Team Building Activities to Foster Camaraderie

[Christine Cowern]

Hi all, below are some fun and creative ideas that I found on team building activities to foster camaraderie and improve workplace culture which speaks to the “Camaraderie” indicator in the Positivity Model. The goal, of course, is to bring everyone together to encourage trust, boost retention rates, improve team performance and encourage creativity among other things. Enjoy!

BEST TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES TO FOSTER CAMARADERIE & IMPROVE WORKPLACE CULTURE
October 8, 2020
Erika Giles
Blueleadz.com

1. Game of Possibilities

You’ll need some random objects and about five to 10 minutes for this fun, mind-bending game that helps you think more creatively.

You simply give one object to each member of the group, then each person in turn goes up to the front to demonstrate a clever use for that object.

The goal for the rest of the team is to figure out what the player is communicating without speaking to them. The more original the idea, the more effective the activity becomes as a lateral thinking exercise.

The player shouldn’t speak or use facial expressions to give the answer away.

2. Implement a Purpose Mingle

This is one of the shortest team building activities, but also one of the best.

It’s great for any indoor situation, and it can scale up to almost any number of participants. But you can’t do it just any time: You have to plan for it before a scheduled meeting.

About 15 minutes prior to the meeting, give participants the chance to mix and mingle.

They have two goals: First, to tell as many people as possible what, specifically, they hope to share and contribute during the meeting. Second, to actually do those things when the meeting starts.

3. Winner/Loser

This game will make it simpler by giving each participant the space to re-evaluate a situation and see things from the other side. Plus, it’s a great way to boost a teammate’s confidence.

The game is played in pairs. To start with, one person shares an authentic negative memory – from work or personal life – with their partner. After explaining the situation, they go over it again focusing only on the positive aspects.

The partner helps them build more on the positives that arose from that tough situation. Once they’ve succeeded in getting a new perspective on the event, the two partners switch roles and start over.

4. Blind Drawing

Everyone loves Pictionary, right?

This captures some of the fun and excitement of the classic party game, but also calls on you to pay close attention and work together with your teammate. It’s especially helpful for new team members to establish a rhythm with one another.

One partner describes an object, one aspect at a time, and tries to guide the other partner into drawing it. At no time can they admit exactly what the object is.

They should be facing away from each other so they can’t communicate through sneaky gestures, either.

5. Common Book

Common book starts with something simple: A large, blank scrapbook.

The book is left in a place where it’ll be accessible to everyone on a regular basis, such as a break room or other common area, with pens, pencils, markers, tape, and more in easy reach. Now, you’ve got all you need to craft a real monument to your workplace culture.

Your common book can include things like:

Quotes from readings, coworkers, or write-ups about your company.
Memories of fun, exciting, or unexpected events that happened at work.
Post-It notes or other artifacts that show what was going on at a given time.
Responses to specific writing prompts that may already be on certain pages.
Whatever the case may be, everyone should be allowed and encouraged to share their thoughts in the common book.

As you fill one book, start another, and continue for as long as you can. Before you know it, you’ll have a unique record of your company culture that everyone is a part of.

6. Pub Thursday

Along the same vein as a social hour, this is a great way to bring the office together for some bonding.

On the third Thursday of the month, pick a pub to deliver catered food and drinks to your office. Mingling during an intentionally social space prompts employees to feel more casual and have more organic interactions.

It’s a great opportunity to celebrate work anniversaries, birthdays, and achievements too. You also have a chance to onboard new hires into the culture and allow the team to get to know them outside of work hours.

7. Sports Tournaments

Space allowing, bring in a basketball hoop or ping pong table to create some friendly competition.

There’s a variety of in-office sports adaptations that employees can play and practice during their lunch hours. It’s a fun bonding experience that not only gets the blood flowing, but teaches skills like teamwork and strategy too.

Whether you pick a monthly, quarterly, or annually competition, raise the stakes a bit.

Tournaments are a great opportunity for employees to let off steam and interact with each other without discussing shop. It also allows for different departments to engage with each other when they otherwise wouldn’t.

8. Wall of Fame

This one is relatively easy to implement, and it can be a huge morale booster once it takes off.

Dedicate a wall to accomplishments, awards, encouragement notes between coworkers, thank you letters from customers, and other memorabilia that can inspire your team.

Don’t forget to decorate it as well. Put up an office team photo to bring it all together.

As you do more and more team building activities, add pictures to memorialize the experiences as well. Get creative in how you decorate. Polaroids are all the rage right now.

9. Toys

We can all probably admit that you’re never too old to play with toys.

They’re a wonderful stress reliever that gives a brief escape from the pressures of your role. Hula hoops, origami paper, board games, and the online sensation, slime, are all great tools of fun.

To make it even more inclusive for employees, pitch the idea of everyone bringing in their favorite toy or game from their childhood. Let the nostalgia roll in as coworkers laugh and remember their youths together.

10. Food Parties

Whether it be a pizza payday or an ice cream social to celebrate a company achievement, food is a great way to bring people together.

Make it a fancy dinner party where everyone has to dress up. Or organize a potluck, where everyone brings in a dish.

For even more fun, add rules to the event. For example, maybe only foods that are red or have red in it can be served.

Be conscious of dietary restrictions though. Excluding someone from the party can have the opposite effect and make an employee feel isolated or forgotten.

11. Foam Sword Fights

It wouldn’t be fair to pretend that tensions never rise between employees.

Sometimes to diffuse it, the most mature course of action is to get immature. Foam sword fights are a safe, hilarious way to let off steam and settle disputes.

Typically, after a few swings and a few laughs, the conflict is dissolved or forgotten and everyone can go about their day feeling a little lighter.

12. Cooking Competition

This is a fun way to have the team participate in organizing the event.

You can pick a different dish (e.g., chili, pie, BBQ, cookies, brownies, etc.) each time this activity comes to pass and allow those who want to participate throw their bid in on earning the title of the best.

Other employees get to have fun tasting and voting on the goods, schmoozing and socializing all the while.

In subsequent contests, don’t forget to acknowledge the reigning champions. Healthy competition is healthy team building.

13. Baby Picture Guessing Game

Have team members bring in baby photos of themselves.

One designated person should collect them and set them up on a table or poster with a number attached to each. From there, the rest of the office should guess whose picture is whose, writing down names next to the assigned number.

This is a great way to generate familiarity amongst employees and leadership.

The camaraderie that follows is worth any minor embarrassment that may come with a photo of your face covered in chocolate or missing your two front teeth.

14. Scavenger Hunt

For problem solving skills development, a scavenger hunt is a great way to increase teamwork and communication.

Organize it within your office building, hiding items on different floors.

Break the staff up into groups and send them searching for signs, items, or people. There’s a variety of ways to mark finding an item on the list, like photo evidence or retrieving a flag.

Make sure someone on each team is documenting the game so you have pictures to display later on.

15. Trivia Night

A favorite among friends and family, companies can have a great time hosting their own trivia games in-house.

Topics can vary from pop culture, history, and beyond. Not only is it a fun brain teaser; it’s also a collaborative event. Teams have to work together in figuring out answers.

Take votes around the office before the activity takes place so you can pick a topic that isn’t too obscure for everyone to participate in. It’s no fun when only one or two people know all of the answers.

16. Cup Stacking

Similar to building brick towers or bridges out of straw and Play-Doh, cup stacking challenges employees to work efficiently and intelligently.

The game can be played in teams or individually too, so different skills can be developed depending on the goal of the event.

From a team perspective, building the tallest cup pyramid faster than the other teams fosters collaboration, communication, and delegation skills.

On your own, though, you have to flex your capabilities with time management and planning. Bragging rights should be coveted for whoever wins.

17. Zombie War

This activity is a great stress reliever for your team.

You’ll need Nerf guns and two large teams to execute it successfully. Divide the office into two teams: zombies and survivors.

Each survivor is allowed one Nerf gun and as much ammo as they can collect. Then they are given sixty seconds to disperse around the office and hide.

After that minute is up, the zombies are released and go on the hunt. If a zombie touches a survivor, the survivor becomes a zombie and loses their Nerf gun. If a zombie is shot by a survivor, then the zombie has to freeze for five seconds while the survivor escapes.

It’s a fun game that’s sure to stir up some suspense and excitement.

18. Tallest Tower Contest

A throwback to school days, provide wooden blocks to different teams.

The rules are pretty simple. Build a tower as quickly as possible without knocking it over. The tallest tower wins.

In an effort toward good sportsmanship, you can offer awards for the “fastest” tower built using a certain number of blocks, the most “creative” tower, and other such ideas.

Team members will learn how to work together more efficiently and find new ways to streamline project management.

19. Bingo Night

Bingo is a fun game to play just for the sake of enjoying time with one another.

You can pick up a bingo kit pretty much anywhere games are sold, and it’s just antics from there. Employees are able to socialize and compete in a low stakes situation, learning more about one another and their interests.

If you want to make it a bit more interesting, you can have employees play to win a prize. Cash, a gift card to a restaurant, or a work from home day are just a few examples of what you can offer.

20. Code of Conduct

Code of conduct is a simple but impactful activity that is great for the beginning of a meeting, training, or another event. This activity helps to build trust and establishes group values.

The way to start this game is to write “Pleasant” and “Meaningful” on a whiteboard and then ask participants to either write down or shout out what will make the meeting or workshop meaningful and pleasant.

Then write what the participants say on the whiteboard in a mind map. Keep changing the suggestions until it is agreed upon by all participants.

Lastly, go through the suggested items and ask participants how they can make sure the idea is carried out during the workshop.

All the ideas written down are agreed upon by all participants as being “pleasant” and “meaningful” to make up the code of conduct for the whole group. The idea is that the group upholds the code throughout the whole meeting or workshop.

21. Memory Wall

This is an activity that involves some physical activity where you give your team members sheets of paper, tape, and markers. They are supposed to survey the room to write down some positive memories they have with some of the other participants in the room while working together.

Then, they draw a concept or scene that represents two or three of the memories they’ve had. They then tape their memory drawings up on a wall or board.

The leader of the exercise can ask for volunteers to explain their memories for the rest of the group to hear.

This creates a welcoming environment and can reaffirm positive relationships within your team.

22. Shark Tank

Conduct a mock Shark Tank like the show with Mark Cuban as a way for team members to pitch their products. This can be a group activity with two to three groups working together to come up with unconventional ideas.

Teams will pitch their ideas in front of the “sharks” (senior team members), and the best idea will be picked.

The pitch should be professional and may include:

Brand name
Slogan
Business plan
Marketing plan
Financial data
This game can help to stimulate entrepreneurial and out-of-the box thinking.

23. Silver Lining

The silver lining game works to reframe negative experiences and perspectives into positive ones. The way it works is you divide your company into teams of people who have had a shared work experience.

One team member shares a negative experience they had working with the rest of the people in the group. And the next team member focuses on the positive aspects of that experience to find the silver lining.

Then they switch, and one shares a negative aspect of an experience and the other one shares a positive from their own perspective.

This helps your team members to bond and build deeper relationships.

24. Desert Survival

This is a classic scenario game that works on the hypothetical situation of being stranded in a desert after a plane crashes. A list of items that may be helpful for survival is then given to the participants. They must prioritize each item on the list in order of importance and relevance.

They prioritize alone first and then as a group to gain an understanding of singular and collective choices. This way, they see that personal favorites may not match the group’s choices. They also can see how the team does when some people assert themselves over others and when others don’t speak up on their views.

25. Scramble Puzzle

Scramble puzzle is a simple and fun game that encourages trust, communication and leadership. You’ll need a few blindfolds and two sets of pre-school aged puzzles.

Blindfold all but one of your team members and have them sit in a circle. The person without the blindfold sits outside of the circle with their back to the group.

The puzzle pieces should be spread across the table in front of the blindfolded group. They’ll be assembling the puzzle with guidance from their teammate without the blindfold.

[Anu Arora]

These are great. Thanks for sharing!

[Author]

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