Team Building Exercises and Employee Motivation

Team building is usually accomplished with a series ofmember
team building exercises. These exercises can be· Improvement in collaboration skills
spread throughout the course of a working period orIf a company elects to spend an entire day in a team
done during a team building retreat of one or manybuilding retreat, the time will not be wasted. Many
days.employees report feeling rejuvenated after a day
Team Building Activitiesspent team building. Depending on the type of exercise,
· Icebreakers – Activities designed for thethe day might be organized within the office or
members of a team to get to know each otheradjacent grounds, or it may take place at a specially
through fun and informative mini activities.designed retreat that caters to the needs of
· Trust Exercises – Team members must rely onbusiness-based team building.
each other for support and direction. CommonAt a retreat, a typical day might go as follows:
examples are blindfolded trust walks and trust falls.1) The members of the team report to the site and
· Creative Problem Solving – Team members aresign in.
given a problem to solve in a specific amount of time.2) They are briefed on safety and other
These problems generally do not relate to situationsconsiderations specific to the site.
that would typically find in the work place. Building a3) They are guided through a series of icebreaking and
raft, starting a fire, or completing an obstacle coursetrust exercises.
are common examples of problem solving exercises.4) They are given the details of the task they have to
· Adaptability – The team sets out to completeaccomplish as a team.
their task with one set of parameters and then in the5) They complete their task.
middle of the task the organizer adds other factors to6) They participate in a debriefing session following the
which the team must adapt themselves.completion of the activity to recognize their overall
Goals of Teambuildingstrengths and weaknesses as team. As one can
· Improved communication between team membersimagine, it is this debriefing session that puts all the
· Increased level of comfort within the teamactivities of the day in a useful context.
· Increased level of trust within the teamOverall, Team Building can be a very effective
· Increased level of productivity within the teamexercise for improving relations and productivity in the
· Overall increase in motivationworkplace.
· Identifying and utilizing the strengths of each team