used to decide the winning strategy
It’s Best For:
- More than two teams
- Encouraging creative thinking and team bonding
Tools:
- Pen and paper
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
4
Shark Tank
Team-building games like Shark Tank could be responsible for the birth of new products and strategies for your business growth. This is because Shark Tank allows your employees to pitch their best ideas to a listening and engaged audience. The ideas could either be feasible or downright outrageous. In any case, pay close attention because one of those ideas could be the hidden gem that transforms the company.
How to Play:
- Group your employees into teams of two or more
- Teams should spend a week preparing a presentation for a new idea or solution that elevates the company
- Teams should take turns presenting their ideas, and votes can be used to select the best solution
It’s Best For:
- Two teams and more
- Improving communication skills and encouraging innovation
Tools:
- Software like PowerPoint or Canva
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
5
Book Club
Book clubs are fun team-building activities that allow employees to connect meaningfully outside of work. As they connect through shared interests and goals, your employees and teams will be better engaged at work, leading to better business results. If you’re wondering what employee relationships and engagement have to do with productivity, the answer is everything. There’s a straight line between employee engagement, performance, and business output. This means better employee engagement = increased productivity.
How to Play:
- Participants should choose a book to read within a deadline
- Each book club member gathers weekly or biweekly to discuss progress and themes
It’s Best For:
- Two people or more
- Improving employee engagement and collaboration
Tools:
- None
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
6
Team Lunch
Yes, team building activities could be simple activities like a team lunch. It has the perfect ingredients to boost team members’ morale: Colleagues, good food, and meaningful conversations. When these three things align, employees feel more appreciated and connected to their work, leading to better output and productivity.
How to Play:
- It’s easy: Take your team members out to eat at a decent restaurant, and don’t forget to inform everyone ahead of time so they can plan for it
It’s Best For:
- Teams of any size
- Boosting employee morale and retention
Tools:
- None
Remote-Friendly?
- No
7
Office Trivia
Why not put away your old icebreakers and shake things up with office trivia? This team-building activity will get your employees' brains buzzing as they compete against one another to see who knows the most about your organization. Your team members will learn more about your company's history, mission, and values and build stronger connections with one another. In no time, you’ll have a workplace filled with cohesive and productive teams.
How to Play:
- Prepare a list of questions about the company or a specific product
- Group your employees into three equal teams and project the questions onto a screen for everyone to see
- The first team to answer a question correctly wins a point for each round
- The team with the highest points wins
It’s Best For:
- Three equal teams
- Encouraging employee engagement and team bonding
Tools:
- A large screen
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
8
Costume Contest
A costume contest is a team-building exercise your teams will love because who doesn’t love Halloween? A costume contest isn’t just a fun way to get your employees in hilarious Halloween outfits. This team-building activity nudges your employees to get productive, using their hands to design a great Halloween costume. A DIY costume contest can energize your teams and get those creative juices flowing. Remote teams aren’t left out too. Just use photos to turn the costume contest into a great virtual team-building activity!
How to Play:
- First, employees should gather around and vote for a panel of three judges
- Next, give your employees three days to create a hand-made Halloween costume
- Employees can then present their outfits by wearing them around the office on Halloween
- Finally, judges award points to each outfit, and the costume with the most points wins
It’s Best For:
- More than six people
- Fine-tuning employees’ creativity and project management skills
Tools:
- None
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
9
Pets Channel
Even though this team-building exercise takes only a few minutes to set up, a simple pets channel, #Pets-among-us for example, brings enormous benefits to your employees. A public pets channel could be a way for your employees to bond and unwind after a productive workday. It could also be the other way around: Start your day with cute photos of your employees’ pets to get them fired up and ready to smash their goals.
Chances are you can easily create a pet channel in your team collaboration software like Slack or MS Teams, so what are you still sitting around for?
How to Play:
- You’ll need to create a pet channel for your employees; remember to give it a fun name!
- Invite all your employees to share cute photos of their pets
It’s Best For:
- Teams of any size
- Boosting employees’ engagement and retention
Tools:
- None
Remote-Friendly?
- Yes
10
Human Knot
Compared to some team-building activities, the human knot is a little unconventional. It’s a puzzle-based game where team members are encouraged to move as a single unit, communicate effectively and find efficient ways to free themselves. The focus is for your team members to learn how to collaborate and make better decisions.
How to Play:
- Group your employees into teams of six or more
- Team members should gather in a circle and join their right hands with the opposite person
- Team members should join their left hands with a new partner opposite them
- The winner is the first team to unravel this knot without releasing each other’s hands
It’s Best For:
- Teams of at least six players
- Boosting employee morale and satisfaction
Tools:
- None
Remote-Friendly?
- No
Conclusion
The road to a productive work environment is paved with team-building exercises. Just like any worthwhile journey, there are wins and achievements along the way. Team building activities help employees build stronger bonds, work together effectively, and develop leadership and problem-solving skills. From simple lunch gatherings and book clubs to more structured exercises like office trivia or a human knot, many options are available for your team's needs and budget.