For years now, many of the employee-focused initiatives have focused on building teamwork between a company’s employees. This is because of the understanding of the value of teamwork and how it can bring about workplace happiness and boost the collective level of productivity of the employees.
Many HR departments have sought ways to develop teamwork and team-building among employees while ensuring that everything is done in a fun and engaging way. One best way to achieve this is through teambuilding games. This article explains 10 teambuilding games that businesses can adopt as part of their teambuilding processes.
- Egg drop
Here, the employees have to build an egg carrier that can sustain a 2-4 story drop and ensure that the uncooked eggs are intact. This activity lasts for around 1-1.5 hours, and the materials required are straw, rubber hand, plastic, tape, newspapers, and balloons. This teaches engagement and collaboration and helps to develop creative problem-solving skills.
- Dog, rice, and chicken
A group member is allotted the role of a farmer, and the rest are the villagers. The farmer must come back home with all his (dog, chicken, and rice) purchases by using a boat to cross a river, but he can only carry one item at a time. The dog can’t be left with the chicken, and the rice also can’t be alone with the chicken. How will he get all three home safely? The villagers can provide solutions for him by thinking together creatively.
- Talking in circles
This game is fun and challenging and requires coordination and communication among teammates. The group stands in a circle around a string piece tied at both ends. Then they have to create different shapes using the string. You can make this more challenging by adding a blindfold and some team members muted. This game tests trust and leadership within the group.
- Two sides of a coin
This builds on bringing out both negative and positive notions from one experience. It requires a team of 2 people at least. One person tells a real experience in their life (a negative one, for instance), and the other person restates it focusing on the positive things from experience. Then they swap roles. This helps in challenging preconceived notions and helps to see good in everything.
- Blind drawing
This simple but effective activity helps build team communication and listening skills. Two players sit, backing each other. One person is giving the word or object, and they have to describe the image for the other person to draw without mentioning the name or use terms that directly explain it. The outcome is the test of effective communication, innovation, and imagination in team members.
- Minefield
You do this activity in a parking lot or other open area. Use tape to create an enclosed area and mark the points to start and end. Place several objects along the route at a specific distance. Create teams and blindfold one member. Other members instruct the blindfolded one verbally on navigating the way while avoiding the objects on the road. This activity conveys trust, communication, and active listening.
- Three truths and one lie
This doesn’t require any tools or hassle, just team members of 3 or more sitting in circles. Each person has to say four things about them, with three being truths and 1 is a lie. They have to make the lie very realistically and make it believable, not something obvious. Afterward, team members try to identify the lie among the four “facts” in turns. The correct answer is revealed once everyone has taken a guess.
- Team birthday line up
This team activity is an icebreaker and focuses on cooperation, communication, problem-solving, and leadership. The team members fall in line beside each other, and the line is rearranged based on the order of birthday of participants (month and day). They have to do this using sign language and other communication modes as they aren’t allowed to talk. This game is ideal for eight or more participants.
- Tower of Hanoi
This game allows for planning, group discussion, and problem-solving. The puzzle has three towers/rod, five discs or more arranged in a cone’s shape with the bottom’s biggest one. The aim is to move the whole stack to another rod while maintaining the order under certain conditions:
- One disc movement at a time.
- Only the topmost disc can be shifted.
- The larger disc can stay on a smaller one.
- Frostbite
This tests the team’s survival instinct under the worst conditions. Group has 4 or 5 members lost in the arctic and must build a shelter to beat the cold. The leader appoints someone to suffer the frostbite. They can’t move physically, and other members are blindfold (snow blindness). The leader gives instructions on how they build shelter without helping manually, and the teammates have to do this without seeing.
