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Effort: ⚒⚒
Cost: ＄＄
Timeframe: ⏲⏲
Participants: Employees of all levels
Approach
Choosing a team-building event and its planned activities should involve all team members. The person responsible for organizing the event should consider the different needs (such as catering) and possible health restrictions (e.g., mobility, allergies, fear of high altitudes, or confined spaces).
Many group activities, such as professionally led outdoor training or an “escape room”, involve tricky tasks that require shared coordination, skill, cooperation, and creative thinking. Such activities often get all team members to contribute with their strengths and usually benefit from their diversity. The informal context provides a playful framework for experiencing challenges in collaboration in a different way and finding a constructive approach to tackle them.
Effect
"Team-building events" are not just fun – they provide an opportunity to foster informal contacts. Consciously selected group activities can also help uncover and (further) develop the potential for innovation in diverse teams. In a setting detached from the daily work routine, the distribution of roles can deviate from the usual structures in an entirely natural way. In terms of the workplace, this may also result in a sustainable change in group dynamics.