During tough economic times – yes, the sort that we’re experiencing right now in South Africa – it is always tempting to reign back the spending, button down the hatches and wait out the storm.

However, studies the world over have shown that it is during the leanest of times that companies actually need to invest in themselves and their employees rather than snipping the budget to the bear minimum.

One of the best ways to do that and to prevent employees from feeling isolated and demotivated is team building. The very success of an organization depends on the ability of its employees to work as a team, understand each other’s strengths as well as weaknesses, take interest in each other’s interest, and deliver the quality work that is desired, together.

Why not treat everyone to a break at Granny Mouse so that they can forget the hum drum and the mundane for just a little while and focus on how they can join together to pursue common goals?

The benefits of team building are many and can include increased morale, motivation, positive reinforcement, improved quality of work and greater creativity.

The only problem is that many of us can remember those cringe worthy team building events that had everyone claiming headaches to avoid participating in silly games of making fools of themselves. Try and avoid these, if possible.

At Granny Mouse, we can help you to come up with both indoor and outdoor team building activities that you staff will enjoy.  Some are short and take a few minutes while others may take a good couple of hours.

Here are some examples:

1. Create a magazine story: The goal of this game is simple: get players to create an imaginary magazine cover story about your company or a specific project or department. Divide participants into teams of three to six players and provide them with stationery as well as a template for their fictional magazine feature. This should outline different elements that they will need to come up with – the actual magazine cover complete with an image and wording, the cover story itself (they don’t need to write the whole thing but they do need to provide a headline, quotes from leaders and team members as well as images and side bars.) Then you can either choose or ask everyone to vote for the best one.
2. Shark Tank: This is based on the format of the television show Dragon’s Den. Again, divide your group into smaller ones and set each the task of pitching their product in front of a mock “Shark Tank” of investors. People love this pitch format and it gives team members an opportunity to work together and be entrepreneurial. Choose 3 to 4 people to be the “sharks” with imaginary backgrounds and a pool of cash to invest in the best ideas. Your sharks need to ask questions and challenge the presenters. The team that convinces the sharks to invest and comes out with the most investment at the end wins.
3. Make Your Own Movie: This is a great way to stimulate creativity. You can provide each of the teams with a video camera or even use a good cell phone and ask them to pick a theme and write a script for a five to seven-minute movie. They’ll need to divide the responsibilities (screenwriter, actors, camera operator, director etc.) and then review the finished product before it is screened. Again, you can pick the best one and offer prizes.
4. Radio Play: If your teams are shy and don’t want to appear on camera or you don’t have the necessary equipment, the revert to this age old format. Again, provide the necessary equipment – notebooks, pens, markers, flip chart papers, microphones, and props for making different sound effects – and then leave each team to it for an hour or two to come up with a play and perform and record it. Again, the best radio presentation wins a prize.
5. Buckets and balls: This outdoor activity sees teams compete against each other to move balls from one bucket to another without using their hands or arms. To win, players have to work together and delegate responsibilities. Set up your field using masking tape, chalk or cones to create separate “Start” and “Finish” lines and place buckets for each team at either end of these start/finish lines. Fill the buckets behind the finish line with tennis balls. Then select a handler for each team – the only person who can actually handle the balls. Team members must retrieve balls from the finish line bucket and get them to their team’s handler without using their hands or arms. The handler can then drop the balls into the team’s empty bucket. If anyone apart from the handler touches the ball, he/she is immediately disqualified and must leave the field. Start the game with a 5-minute time limit. All teams play at the same time (which creates additional chaos and makes communication even more important). The team that has the most balls in their ‘empty bucket’ at the end of 5 minutes wins.
6. Build Bridges, Not Walls: Create two teams to build separate halves of a bridge using the materials provided. Once finished, they have to work together to make the halves fit. Ideal items for bridge building include cardboard, Lego, building blocks, straws, paper, tape, rulers, etc. The teams should work in different areas or rooms where they cannot see each other. However, they can communicate verbally and exchange ideas on bridge design. Each team gets 10 minutes to come up with an idea and a sketch for the bridge. They get an additional 30 minutes to build the actual half of their bridge. Then they have to meet up and see whether their bridges are similar and can be joined.
7. Tied Together: This is a great way to build relationships. Ask all players to form a circle, facing inwards and with their arms at their sides. Place all necessary items for completing the tasks in the center of the circle and then use the likes of shoe laces or cloth strips to tie each person’s wrists to his/her neighbor’s until the entire group is tied together. Then ask the team to complete a series of tasks using the objects in the circle. Examples include building a Lego structure, wrapping a present, pouring a glass of water, etc. Since teammates are all tied together, they will have to communicate clearly and collaborate well to complete these seemingly simple tasks. You can add a time limit to increase the difficulty. Alternatively, you can tie team members together at the ankles and then ask them to complete tasks such as fetching different objects or crossing a maze (made with cones.
8. Team Emblem: Participants are divided into small teams where they must work together using cardboard, chart paper, markers, crayons, tape to create an emblem, flag or shield for their teams. Besides collaboration and creative thinking, this activity is also great for building a stronger sense of team identity and cohesiveness. You can either create imaginary project teams or use real life staff teams for this exercise. Give team members 10 minutes to brain storm ideas and then 20 minutes to an hour to make their emblem. Ask each team to display their emblem and then invite other teams to interpret each emblem.
9. Guess the Object: A quick take on dumb charades. A person from the group has to select and demonstrate an object without speaking and using gestures and actions. The rest of the group has to guess within two to three minutes. This is great for inspiring creativity and getting people to loosen up at the start of an event. It also works as an interlude between longer activities or presentations.

(Ideas from Workamajig – Ester estherc@workamajig.com.)