Monday, November 1st, 2010 | Posted by Team Building Activity Tips

Team Building Exercises That Engage and Inspire

The egg drop activity Buy Cialis />The following is a guest post by J. Henry, a guest blogger for Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on nationally accredited online schools for Guide to Online Schools. Enjoy!

If you’re an HR manager or employer, you might be wondering how you can improve the cohesiveness of your team of employees and boost the group dynamic. Team building exercises can be a great way to do this; their fun, game-like atmosphere can catch people off guard and get them to problem solve in ways they haven’t considered before. It’s important to pick these team building exercises with critical eyes, however; picking activities just because they sound fun or happen to meet some of your own managerial goals won’t be using these exercises to their full extent. You’ve got to choose ones with clear goals for employee and team success, so that your employees leave the game feeling empowered and ready to apply what they’ve learned. With this in mind, here are a few great team building exercises that you can use to inspire your workplace.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

This exercise tests group communication and collaboration. First, set up a simple obstacle course using chairs, books, and anything else you might have handy. Then, break your team members into groups of 3. One member is going to navigate the obstacle course, blindfolded. The second member cannot speak (they can only gesture with their hands), and they are allowed to see both the blind navigator and the obstacle course. The third member can speak, but can only see the second member (not the blind person or the obstacle course). The second member must gesture to the third member, who must then "decode" the gestures and tell the navigator how to maneuver through the course. This exercise has a clear goal of working together to get their team member through the obstacle course. Afterwards, discuss what went right, and how communication could have been improved.

Drop the Egg

This game can help bring out any out of balance power dynamics that might be hiding in your group. It takes collaboration, but the team as a whole can only build one finished project, so they have to communicate and evaluate ideas together. The premise of the game is that teams of 3 have to build a protective shield for an uncooked egg that will be dropped from about 6 feet off the ground. You should provide each team with the same amount of cotton balls, popsicle sticks, aluminum foil, paper, tape, and any other craft supplies you might have. Give them 10 minutes to construct the egg casing, then drop the eggs from an equal height. When you debrief afterwards, discuss how in collaboration, teams must be comfortable accepting all new ideas and evaluating them without judgement of the person who came up with the idea itself.

Group Levitation

If you’re interested in a game that’s a bit more physical and potentially more fun, this is a good pick. In this exercise, groups of 3 or 4 have to find a way to work together to get the entire group off the ground, with only their hands touching the floor. Through trial and error, the group must come up with a way to depend on one another to accomplish the final task. This can be done by having the four people in a square, with each person’s feet on the next person’s back. One other possibility is that the group sits cross legged in a circle, and puts their ankles on the shoulders of the person next to them. Afterward the game, ask your employees what communication issues got in their way, and how this might be applicable to the workplace.

Related: Check out these additional 20 proven workplace team building strategies compiled from Winning Workplaces’ award-winning small businesses.

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Team Building Exercises That Engage and Inspire