Popular Team Building Activities

The essence of team building activities is to be that these sessions need to be fun and interesting. If the activities fail to grab attention and interest of participants, there would be no good coming out of the entire exercise. What training and HR departments need to do is to be innovative and creative in designing team activities so that everyone participates in them with zeal and eagerness. Some popular team building activities include:-

1.   Foot Loose

There cannot be anything more captivating and engrossing than music and dance. This means that these two art forms are such that almost every person on this earth has a knack for – while some can freely perform in front of hundreds of viewers, some others are better practicing in the closed confines of their rooms.

The Foot Loose is a team activity where teams are taught few dance steps by a facilitator and the group members need to not only pick up and learn the steps, they are also given a limited time to practice the steps so that at the end of the practice sessions everyone is more or less dancing in sync. The exercise becomes challenging because at the end of it, all the teams are required to display their dance moves to the audience that mainly comprise of the other teams.

Why this activity can be considered to be a great team activity is because all the team members in a team when they try to help each other learn the moves and then work as a united force they are able to put up a much better performance than the team that is broken by infighting and unhealthy competition among the members.  

2.   The Spider Web

The outdoor ambiance makes it one of the most sought-after games. It is interesting at the individual level because more than a group performance, here the individuals’ efforts, smartness and abilities come to the foray. A complex pattern or structure is made by the organizing team. As the game starts, all members from the group need to cross this structure that looks similar to a spider web, from one end to the other.

It is not that easy as it sounds. Other than being a complicated rope woven pattern, the rule says that members cannot repeat a path that they have already crossed. They cannot touch the roper too at any cost. Disobeying the rules will mean that the entire team is penalized. So each individual player needs to work with total focus and concentration with their energy levels high. They need to involve both their physical and mental faculties to be able to finish the work smoothly.

What is important here is that participants must be intuitive while they also listen to suggestions from other team members outside. Obviously there are participants who put on the cap of a leader and motivate his people to perform the task with perfection.

3.   Junkyard Sales

Another creative and interesting exercise of the mind is this team building activity called the Junkyard Sales. Here the entire group is sub-divided into smaller teams. Each team is handed over some junk items using which they need to make a functional prototype of a product that can be used by the common man on a day-to-day basis.

The objective of the activity is to encourage members to think creatively and rake up their grey cells productively. Another engaging aspect of this activity is that each team towards the end of the session needs to present professionally the product made to a team of investors. This is a serious part of the activity and is not meant as a past-time. So teams need to prepare for the presentation, highlight the key features of the product and emphasize on its usability so that the investors are convinced to invest in the product.

This activity is meant for all-around development of the team – from being creative to designing to execution and making a model to making the most impressive presentation to negotiating with the investors for the best price for the product design.

4.   Jumbo Volleyball

A giant-sized ball is what is at the center of the activity. This is an activity that is filled with all elements of fun with everyone thoroughly enjoying the game. Akin to the game of volleyball there are four teams on either side of the net. Team members need to work in unison and cohesively to steer the huge ball from one side of the net to the other.

The size of the ball is enormously huge – the diameter is almost twice the height of an average human. Since the size of the ball is a challenging and a detrimental factor, members need to work with true team spirit and bonding so that they are able to act as a force.

While the competitive spirit is definitely a point in case, the fact is that members need to communicate meticulously to solve unexpected problems and work collaboratively to arrive at impromptu and unrehearsed solutions as per the demands of the situation.

5.   Trust Walk

There could probably be no other game than this that can match upto the true display of comradeship and unity. As the name goes, the game is all about trusting your partner. This activity is performed in pairs where one partner is blind-folded.

The game goes like this - the one who has the blinds on needs to cross through various obstacles from one point to another based on the instructions and verbal communication from his partner. Touching is not allowed – the only form of communication is verbal. When done the proper way, the sense of achievement in team members is unmatched and unparalleled.

From both trusting each other to using presence of mind to resolve issues, taking risks and having the courage to go ahead and take the exercise up as a challenge. Communication needs to be at its best and coordinated efforts from both sides need to be optimal for achievement of goals.