Odt games and a variety of social games are an excellent way for your employees to take a break from the work environment and connect with each other creating bonds and relationships that will positively affect their performance within the company.
Team building activities and events as part of a company's human resource strategy can be of great benefit to your employees' wellbeing as well as to the productivity of your organisation. Challenge group - Catalyst Israel can provide a variety of events, such as fun corporate days out, parties, Hawaiian style evenings, and business games. But before answering the question on how to do it, we should highlight what the benefits of a cohesive team are.
Natural group formation
Usually, it is our most basic need of belonging that naturally leads us to form a group. When people find common interests with other people, they naturally strengthen their relationships by spending more time together. This allows them to discover more characteristics in common, leading to even stronger relationships.
The work environment provides all the conditions to allow people to form a group. Individuals meet daily, they usually have the same agenda, meal times and overlapping breaks. This can lead to two or more people with a common denominator to get on with each other. It can be a status, age, role and even a shared hobby. However, unfortunately, in a competitive and demanding environment where employees might be under pressure or stressed due to meeting deadlines and goals, group dynamics can be affected.
If this is the case, how can employees connect to each other to collaborate in harmony as much as possible in favour of the goals set by the company? How do you help your team to work together, even when each individual's personal or work conditions make it difficult for them to look from the other's perspective? How do they cooperate and help each other, and not only to promote personal interests?
Social games for connecting and networking
A variety of social studies found that corporate social games help to improve the dynamics of the group and contribute significantly to the performance of employees. Social games can be incorporated as part of a corporate fun day out, an evening networking event, and even an employees' celebration party. People will be able to bond and connect thanks to the shared experiences and memories they create.
Odt team building games provide the desired outcome, as well as a variety of advantages to all participants and to the organisation:
- Conflict resolution in the group and optimal solution - conflicts between team members can lead to upsetting relationships, impair team members' ability to work together towards a common goal and create difficulty in finding an optimal solution. To make a decision and find a solution to the problem, individuals must listen, be patient and keep a broad view of things. A cohesive team will be able to examine the aspects of a situation from different points of view while implementing creative thinking and teamwork to find a solution.
- Efficiency and productivity - A cohesive team creates synergy in every aspect. Team members help each other. The common desire to strive for success together creates a positive outcome. Individuals that work by themselves create barriers and boundaries.
- Intimacy and empathy - our ability to feel empathy toward others decreases defences and opens channels of emotional communication out of a sense of closeness and intimacy. In a work environment without understanding, competition may arise, which will impair the individual's sense of comfort and stability and his creative ability.
- Making informed and correct decisions – making a decision in an equal manner or through a broad view of the general picture favours the organisation and its employees. A decision-making process that does not take into account the opinions of the public and is not done by listening and cooperating with all the parties involved might result in less efficient decisions.
Games for a new team
The attempt to form a new group, whose members have yet to know each other, can be a demanding challenge, but at the same time, it has excellent chances of success. Building a positive initial shared experience can be the key that will lead the group to move towards a positive direction without prejudice.
It is important to choose games that will break the ice and will help participants to connect. The easy way to do this is through light introductory games that combine humour with a relaxed and safe atmosphere that does not force participants out of their comfort zone, at least not too early in the process.
Games for an existing team
A group activity can be another element in building better personal and group relationships among employees who are used to working together daily. Usually, the goal is to expose new characteristics of each participant without compromising his / her privacy and to strengthen the existing relationships for better, stronger and more stable group dynamics.
Competitive team building games
Competitive games are an excellent way to test, build and strengthen group dynamics. It is essential not to allow teams to form groups independently, but to divide them randomly so that they do not choose their best friend or regular partner, and thus assign them t people they are less familiar with.
Consider mixing employees from different hierarchical groups, or divide according to the various departments in the organisation, will allow building teams that are designed to work together regularly, for example, groups divided into marketing, sales and development.
Competition adds adrenaline and pressure to the activity. These components are sufficient to overwhelm the participants and expose them to different personality aspects. It is important to run the event in a sporty atmosphere and of course, to have fun.
Just for fun activities
ODT games bring employees out of the work environment and help relieve stress and increase morale. Their primary goal is to let participants have fun while demonstrating interdependency and support. The refreshing break reinforces the bond between workers, empowers them, renews their energy and contributes to strengthening the relationship between them and the employer.
Through various games, you can develop negotiation, sales, and time management skills; encourage teamwork, excellence and much more. These games can be part of a fun day out for employees or networking events. They create long-lasting shared memories, allowing participants to have fun, and improving employees' skills within their field in the organisation.
There is a child in every adult
Games and social activities are not just for children. It is not surprising to find out how many adult games can be great fun and bring people together. Participants will cherish a shared experience, creating another personal emotional connection between them.
While all human beings are considered social people, the process of socialising does not come naturally for everyone. Social games that foster networking can be of great help to the shy and quiet employees of the company. It can open a window to their colleagues to get to know them better and be exposed to their personal charm.
Challenge Group specialises in developing original content and team building activities for employees. We have over 14 years' experience in the industry and have succeeded in bringing originality and creativity to every event. We operate according to international standards, and we always keep updated on the latest innovations worldwide, to bring our clients the best activities of the highest quality.
Do you want to facilitate a team building event? Get in contact with our team to discuss the best activity to maximise your employees' abilities for the benefit of your people and organisation.
