It has long been known that cooperation is the key to success. A well-coordinated team of employees can do more! He can easily achieve the set goals and thus contribute to the company's success on the market. But how to build such a group? Team building is the solution! We present universal teamwork exercises that you can successfully use in your company.

A good team can do more!

Effective team work is the key to success. The team is a well-functioning organism, operating on the principles of synergy, which means that it can work more efficiently and achieve better results than individual work of individual members of the group would give. The team can look at all problems and challenges objectively and from many perspectives. The group uses the potential, experience and skills of each member. Therefore, teamwork means greater strength in overcoming obstacles that appear on the way to the goal, a multitude of ideas that enable finding non-obvious solutions, as well as easier and more effective performance of everyday professional tasks. What's more, employees can draw on the knowledge of their co-workers and thus improve their competences. 

The sense of community in teamwork builds self-confidence. Employees are co-responsible for their successes and failures, and thanks to this, they are more likely to come up with new ideas that they would not use if they worked alone. In this way, they can achieve outstanding results and significantly contribute to the company's success in the market. 

In a nutshell - a well-coordinated team can do more! But how to build such a group? It is not difficult to put several people with high competences next to each other. The real challenge is to get the selected people to learn to work together. The best way to create a strong working group is team building and appropriately tailored teamwork exercises. 

What is team building?

Team building is, as the name suggests, building a team. In other words, these are conscious processes aimed at creating a well-functioning employee group that has clearly defined goals, is able to use the potential of each of its members and perfectly performs all professional tasks. Team building can be used both in the case of newly established teams, as well as those that have been in existence for a long time, but have problems with effective work - group members have stopped getting along, conflicts have begun to appear in the team, employees lack motivation to act.

Team building is carried out through carefully selected exercises for team cooperation. Team building tasks:

• improve group communication,
• equip employees with valuable skills useful in everyday work,
• pull the group out of the crisis,
• build mutual trust of individual team members,
• effectively motivate to action,
• they have an integrative function - they help employees get to know each other better and build friendly bonds.

Simple teamwork exercises

Team building tasks can be an interesting addition to the company's everyday life. However, they will bring the best results when they are part of a longer integration trip for employees. The organization of company trips combining team building with integration is a hit if we want to strengthen the team and teach employees effective cooperation. Company trip in a quiet neighborhood is a way to de-stress, gain new motivation to act and build friendly bonds that will facilitate everyday functioning in the company.

Teamwork exercises can take many forms. The first group is simple tasks that do not require any special preparation. We include games such as:

1. "Common history"

One of the participants becomes the conductor and indicates the person who starts telling the story. The conductor interrupts at any time and chooses the person who must continue the story. Then he appoints the next player, etc. The game teaches active listening and cooperation, strengthens the sense of community and relieves tension perfectly.

2. "Puns"

A well-known and popular game, but in a team version. Participants are divided into several smaller groups. The selected person from a given group must present the drawn password without using words. The task of the other members of the group is to guess the drawn password within a certain time (e.g. within a minute). The team that guesses the most words wins. 

Creative teamwork exercises

Easy team building games it's a great idea to start with. Fast gameplay will stimulate the minds of employees and positively tune them to the next tasks. 

The second group of exercises for team cooperation are creative games, which usually require a bit more preparation and appropriate props. One of them is the construction of the Goldberg machine. The Goldberg machine can be compared to a complicated domino. It is a device consisting of several different mechanisms that drive each other. The task of the workers is to build a machine from special levers, pendulums, blocks and other elements. Where is the catch? Participants are divided into groups. Each team must prepare a different part of the mechanism. The individual parts, when combined, should create a single, efficient device. The key to success is effective communication, logical thinking, full cooperation and maximum use of the potential of each group member.

Another interesting teamwork exercise is the Knot of Hands. The workers stand in a small circle. Everyone stretches out their hand in front of them and grabs the hand of the person in front of them. Then I shake hands with another person on the other side of the circle. Participants have to untangle the resulting knot without letting go of their hands. To do this, you need efficient communication, cooperation and proper organization.

Creative team building games that strengthen the ability to cooperate also include:

• team construction of a solid cage for the egg from things available at hand - the cage should protect the falling egg from breaking,
• employee culinary tournament consisting of interesting competitions such as a blind taste test, preparing the most creative decoration on a cupcake, separating potatoes from onions blindly,
• a scenario game – Dwór Korona Karkonoszy hosts e.g. a role-playing game in which employees have to solve a complicated criminal mystery. 

Movement exercises for team cooperation

An interesting diversification of a company trip will be sports exercises for cooperation, which will move employees a bit, and at the same time provide them with a bit of healthy competition and provide a lot of positive energy.

An example of a motor integration game with elements of team building are the company Olympic Games, i.e. team competition in sports competitions. In the game you can use such tasks as:

• bag run,
• relay,
• blind trust - overcoming the obstacle course in pairs, where one person is blindfolded and the other is their guide.

Points are awarded for the first place in each competition. The team with the most points is the final winner.

As part of team building exercises, you can also organize a football tournament or a paintball battle.

Well-matched and carefully conducted teamwork exercises can bring great results. Not only will they equip employees with useful skills that will improve their everyday work and allow them to achieve spectacular successes, but they will also perfectly integrate the team and relax the atmosphere in the company.