Engaged teams are, simply put, the more effective teams. Members of these teams are more productive, more driven and more likely to stay with their organization. 

A great way to build your high-performing team is to identify opportunities for team building! You may already be looking for the right work team building activity for your holiday celebrations, end-of-year events or yearly strategy sessions. 

But don’t relegate team building just to the big moments. Keep reading how you can make a large impact by adding engagement opportunities to your team’s day-to-day! 

Why Focus on Team Building Activities

Because people have told us that’s what they want! Through coaching and conversations, people frequently share that they want a workplace where they: 

• Are part of talented teams that enjoy and complement each other. 
• Work with leaders who appreciate and invest in our development. 
• Feel valued for the talents and strengths we bring to the table. 
• Are recognized for our successes and supported through our failures. 

All these factors can be positively influenced by intentional team building activities. These activities can increase empathy and trust among your team, strengthening team dynamics and an overall sense of morale.  

Challenge Team Building Norms

Many of us may view team building as “supplemental” to our work. We’re busy! We don’t have the luxury of setting aside hours of time just for these activities. But what if we took a different approach to work team building activities? Let’s challenge the common definition of “team building” to build a strategy that actually works. 

Not Just One “Activity”

When you search “work team building activities,” you likely receive a list of games that can be done during a team meeting. These ice-breakers and trust-building games can be fun, but one-offs aren’t prone to drive lasting results. Instead, find ways to integrate team building into meetings and routines your team already has. This could be a morning retail team huddle, a monthly check-in, or even those few precious minutes you can find with your health care team. Even a few minutes of team building can make a difference. 

One helpful tool for this is the Talent Card. After completing a talent assessment, team members will have an in-depth report of their top innate talent themes. The Talent Card prompts individuals to see where their talents show up in what they already do and where they can go deeper. 

Use these talent themes to guide small but ongoing team building moments. Ask your team members where they had used their talents in their work, or where they saw an opportunity to develop a talent. Importantly, ask them to acknowledge where they saw their fellow teammates’ talents shine. Do this at least once a month. Over time, these reflections and team-building moments will be engrained in your culture. 

Not Just as a Team

It may seem counter-intuitive for a team building activity to not involve the full team, per se. However, coaching at the individual level creates connection, increases productivity, decreases turnover and enhances employee satisfaction. Personal relationships with leadership help team members feel individually valued. When these valued individuals come together, they form a stronger, more confident team. 

Get to know each team member personally with a Focus on You Activity. This relationship extension activity builds teamwork and enhances supportive relationships between managers and employees. It is positively designed to focus on success, interests and goals.

Use these goals to build a strong team through transparency and collaboration. During routine team meetings, each person can share where they are on their goal journey, the progress they’ve made and where they can use support. Fellow team members can then offer their expertise and talents to support this goal. The more the leader can align the team member’s goals with the vision of the team and organization, the more the team will flourish. 

Not Just Celebrating Wins

Strengths and success are certainly key aspects of effective team building. Team members need to feel seen and valued in order to be engaged. However, we need to remember that a large outcome of team building activities is a high-performing team that strives to improve. When teams assess their own gaps (where they are vs. where they want to be), they get stronger. 

The Talent Grid is a useful team building activity that can be referenced throughout the year. The grid we use at Talent Plus represents each team member’s top five themes, regardless of intensity. Together, the team can assess where they are strong and where they are less strong. 

To make this a valuable team building activity, allow for open interpretations of what the Talent Grid means. Guide a conversation that isn’t focused on specific deliverables or team goals. Rather, you can use sticky notes or whiteboards to map out who has complementary talents. The outcome should be for team members to identify who they can lean on.  When teams are able to see themselves as part of the solution, they are more likely to feel positive and engaged at work, which fosters a positive culture. 

Get Ready With TeamView

With TeamView, you can ensure that work team building activities are based on the strengths and desires of your team. TeamView’s team-wide survey offers a comprehensive picture of how the team sees its current state and its ideal state. Using these results, a Talent Plus consultant then facilitates a team-building conversation to identify how the team can best use talent to make meaningful, shared progress towards who they want to be. 

The best part? The conversation doesn’t end there. With each work team building activity, you can build upon your TeamView work to create a high-performing team full of engaged, confident and trusting individuals.