Team building not only increases collaboration between employees, it also builds communication skills and enhances productivity as well. If you haven’t tried a few team building activities with your employees, then now is the time to do so.
Even if you’ve tried to do some team building in the past with no success, you’ll want to continue trying different activities until you find one that works. In the guide below, there are many different team building activities for work whether you have in-house employees, remote employees, or both!
There’s at least one activity on this list that’ll work well for you and your employees. Continue reading below to find out more.
1. Share a Photo With a Story
Something you can do with workers in-house and remote is having them share a photo with a story. This activity is a great way for everyone to get to know one another. Each person will take a photo of something that represents their life in some way.
They’ll share the photo with one another and then explain the story behind it. It can be a picture of just about anything. Maybe it’s a picture of them and their family, a picture of a pet, a garden they’re growing, or something else.
2. Use Pictures to Describe the Company
Another great activity for both remote and in-house workers is having them gather three or five pictures that describe the company. Split them into teams and have the teams work together to find the pictures they think describe the company best.
You can have them find pictures on the internet, around the office, or have them take the photos themselves. Remote workers can take their own photos and share them with one another and choose the five they think would work best.
You can then look at the photos the different teams collected and try to pinpoint common themes or similarities.
3. Build Upon One Another’s Ideas
Allowing employees to build upon one another’s’ ideas gives employees the opportunity to collaborate and see where one another’s heads are at. To start this activity, you’ll need to give teams a fictional problem. This can be something work-related or something completely unrelated.
Then, have each time write down an idea of how to solve the problem on a large piece of paper. Each team member will then take turns building on the idea. The first person builds on the first idea written, the second person builds on the idea the person before them gave, and so on.
In the end, see what each team has come up with. Because employees write down the ideas and build upon one another’s ideas, it forces them to hear everyone out. The quieter employees will now have just as strong a voice as anyone else.
4. A Work-Related Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are fun, exciting, and a great way to force teamwork. The in-house workers can hunt for certain items around the office or even outside the office. The remote workers can work in teams to do a virtual scavenger hunt.
You can have them search for things on the company’s website, social media page, or something else related to the company. Make sure to give them fun riddles or clues to work with rather than specific items. Teams will have to work together to solve the riddle and find the items.
To make it more competitive, you can have the winning team win some sort of prize!
5. A Few Truths and One Lie
If you want to help your employees get to know one another, then you can have each employee tell several truths about themselves and one lie. The other employees will have to guess which one was the lie.
This can be done remotely or in person. Make sure to tell your employees to make the lie believable. This way, the other players have to really think about which one isn’t true.
It’s a good ice breaker, and your employees will know more about one another as well.
6. Drawing Based on a Description
If you want your employees to have a few laughs while getting to know one another, then this activity won’t let you down. You’ll need to separate your employees into groups of two. If in-person, they’ll need to sit with their backs to one another.
One person will have a picture of something and the other person will have a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. The person with the picture will have to describe it to the other person without telling what the picture is.
For example, if the picture is of a dog with a ball, then the words “dog” or “ball” can’t be used. Give them a certain amount of time to get the picture done. Once the time is up, the two can then compare pictures.
The end result can be quite funny, but it’ll help build their communication skills. Have them do another round and see how much they improve.
7. Communication Coaching
There are courses you can take to improve team-building skills in the office or remotely. You can also have leadership professionals come to your events or conferences to speak with your employees. This gives everyone a chance to learn some tricks and tips from the professionals.
For example, the professionals at Cadence Leadership can work with you and your employees to help grow leadership and communication. If your team-building activities aren’t working, then it could be a good idea to bring in professional help.
8. Virtual Multi-Player Games
There’s an endless amount of virtual multi-player games that you can have your employees play. Charades, Pictionary, and Scrabble are just a few. Find one that you think your employees would enjoy the most or one that you believe you can relate to the company best.
You can give employees 30 mins a day to stop and take a break from work and work with one another on a virtual game!
Which Team Building Activities Will You Try?
Team building activities are a must for any company. Which ones will you try from this list? Try one or try them all until you find the one your employees benefit the most from!
For other career topics and many other topics as well, visit on a regular basis.