What value does increased productivity, camaraderie and staff retention have in your business? According to a Harvard Business Review, high-performing teams engage in team building activities on a consistent basis – meaning more than once a year. Patterns of communication in a team are paramount to the business culture. Here are three tips to consider for your next team building activity.

Tip #1: Plan with Intention

       
        What is the purpose of the activity? Are you trying to get your team to socialize and know each other better? To experience something unique together so they have stories at the office? To work on critical thinking and communication? Your purpose will help dictate what activity you want to plan for them.

        If a company comes to us wanting to socialize, we plan activities that focus on easy movement and mobility, so the team is getting exercise and moving their bodies (another crucial need these days), but can socialize during and after. If we’re planning something unique, we plan a military operation that functions much like an escape room with fitness elements (scaled for the participants). If we’re planning a team building session for sports teams or high performance athletes, we mix fitness strategies with team development strategies in a mix of fun and challenging activities.

Tip #2: Create a Safe Space

        
        The activity should be a place people feel safe to contribute, without the hierarchy of the company being an issue. A manager should not be in charge of delegation because they’re a manager. Let your staff discover who they are as the activity goes on. You might find some hidden gems.

        The first thing we tell people at our corporate events is that we don’t know any of them, we don’t know who is in charge or who holds what title. To us, everyone is equal and now is the opportunity for them to be who they want to be. They can be the best team member in the group, regardless of their reputation in the office. We’ve seen dramatic shifts in team culture because of our approach. In some cases we assign leadership to activities to give everyone a chance to think and feel valued in the group. Leadership isn’t for everyone regularly, but everyone can experience it.

Tip #3: Debrief and Reflect

        Every member of the team should feel free to share their feedback and insights regarding the activity. Much like after action reviews (AAR’s) in the military, every member has a different point of view based on where they were in the mission. The key to this being successful is having a team that feels the space is safe to speak in. Not all activities require long debriefs, but all activities can have small ones.

Depending on the size of the events, we often debrief in smaller groups to promote a larger conversation later. Our team also provides a debrief of the event to participants on what lessons we hoped were passed on, and we provide feedback to management on team performance. We use this information for future sessions or for the management team to consider moving forward.