18 Team Building Games and Activities That Don’t Suck

You may play any number of games and do team-building exercises in the office, and each of these exercises will help your team learn to work together while having fun. You are creating an environment in the office that is a bit more playful than normal, and you will notice that all the different parts of the office may learn to work together using these activities. You may drag your workers out of the office for team building exercises, or they may play these games at their desks. Make them as much fun as possible, and your workers will look forward to this process.

List of Team Building Games

#1: Blindfolded Dodgeball

You can play this game with any number of people you like, but you must have an even number to participate. You will split your office into pairs, and the pairs will play the game together. Your teams will have one person who can see and one person who is blindfolded. The person who is blindfolded has the ball, and they will throw the ball at other groups. They get their direction from the person who can see, and the team that manages to avoid being hit is the winner. This is an easy way to learn to communicate, and it helps your staff learn how to shorten their communications to the most-effective words. You may set a timer, or you may play short games until one team is left standing.

#2: The Book

The book is a common item in the office, and you will place it in the middle of the office where everyone may access it. Anyone who has grievances in the office may bring them to the book. Anyone who has ideas may bring them to the book, and you may check the book to learn how your staff is communicating. They will learn to settle their differences quickly simply because they must be civil in the book. You will settle differences quickly, and you will avoid entanglements that could cause your company to lose much of its productivity. Try the book to help your staff talk, and it may go by the wayside when they all learn how to talk to one another. These team building exercises for work are ongoing for all the people on your staff.

#3: Three Truths One Lie

One of the funniest team building games out there with simple rules: you will write down three truths and one lie on a piece of paper, and the people in your group must figure out which one is the lie. This is a fun ice breaker for the office, and it is a simple game to play because you may sit around a desk. You will get to know the people around you, and you will have fun trying to figure out what the lie is. You will laugh with the people who are sitting around the desk, and you will find that the people in the office learn funny things about one another. This is a bonding experience that will make your work more fun, and you may laugh quite a lot about the things you learn. You may play this game for as long as you want, or you may challenge your team to do it as fast as possible.

#4: Desk Product Logo

Creating a logo and slogan for a random product on your desk is a fun game for your office staff to do. You may put your staff in pairs or trios, and you will find that the people in each group will be quite creative. They will build a new product logo and slogan for this random item, and you will hear wild ideas that you may use in your business going forward. You should not cast aside anything that could be considered the next best idea from your business, and you will learn about the creative minds of the people in your office. This is a simple game to play, and you may do it on a timer in just a few minutes.

#5: Draw Blind

Team building activities for work and communication games are fun only when there is an element of surprise of stress involved. There are many different people who may play this game, and you are free to break your office into as many different teams as you need. The person who is drawing must draw blindfolded, and they are told what to draw through descriptions. Their teammates will tell them what lines and curves to draw, and they will see if they can get close to what the actual image should be. You may play this game in lightning rounds that only take a few minutes to play, or you may play this game as part of your lunch break. Bring food in for everyone, and you may play this game for as long as you like. All you need is a whiteboard, markers and an imagination.

#6: Don’t Step There

This is the classic lava game you may play with the people in your groups, and you may designate tiles on the floor that are hot lava. The people on each team must cross the room, and you will find that they must come up with creative ways to cross the room. They cannot simply jump from one tile to another, and all the people on each team must cross. You may leave the game with no time limit, or you may ask them to complete the game in half an hour. You may make the game even more difficult with every round, and you will find your staff members doing quite a lot of interesting things to cross the room.

#7: Be Resourceful

You may start a short game with your staff members that requires them to be resourceful. You may force the people in the office to make a phone call without a phone, or you may ask them to close a deal without your email account. You must come up with ridiculous tasks for them to complete, and you will learn who works well under pressure and who does not. There are certain people in your office who will perform well simply because you gave them a hard task to complete, and you will find that there are a number of people who cannot do tasks like this. You may send certain people on difficult jobs based on their performance in this game, and you may send other people on simple tasks because you do not want to stress them out. This is a clever way for you to learn how all the people in your office work.

#8: The Traditional Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are quite a lot of fun, and there is not a person in the office who will not enjoy this task. The games may be created for a number of purposes. You will find that you may send your staff on a scavenger hunt for information that is required for your business, or you may send them on a scavenger hunt for information about their colleagues. You may learn quite a lot about the people who work in the office because they are hunting for particular pieces of information, and you will find that the staff members get to know one another simply because they have sought out this information.

The scavenger hunt is quite a lot of fun because you may send your staff on this hunt for the balance of the day, and you may ask them to do this work quickly. You may go so far as to ask your staff to complete the hunt without a phone or computer, and you may choose to ask your staff to find something physical in the building. You may not realize how much time it takes to find some of these things, and you will learn who works the fastest after you have asked everyone to complete these assignments. It is quite important for you to ensure that you have a scavenger hunt that produces good information for the business, and you must be certain that your staff is motivated to finish it. Offer prizes for the winners, and you will learn quite a lot about everyone who works for you.

#9: Do This With One Question

This is one of the most-interesting games you may play in your office, and you will test the problem-solving skills of everyone in your office. You will tell your staff to complete a task in one question. You may think that the tasks are quite hard to finish because they have so many moving parts, and you will find that the task may be completed by someone who maximizes their one question. You may not realize how someone works until you learn which question they ask, and you will watch them complete this process in a team. You need to have a few different people working on the same task, and you will watch teams in your office work together on this game. They will complete a difficult task using one question, and you will be shocked at what they are capable of.

The question game may take only a few moments, or you may give the staff until the end of the day to get the job done. You will find that there are a number of different things your staff members may do during the day to win, and you will learn of a number of creative solutions that were used. You may learn something new from the winning person or team, and you will find that they are asking interesting questions. You want to see who is the most-efficient at using their time, and you will learn who knows how to communicate with others.

This is especially effective on a sales team because a salesman may only ask so many questions before they annoy the customer. Ask your staff to play this game to improve their conversion rate.

#10: Silence

Nonverbal communication is far more effective than verbal communication, and you will find that the office becomes more efficient when your staff is not speaking. They must learn how to communicate with one another in unique ways, and you will find that they are quite good at learning how to speak to one another when they are not allowed to talk. This is a game of gestures, and it helps your staff cut down on the noise in the office. Your office may be quite a loud place, and you will find that the staff is more efficient. They are getting work done that moves the business forward, and they are using less energy. Someone who is not talking during the day will get more done, and you will reduce the noise in the office to a level that is quite low.

The silence game may be tied to other games that your employees are playing. Asking your staff to do their work in silence is a way to value body language, and your staff will learn that the silence they maintain helps them focus. Concentration will improve in the office, and you will see your teams communicate better because they have been asked to be silent. There are quite a few different people who will learn how to use their words less, and you will see your office grow quieter every day imply because you played once game that asked your staff to stop speaking. Play the game all day, play the game for five minutes or use silence as part of another game.

#11: Dream Trip

Dream trip is the perfect activity for a staff that wants to daydream a bit. You are doing much more than taking a dream trip, and you will find that team building activities such as this will help you only when your staff must solve problems. You will start with a dream trip that someone on your staff would love to take. They will show you the trip as they envision it, and you will ask your staff to book the trip in five minutes or less.

There are many complications to get through, and you will find that your staff goes into action hoping to move as fast as possible without wasting any time. This is the game that lets you learn something about the people on your staff, and it is the game that will help you learn how your staff works. The people who complete the tasks will be asked to take a number of steps to get the job done, and you will learn which person is most-capable to complete certain jobs.

#12: Lily Pads

Lily pads is a game that is much like the lava game from earlier. You may play this game with questions at each pad, or you may ask your staff to make their way across the room using only the lily pads. You must ensure that you have taken the time set up a game that does not take much time. You may want to limit this game to an hour so that your staff may get back to work, and you will teach them something about your company or their jobs when they are jumping from one lily pad to the next. You may play this game across your office, or you may play it in the break room. You are asking your staff to participate in something that is fun for them, and you are giving them a good time that cannot be replicated.

#13: Dining Room Challenge

The dining room challenge is a game that allows you to use your lunch break as a team-building exercise. The dining room challenge is quite a lot of fun for people in the room because it allows you to learn about the people who work with you. The dining room challenge is a game where you ask everyone in the room to order for the person next to them. These people are trying to get as close to their preferred meal as possible, and you will see who comes the closest. It is fun to know what someone would order ina. Restaurant, and your team will grow closer simply because you all know these simple facts about each other.

#14: What’s in My Coffee

What’s in my coffee is a game that helps you place coffee orders in the morning, but you play it much like the dating game. You are guessing what your partner puts in their coffee, and they have it written down on a card. They will reveal their favorite things to put in coffee, and you will learn who is the closest. This game only takes a minute, but it is one of those team building exercises that anyone can do. You are allowing to learn more about one another, and you will find that someone in the office is ready to take everyone’s coffee order.

#15: Tug Of War

Tug of war is easy to play with one rope and the length of your office. You need to split your office into two teams, and you will find that they are prepared to fight to the death in some cases. The people who are in your office working every day are learning how to work together through the games you have them play, and this game will give you a number of opportunities to learn how they work in teams. You are learning just as much as your staff, and you will find that they are willing to work very hard to pull a flag across a line. This may seem like a simple game, but five minutes of tug of war will go quite a way to building your team.

#16: Exercise Challenge

The exercise challenge is a simple way to get your staff to get in shape. The people that work for you may be tasked with walking so many miles per week, or you may ask them to go on a run as a team. You are building a group that knows how to work together, and team building exercises for work that get everyone into shape are worth every second they take. You may send everyone off for a walk during lunch, or you may give everyone a pedometer to see who walks the farthest during the week. This is a fun challenge that sees your employees comparing themselves to others, and they will have fun trying to be the person who walks the farthest.

#17: Once Upon a Time

This game might be more on the silly side, but builds cohesion none the less. The idea is simple, get the team to work together to make a story. Gather everyone around in a circle and chose someone to start. The first person start by saying “Once upon a time” then the next person clockwise makes up a sentence. Going around the circle one by one everyone adds a sentence to the story. After everyone has gone once around the circle, make the game a bit more difficult by changing to rule to: adding only a single word to the story. An example would be, “the”, “girl”, “was”, “sent”, “to”, “Tokyo”, “for”, “work”. This game is simple, fun, and gets everyone involved. This works great as a team building game, but also as an icebreaker!

#18: Sales Challenge

The sales challenge is the last on the list, and it is a challenge that will see your staff vying to be the person who reaches a sales goal the fastest. You will see these people work quite hard on new selling tactics, and you will notice that they are increasing their productivity in the process. You may learn a new sales technique that is helpful for the office, and you may put your staff in teams. Someone on each team may give their teammates a better selling strategy, and they will work hard on that strategy hoping to win. This may go on for a day, a week or a month. You may allow the employees to do the challenge alone, and you will find that certain people have a gift for sales while others do not.

Team Building Games Final Thoughts

These team-building activities and team building games will take your business or group quite a long way going forward. You may show your workers and peers how to function as a team, and they will learn about each other as you send them more games to play. Put each of these 18 games in a rotation, and you will never bore the people who work for you or those you want to come together. They will happily play along, and they will learn something new every time you roll out a new game or activity. This is your opportunity to learn about the staff while they learn about themselves. Make sure you check out our list of 51 team icebreakers as well as our list of indoor team building games.

Featured Image via Pixabay

1 reply
  1. Jessica Simmons
    Jessica Simmons says:

    If the team wants to do something outside the office, escape rooms are great options too. They are perfect ways, in which team members ransack their brains together to solve a particular puzzle. A great way to break the ice and have some fun along the way too.

    Reply

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