Here are some suggestions for social activities that will help consolidate your team after the long absence imposed by the pandemic.
Zoom, Teams and other video platforms have enabled thousands of teams to continue working during the pandemic. Some have maintained their same level of collaboration while others have seen their relationships lose their warmth. The confinement is over, the time has come to revive them.
1. Prepare the ground
Before you start organizing a team building activity, observe your employees to get an idea of their state of mind:
- How do they interact with each other?
- Does the collaboration seem to be there?
- Do they eat their meals together?
- Are the discussions lively, lively?
- Is the camaraderie of yesteryear back?
Open the discussion and let them express themselves on the emotions felt during the long months of confinement.
Approach the return as if you were forming a new team. Show yourself ready to establish a new team dynamic.
Discuss the values that drive you and discuss the meaning of your group’s work so that everyone finds their place.
Demonstrate vision so that your employees want to succeed together.
2. Survey the Troops
You had thought of organizing a game of golf when many people hate this sport? It is good to know before taking steps.
Find out about the tastes of your employees.
The pandemic has had adverse effects on the financial situation of several organizations. Thus, before offering a paid activity to your employees, make sure you have the means to avoid disappointment.
3. Choose the activity well
It is important to carefully choose the activity you will engage in together to ensure its success, both in terms of the satisfaction that everyone will derive from it, and in terms of achieving the objective pursued.
Team building activities are numerous.
Among the types of activities to be carried out:
- Sporting activities
- Philanthropic activities
- Skills development activities
- Pedestrian rally
- Social activities – including the good old happy hour!
Sporting activities
The dragon boat is essential for the most competitive who are not afraid to give their all to reach the finish line.
This sport may seem physically demanding, but it remains accessible, because everyone rows according to their abilities.
For a successful release:
- Organize friendly competitions
- Mix work teams
- Create mixed teams
- Name the teams
- Create categories and award medals or prizes to the winners of each: fastest team, slowest team, funniest course, etc.
- End the day with a picnic.
Your means are limited? A bike ride in your city is an interesting choice:
- Opt for an unusual course that will amaze you.
- Short of bikes? Some companies rent them out.
Philanthropic activities
The pandemic has brought to light more than ever the precarious situation of disadvantaged people and has prompted more than one to get involved to make a difference. Sensitivity in this regard has increased.
So, consider organizing an activity where you can do good as a team.
Examples :
- Form a choir and offer to give an amateur recital in a residence for the elderly.
- Offer your services to repair the game modules of a park located in a poor neighborhood. Then organize a party with the local children to introduce them to their renewed playground. Guaranteed emotions for young and old.
- Participate in a tree planting day in your city to beautify the environment.
- Clean the banks of a watercourse.
- For construction enthusiasts, help build a house that will be made available to a family in need. Some organizations that manage such projects offer the opportunity to participate in the adventure.
Skills development activities
Organize an activity where the kitchen will be in the spotlight so that your employees learn to work well together and communicate better with each other.
If your team includes people from different cultures, ask one of them to share a typical recipe from their country.
At the end of the preparations, taste the cooked dishes together and discuss the memories that these dishes bring back to you. People will learn a little more about their co-workers, which will definitely help bond them.
Too many chefs spoil the sauce? We bet it will be quite the opposite.
Pedestrian rally
Good walking shoes, comfortable clothes, the desire to get some fresh air: that’s all you need to take part in a pedestrian rally and see the city from a new angle.
Everyone will have to pool their general knowledge and use their brains to, among other things, solve puzzles or decipher treasure maps.
End the activity with a group meal where you can discuss your discoveries.
Social activities
The good old 5 to 7 remains a must to forge links between the members of a team. Tongues loosen, people relax and voila! the atmosphere becomes festive.
Are your employees the active type? Choose a place where they can, for example, play billiards.
You don’t like bars where noise is omnipresent? Other possibilities are available to you:
- A potluck, or potluck, with a colleague;
- A picnic in the park;
- A private beer tasting.
And why not invite your team members to your home for a BBQ?
The links between the members of a working group must be maintained.
