Organising an activity in a company is an effective way to improve relationships between colleagues. It is an approach that strengthens team spirit, enhances employee engagement, and contributes to creating a friendly and harmonious work environment.
However, such activities require deploying a certain expertise to ensure their smooth running and achievement of their objectives.
In this article, discover tips for effectively organising a company activity and some examples of team-building activities you can implement to consolidate your teams.
What do team-building activities in a company involve?
In a company, team-building activities are initiatives implemented to strengthen team cohesion. They bring employees together around an event, an exercise, an animation or any other fun programme.
Specifically, a company activity helps to improve teamwork in a warmer, even informal, setting where each employee has a pleasant time. It stimulates understanding among colleagues, increases their motivation, and further cultivates team spirit.
Organising this type of activity in a company is a crucial investment to reduce turnover by increasing employee engagement. It offers numerous advantages that contribute to the company’s success.
Why organise these activities in a company?
Organising team-building activities within a company can serve numerous purposes.
Creating bonds and strengthening team spirit
Team-building generally involves collective activities during which employees interact with each other to achieve a common goal or meet a common challenge.
As a result, these company activities pave the way for the creation and development of bonds between colleagues. By establishing a friendly atmosphere, they increase the feeling of belonging to a group and solidarity among team members.
Thus, team spirit is strengthened, and participants are more inclined to collaborate effectively to achieve common goals once gathered around a company mission.
Developing individual and collective skills of employees
Team-building activities allow employees to discover new qualities or skills to develop in a personal and professional setting.
This might involve participating in challenges or tasks that require particular skills. By meeting these challenges, employees can also increase their self-confidence.
Moreover, they can develop their collective intelligence through exercises that require teamwork to achieve a common goal.
Thus, participating in a company activity encourages employees to be more flexible, supportive, and attentive to others. They also develop mutual trust.
Consequently, they are more capable of communicating with each other and combining their skills to meet collective challenges.
Increasing productivity
Through team cohesion and the development of collective skills, team-building activities help companies increase the productivity of their teams.
Indeed, these two objectives of the company activity lead to smoother and more effective collaboration. They foster a more harmonious work environment where staff feel understood and valued by others.
This creates a less stressful atmosphere for employees, allowing them to work calmly and be motivated to achieve the expected productivity goals.
Furthermore, team building improves employees’ commitment to the company and its values. They are therefore more productive and more inclined to make additional efforts to complete their tasks.
Optimising communication and increasing motivation
Team-building activities are effective solutions for improving team communication skills and stimulating employee motivation.
On one hand, the fun and cooperative nature of the company activity encourages employees to get to know each other, communicate, and encourage each other. This is complemented by sharing enjoyable moments.
On the other hand, it creates a sense of accomplishment and allows each participant to realise their value within the company.
Implementing this approach significantly increases their motivation and encourages them to cooperate more to meet the company’s challenges.
Improving quality of work life
Investing in a company activity improves quality of life on various levels. Firstly, this investment facilitates the employee’s integration into their work environment by strengthening social bonds.
Secondly, team-building activities contribute to developing a more harmonious atmosphere by encouraging employees to express their ideas, concerns, and needs. They foster more open and honest interactions.
Additionally, these activities contribute to overall well-being in the workplace and the attraction of talents through:
- Developing a sense of belonging;
- Friendliness and mutual support;
- Increasing motivation;
- Encouragement;
- Fun and relaxing games.
Supporting the arrival of new talents and retaining them
Team-building activities are effective in helping new employees integrate more quickly and embrace the company’s values. They allow them to become familiar with their colleagues, feel comfortable, and be well received.
Additionally, activities contribute to employee retention by strengthening their engagement and motivation. Whether new or old, employees are more likely to remain loyal to the company as they feel more valued and encouraged.
Moreover, a company activity can be used to improve the candidate experience of sought-after profiles. Once recruited, they develop a sense of belonging with the company and collaborate more easily with long-term employees.
Resolving conflicts
To ease tensions, team-building activities are highly recommended for human resources managers. They offer the opportunity to discuss differences among colleagues in a friendly and more open setting for better communication.
Thus, they allow everyone to express their feelings and expectations. This helps clarify misunderstandings, understand each other better, and resolve conflicts. It even strengthens trust between colleagues and their superiors.
Moreover, a company activity can be led by facilitators experienced in conflict resolution. They identify the sources of tension and guide employees towards effective solutions.
What are the different types of company activities?
To strengthen teams, different types of company activities can be organised. Each of them meets specific objectives.
Communication activities
Communication activities in a company aim to improve exchanges between team members. They are a set of activities designed to help them understand each other better and develop essential communication skills.
Among these skills are active listening and the ability to express oneself clearly and coherently.
To be effective,
communication activities are carried out in an open environment where all participants feel confident and encouraged to communicate. Thus, they improve the fluidity of exchanges at work.
Conflict resolution exercises
During a company activity, practising conflict resolution exercises helps teams manage disagreements constructively.
These exercises can involve conflict simulations, guided discussions, or mediation workshops. They aim to implement conflict management or negotiation techniques.
A conflict resolution activity allows employees to understand the sources of their conflicts, learn to express themselves, and listen to others, to agree on a solution. It promotes:
- Developing skills related to tension management and specific problem resolution;
- Establishing a collaborative work environment;
- Strengthening the bonds that unite employees.
Decision-making games
Decision-making games are activities through which teams must make strategic choices. These can be simulations of complex scenarios, case studies or other group exercises.
These activities aim to develop employees’ ability to make informed decisions. As such, they place them in situations where they must learn to assess risks and consider different perspectives.
They encourage critical thinking and analysis while strengthening teams’ confidence in their decision-making abilities. This type of company activity significantly impacts team performance. It makes them more autonomous, proactive, and effective.
Trust exercises
A trust exercise aims to strengthen honesty and mutual trust among team members. It involves creating an environment of trust and support in which employees rely on each other.
This company activity promotes solidarity and cooperation. It encourages employees to become more united and resilient in the face of challenges. It helps build strong work teams where everyone feels safe and valued.
How to organise a company activity?
When a company decides to organise an activity, it must ensure that the following steps are followed to guarantee its success.
Define team-building objectives
Defining the objectives of the company activity allows determining the type of activity to be implemented. Indeed, the choice and organisation of all subsequent steps depend on the success of this one.
The person in charge must clearly and precisely define their objectives. They must also be consistent with the company culture.
Choose the right activity
It is crucial to choose the appropriate activities based on the defined objectives for the company activity.
If, for example, the goal is to improve team cohesion, it would be ideal to select exercises that allow employees to mix and develop new affinities.
The chosen activity must also be innovative, original, and interesting to generate participants’ enthusiasm. The organiser should find creative and less common exercises.
Plan the event in advance
The third step in organising a company activity is planning. Every detail of its execution must be defined in advance to avoid surprises.
During planning, it is recommended to prioritise activities based on their importance, duration, and complexity. It is also important to include time slots to manage unforeseen events and potential delays.
Planning the event in advance is the best way to ensure its success and a way to encourage employees to participate.
Actively involve each employee
Regardless of the specific goal, a company activity must be inclusive and adapted to all participants. It is an effective way to improve employee engagement and retention rates.
To ensure no employee is left out, each participant must be given an active role. The company can create pairs or favour help-based activities that involve various talents.
Another tip is to involve employees as much as possible in the organisation. The person in charge can seek participants’ opinions when choosing activities and solicit them at various levels for logistical planning.
It may also be preferable to involve employees in defining objectives to ensure they genuinely participate in team building.
Hire a team-building professional
For several reasons, it is advisable to entrust the organisation of team-building activities to a specialised agency. This alternative saves time and ensures the success of the company activity.
Thanks to their experience, team-building professionals can offer a wide range of original, entertaining, and impactful activities. They can also better guide the company towards achieving its professional goals through activities.
A good agency will recommend strategic tools that will not only ensure the success of the company activity but also revolutionise work in the long term. Moreover, it can help save money based on past experiences.
10 popular team-building activities
There is a wide range of company activities depending on the pursued objectives. The ones presented below are the most popular.
- Sports activities: these are by far the most practised company activities to strengthen team spirit, create cohesion, and promote mutual assistance. Generally, companies offer popular sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, kayaking, etc.;
- Escape games: this is an immersive experience where participants must solve puzzles, find clues, and complete various tasks to escape from a locked room. This exercise encourages team cohesion, communication, and highlights problem-solving abilities;
- Treasure hunts: employees, divided into different teams, are challenged to find a hidden treasure. Depending on available resources, a prize can be offered to the winners. This game can be ideal for promoting teamwork and evaluating leadership abilities;
- Building games: this type of game highlights the creativity and technical skills of participants in the company activity. It generally involves proposing that employees build a structure with any material (cardboard, lego, sticks, etc.);
- Board games: board games emphasise participants’ agility and strategy. Depending on the chosen games, it is possible to develop their decision-making abilities and strategic thinking. To make this company activity more fun and original, the person in charge can choose unusual places like a café, bar, leisure centre, etc.;
- Airsoft: this is a must when it comes to team building. It is a set of military role-playing games where employees must use replica weapons. During the games, managers can evaluate teamwork, leadership, and internal communication of teams;
- Art workshops: encouraging teams to create a piece of art together is a good way to bring them together around a calming, creative, and inspiring activity. Whether the workshop takes place outdoors, in a gallery, or an event space, it will undoubtedly strengthen team cohesion;
- Cooking workshops: employees are always more relaxed around a good meal, especially a menu they have prepared themselves. This company activity is perfect for getting to know each other better and bringing people closer together;
- Talent shows: this activity is among the most popular for improving employees’ self-confidence, promoting mutual assistance, and encouraging the creation of bonds among colleagues. It is productive and entertaining as it encourages employees to showcase their talents (music, comedy, dance, artistic performances, etc.);
- Movie night: organising a movie night in the company’s premises or outdoors is effective in creating a positive and relaxed environment. This company activity can strengthen bonds among employees, demonstrate management’s appreciation for the work done, stimulate engagement, and further cultivate team spirit.
This non-exhaustive list includes the company activities that have been popular in recent years. However, to make a wise choice, it is always necessary to draw a parallel between the proposed entertainment and the company’s context.
Can team-building activities be done remotely?
Given the new ways of working, particularly remote working, it is quite normal to find solutions to carry out a company activity remotely. Although the organisation is different, the results remain the same.
How to organise this type of team building?
Organising a remote company activity follows the same steps as a traditional team-building activity. The company must appoint a responsible person capable of defining objectives, planning the event, and selecting the right exercises or games.
However, information and planning meetings will take place online via a video conferencing platform. The person in charge can also send their proposals by email. As for the schedule, it can be made available to employees through collaboration tools.
To successfully organise a remote company activity, it is also important to implement a strategy to collect feedback to evaluate the success of the activity and plan future editions effectively.
Ideas for remote company activities
Among the most common remote team-building activities are:
- Virtual escape game;
- Virtual quiz;
- Music blind test;
- Yoga class via video conference;
- Virtual cooking classes;
- Virtual aperitif with a gourmet basket.
Since these are remote company activities, the company must adopt a strategy to ensure that all employees participate effectively.
Company activities to strengthen teams: What to remember?
Any organisation that wants to optimise team management and improve employee performance should regularly implement team building. To ensure its success, it is essential to choose the right person in charge.
This person must be able to define the activity’s objectives appropriately to gain employee engagement. Thus, they will ensure the smooth running of the company activity and, by extension, strengthen the teams.
