Team Unity Exercises That Go Beyond the Clichés

by Reggie Moore Professional writer and proto entrepreneur

There's no doubt about it; just about everyone has been within a company that attempts to create "meaningful teambuilding" activities only to be nothing but a few trust falls and affirmation exercises. Thus it is no secret why when employees hear about these types of meetings being planned; they tend always to be met with an eye roll and sigh. So, how can you create a real and meaningful experience for your staff? Read on to learn some of the best exercises that can be included in your meeting that go beyond the clichés and actually help your team create real unity.

Give Them Humanity

When employees work within a large office, they tend to see themselves as just co-workers and nothing else. Suddenly other departments are seen as just that, departments. This can be extremely harmful when communication and teamwork are critical to the success of the company. One of the best team unity exercises is to give your staff humanity. A good way to accomplish this is to have each person bring in an item that means something to them. This allows everyone to see their co-workers as a human with real-world dreams, hardships, and everything that comes from being a human. This exercise can then help form better communication amongst departments as they now understand the person behind the email.

Volunteer Events

Even if your employees are used to working with each other on a daily basis, they may have never formed that professional relationship where progress begins to occur. Often times that is due to the environment in which they are working in. That is why the next exercise on this list includes volunteer events. When co-workers are working towards a good cause, they are much more likely to listen to each other and cooperate. This is because the stress of having to meet deadlines, targets and being watched over is suddenly gone. They can now work on building communication skills with each other without that dark cloud hovering over them.

Scenario Solving

The goal of a team-building meeting is to help the company become that much more efficient. However, it is often the case that these exercises focus solely on bonding. Although seeing your co-worker as a person is important, it is also critical that issues relating to the company are discussed. This is because you want them to put those unity exercises to work during real-life issues. That is why having a scenario solving part of your meeting is so important. During this exercise, your staff will work together to spot symptoms of an upcoming problem. Form teams and have your staff work together to figure out what signs should be looked out for and what can be done when they begin occurring. There are a variety of lean six sigma courses that offer creative ways to solve scenarios in a practical environment.

Promote Creativity

According to a recent Gallup poll of 16,500 employees, only 29% of employees stated that they expected to offer creative solutions within their position. This is a troubling number as companies need innovators and creative thinkers to grow. So, how can you ensure that your team is working together to come up with creative ideas? One of the best approaches to this issue involves introducing create games within your meetings. These games should involve the need to solve problems with creative solutions. So, not only is the game fun for everyone, but it's serving a purpose at the same time.

As you can see from the information above, there are several ways to get away from the cliché team-building exercise that plague most of the corporate world. Simply go through the list above and begin tailoring each of those exercises to your particular office.