Team building games, or 3 ideas for successful integration

There are many reasons why it is worth engaging employees in games and activities, both in and outside the office, as part of team building. This allows them to get to know each other better, practice communication skills, creative problem-solving skills, etc. What reason will appeal to everyone? Fun. If you are looking for activities that the whole team would really like to participate in, do not hesitate to use the suggestions below. Discover team building games that work.

Team building games - what exactly is it? team building?

A well-coordinated, efficiently functioning team of employees is one of the foundations of a company that is successful on the market. A group that knows how to get along, dynamically manages crisis situations and is able to use the potential of each member, effectively performs all business tasks, meticulously achieves goals, and thus helps the company to develop. But how to create such a team? Team building is the key to success. Team building is a group of strategies aimed at strengthening the employee team and improving its functioning. It can be described as a tool for working on a group that improves group communication and equips employees with useful skills - such as the ability to divide roles in a favorable way, solve problems together, or make important decisions efficiently.

Team building is usually implemented in the form of interesting, engaging games. What are the benefits of implementing such actions?

Team building - what is it?

What does team building give us? First of all, it helps people who are just starting to work together to get to know each other. It also helps to integrate new employees into the team. It is known that entering the existing structure is sometimes not easy. Integration games for adults examples like below they allow you to break the first ice in a painless way. Thanks to them, it is also possible to integrate individual departments of the company - employees have to cooperate with each other, and often do not even know each other. Team building will give them the opportunity to get to know each other, and perhaps even more importantly, understand the specificity of work in the neighboring department. This will certainly facilitate communication in the implementation of subsequent tasks.

Tasks - team building

The task of team building is also solving problems in a group - conflicts at work are not conducive to the effective performance of official tasks. And what is no less important - games in this area give employees energy shot and let them relax.

The team - who is it?

In commercials when we see team of people working together, they are always smiling, kind, friendly and happy. However, the reality is not always so rosy. We feel an instinctive, unmotivated antipathy towards some people. In others, the way we are annoys us. Someone talks too loud, gesticulates too vigorously. Someone else, on the other hand, seems too withdrawn, in our opinion, he does not bring anything to the team.

Team building it can make us look at our co-workers differently. We will see them from a slightly different angle. We will get to know their dreams, but also their problems. Strengths, but also weaknesses. We will look at them as people, not just cogs in a company machine. And we will see that you can talk to anyone and get along. A friend who gesticulated so much can passionately talk about runmageddon runs, in which he has been participating for years. It teaches him perseverance and overcoming his own weaknesses. And this quiet, withdrawn young man is a volunteer at a local animal shelter. When he talks about his charges, he suddenly becomes very talkative. This occupation teaches him how to react quickly in emergency situations and resolve conflicts. Each of these employees has something to offer the company and the team - thanks to team building games, we can see it. And then use it in your work.

At work, deadlines are constantly chasing us, constant rush and stress are not conducive to tightening bonds. Only team building - preferably away - allows the team to actually integrate and learn to work together in a group.

Team building fun 1 - all on P

This seemingly simple game forces you to make an intellectual effort and raises you to the heights of linguistic creativity, while causing bursts of laughter. Prepare cards with slogans and the corresponding category, such as a thing, movie title, etc. Divide employees into teams of several people. One of them draws a password, which he does not show to the other participants of the game. It only reveals from which category the password will describe. It can only do this using words that start with the letter "p". Each team scores a point for the guessed word. The winner is the one who manages to score the most points after playing a predetermined number of rounds.

Integration games for adults

This category fun team building it teaches an unconventional approach to familiar things. At the same time, thanks to the relaxed atmosphere it builds among the players, it allows you to break the ice if people don't know each other. Since it does not require any tools or wide space, it can also be successfully carried out in the office - it is an integration for companies that will work anytime and anywhere.

Team building fun 2 - build it

The next proposal, however, requires going outside. To this fun in a group for adults at least 10 members for each team and a coordinator are needed. His role is to loudly announce the shape of the group members. Upon hearing an announcement, e.g. "square", the teams must quickly form into its shape (in a few seconds, with the time to be adjusted depending on the size of the groups). Starting with simple shapes to warm up the participants, you can progress to more complex ones like "a circle in a square" or "a square intersecting a triangle". The team that makes the shape first wins. Good communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills are decisive for victory. That is everything that team building is based on. Therefore, the larger the group, the more difficult the game.

Team building fun 3 - adrenaline and adventure

Rafting, or rafting, is an exciting activity that will certainly break the monotony of everyday life, while strengthening bonds between colleagues. However, team building in this form requires not only leaving the office, but also going to a place where you can experience this unforgettable adventure. Rafting along the picturesque Bóbr Valley is very popular. 

Integration games for adults

A powerful dose of emotions, sports competition and great fun in the bosom of nature create unforgettable moments. Experts from Dwór Korona Karkonoszy know this very well, proposing rafting in the offer for companies as an exciting attraction that not only triggers the spirit of competition in participants, but is also great for integration.

“After all, nothing brings you closer than overcoming obstacles together and increased adrenaline, which people talk about long after the end of the game. parties integration.” – rightly notes Joanna Hoc-Kopiej, co-owner of Dwór Korona Karkonoszy.

Why is it worth using team building games?

Efficiently conducted team building can bring a lot of good to the company. First of all, it teaches cooperation. It shows that a strong, well-coordinated team can do more. He can achieve what cannot be achieved alone. Why? Because it can get the best out of the knowledge and skills of its individual members. It has more creativity and potential. He can share everything and look for solutions that would be hard to find alone.

Team building helps to resolve conflicts in the work group and teaches how to communicate efficiently. Employees who have undergone team building training dynamically exchange the necessary information with each other, are able to create logical messages, and thus perform all professional tasks quickly and effectively.

Integration games for adults

Team building games strengthen bonds between employees, increase trust in co-workers and effectively motivate them to act.

Strengthening an existing team is not the only advantage of team building games. Team building can also be used for newly formed teams. This is a great way to group integration – also among employees who have never cooperated with each other. Properly selected games are a chance to get to know your co-workers better, strengthen bonds in the newly formed team, and thus create strong foundations that will improve its everyday work.

CTA block

Are you looking for the perfect place to organize a corporate event?

We will provide your employees with unforgettable memories!

Team building games - examples for integration trips and everyday life

Team building games must be engaging and maximally suited to the group. Team building, apart from its main function, which is building a strong team, should provide participants with fun and unforgettable experiences. That's why it's important to keep it interesting and inspiring. Thanks to this, members will be fully involved in the tasks, their emotions will be authentic and, most importantly, team building will bring results.

Team building games examples - for physically active people

Many people like to spend time actively. For them, team building games such as a football match, trekking trips, stalking or a trip to the rope park are ideal. For those who, in addition to an active lifestyle, like even stronger impressions and adrenaline, we can organize off-road rallies, a survival camp, downhill or rock climbing. Rafting, zorbing and bungee jumping or rafting on a mountain river, which are very fashionable at the moment, will also work.

Team building games examples - for the mentally active

Employees who prefer mental rather than physical entertainment should find themselves well in team building games and activities such as puzzle room, escape room, detective game involving the search for a serial killer or spies of a foreign country.

Integration games for adults - for creativity 

In each group there will be creative people who like to dress up and play different roles. Movie-style events will be the best for them – maybe knights, aliens, Vikings? – or the chosen era. For example, crazy 1920s themed party. of the last century… Choosing clothes, scenography, accessories, makeup for people who like fashion challenges is a real paradise!

Team building games

Elements of team building can be woven into the company's everyday life. Once in a while, it is worth organizing a team building meeting in the company. What to do during such a meeting? Down reliable team building games, which can be used in company conditions, we will pass the game "Two truths and a lie". What is this game all about? The selected person presents three facts about himself to the other participants - two of them are true and one is a lie. The task of the players is to guess which one is false. The game perfectly relaxes the atmosphere, allows you to get to know employees better and thus helps to build friendly bonds.

Another interesting team building game that strengthens bonds is the game "Common features". Participants sit on chairs arranged in a circle. One seat remains empty. The person who sits to the left of the empty chair presents to the other players one fact about himself - e.g. his hobby, some character trait, favorite meal, a thing without which he cannot imagine his life. Players who are also affected by this fact must change places. The game "Common features" is a great solution for newly formed teams. It perfectly integrates and shows how much some employees have in common, and thus relaxes the atmosphere and makes it easier to find topics for small talk at the coffee machine.

Integration games for adults - which one to choose?

Which integration game for adults will work best? There is no unequivocal answer to this question. It all depends on the group, place, time. There is actually no universal one integration game. Team building games must be "tailor-made", only then will they bring the expected effect. What? Cooperation, understanding, communication, sympathy - there is a chance that co-workers will use these terms to describe the atmosphere in the company after one or several trips or meetings with elements of team building. Employee integration is an important area, it should be an inseparable element of the functioning of every company.

Successful integration

All the games described above have one goal - group integration. To be effective, a team must be able to communicate and collaborate. It seems that these are the basic skills of every employee in every company, but in practice it often turns out that it is not necessarily so. The so-called soft skills are not known to everyone. An employee who cannot get along with colleagues, clients or company management, even if he is the best specialist in his field, will find it difficult to keep his job. In the long term, personal and interpersonal skills are essential to be successful at work. These are universal competences, useful in every company and in every position.  

Basic soft skills

What soft skills can be practiced or checked or improved during team building games? Here are some basic ones:

• effective communication – the message should be adapted to the recipient. It seems obvious, but not everyone realizes that incorrectly issued commands may not be executed, because they may simply remain misunderstood.
• ability to work in a team - the success of the company depends on all employees. There is a saying: success has many fathers, failure only one. And there is some truth to that. In order for the company to operate efficiently and effectively, all its employees must contribute to it. But one employee who spoils the atmosphere in the company, can't cooperate with anyone, doesn't do his job properly can ruin the efforts of the rest.
• the ability to work under time pressure - everyone associates the situation when the deadline is approaching, time is running out and our project is still not ready. It is necessary to ensure that the awareness of the passage of time does not paralyze, but mobilizes to effort. Timeliness is very important, but sometimes there is not enough time to finish some work for reasons beyond our control, and that's when excellent time management skills come in handy.
• resistance to stress - there is probably no job that would not generate stress. It's worth learning how to deal with it.

Team building games - other interpersonal skills

• conflict resolution - there is nothing to delude yourself, in a group of people, whether on a private or professional basis, there are always some disputes, misunderstandings, quarrels happen. The point is to be able to talk about them, to find a compromise solution.

• working out compromises - no one seems to like them. It's not for nothing that they are nicknamed "rotten"... However, in professional work (in life as well) you often have to give up your vision, at least partially, listen to the opinion of others, modify the project.

• problem solving - nEvery employer appreciates a person who not only reports the existence of a problem, but also immediately proposes a way to solve it. Of course, this requires critical and creative thinking.

• creativity - innovation is the key to success in today's world. From the point of view of the employer, an independent employee is a real treasure. Initiative should always be appreciated.

• delegating tasks – many bosses, especially new ones, have a problem with it. They try to do all the work themselves, unable to distribute tasks among the crew. And even when they do, they cannot effectively enforce their commands.

• working according to strict guidelines - sometimes you just have to be able to listen to instructions. This is difficult for some employees. Team building games can help you learn this difficult, contrary to appearances, art. Like all the above-mentioned competences.   

Employees, even if they are the best specialists, if they do not communicate, provide each other with information, answer their questions and talk about common tasks, they will not accomplish much. Team building games will allow them to develop or develop the necessary skills.