Does your group need a boost in morale? Here is a list of 15 activities that can help build your team’s attitude and increase their team spirit both outside of the office and at work.
Active/Outdoor Group Activities
Depending on your time frame and budget, consider these fun activities for your team to increase team morale.
1. Bowling
Put on those awesome shoes and go for a few hours to a local bowling alley. If you’re really adventurous, find a Rock & Bowl or some other similar late-night event to get the troops going!
2. Miniature Golf
Break out the putter and fluorescent ball and take your team for a putt-putt experience.
3. Soccer
Lace up your cleats and use a public field and get our group running around the soccer field. Just watch out for those competitive team members! And you might make sure your liability insurance is up to date.
4. Flag Football
Strap on those flags and head out to the turf for some football fun. This might be an awesome team spirit booster during football season. Have team members wear their favorite jersey and don the black eye and enjoy an afternoon with the ol’ pigskin.
5. Go kart racing
Ladies and gentlemen – start your engines! Go out for a day and earn your racing stripes as a team. This may be a more expensive option but is a fun way to get out some aggression and have some fun.
6. Paintball
Put on your tactical gear and load up your gun and head to a local paintball course to build your team. Depending on the size of your team, you could divide up into several groups and have an elimination tournament where the winning team receives a prize.
7. Group Geocaching
Not sure what this is? Geocaching is like a scavenger hunt with a GPS. Using your smartphone or GPS, you seek out already hidden “treasures” that have specific coordinates. More information can be found at www.geocaching.com.
Indoor Group Activities
These activities are a bit more quiet and low-key (well, maybe) and may cost less depending on the activity; however, these will still help boost your team’s morale and break up the monotony of office work.
8. Group game day
Grab some board games and have a morning or afternoon where team members can play some fun games with the other staff. Pictionary, Scattegories, and more are all options. However, you might want to stay away from longer games such as Monopoly, Axis and Allies, and similar multi-hour games!
9. Afternoon Movie
Whether you go to the movie theater or rent one and show it in your office, a movie can be a good way to have some fun and enhance team work. How? Choose an inspirational movie like Dead Poet’s Society, Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, or another team-oriented movie. Pop some popcorn and have snacks available. Teams love when you feed them! Discuss (might wait until the next day) leadership qualities and team aspects of the movie and how you can apply those to your current situation.
10. Group Drumming (or Other Musical Adventure)
Contact your local music shop to see if you can rent some instruments for a day and create your own music. There are also team building companies that do this. One in the U.S. is Drum Cafe West.
11. Make a Movie
Lights. Camera. Action! Take your team for a day of creating, directing, and filming your own movie. Who will direct? Who will be the actors? Who will film and edit the movie? It could be a creative way to mix up normal roles and bring out the creative side of your group! You don’t need fancy equipment to do this. Use a couple of your team’s home video cameras and use free movie editing computer software to edit. You may not win a real Oscar, but you could also hand out your own awards at the end.
Meaningful Activities that Cost Nothing but Time
12. Mentor High School Students as a Team
This would be more than a one-time commitment. Consider adopting a local organization or high school class and commit to mentoring them for one year as a team. Discuss your experiences and think of creative ways to serve and connect with your students. You might consider adopting a class in a similar field of study (high school or college) or adopting middle school students and helping with their studies, homework, etc.
13. Volunteer Work
Feed the homeless, pack lunches for food-insufficient kids, adopt-a-highway. These are all volunteer activities that take little to no money, but could be a great way for your group to serve others and really build team spirit. The experience of serving others really helps to put our issues and lives in perspective.
14. Build Bicycles
This is an event created by another team building organization, The Leaders Institute. Participants spend 2 to 3 hours working together to build bikes that are then donated to a local charity organization.
15. Run a 5k
Why not take your charity work to the next level? Pick a local charity that holds an annual 5k, 10k, or other race to raise money for and instead of just raising money, raise money and run together. If other members of your team do not want to run, then they can be volunteers at the race and help man water stations, food stations, and registration. This is definitely a longer commitment than your normal day of activities, but imagine how it could help solidify your team camaraderie.
This is just a short list of the many things that you could do with your team. Get your team involved in the decision-making process for these events and let them have some say in what they want to do. Give them ownership and go out for a day or afternoon of fun-filled excitement.
What has your team or company done that has been a successful team building experience? Let us know by leaving a comment!
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