Team building plays a major part in getting people understands and work together harmoniously. It is a process wherein its main objective is to build and develop cooperation and teamwork within a specific work unit.

It is also an integral part of corporate world or of any organization that needs and aims to have an effective, reliable and team members. May it be a small church organization; a school sports team, community groups, or big company or corporation, all of it can benefit from team building and achieve their general goals.

Importance of Team Building

Here are some of the reasons why team building plays an important part of a company’s effort to build a solid working relationship.

• Team building helps improve working relationships.
• It helps encourage employees to give their best in their corporate tasks.
• It helps increase productivity among the company’s employees.
• It helps a company achieve its goals as a team.
• It helps develop cooperation and teamwork between employees and company teams.
• It helps create a supportive and enhancing working environment that motivates people to achieve certain goals and objective.
• It helps enhance each participant’s communication, decision making skills and self-confidence.

Unique Team Building Activities

Here is some of the unique team building games or activities that will truly crack your employees up and make them have fun while nourishing and strengthening their working relationships.

• Blindfold driving

This is a fun team building activity where in the driver is blindfolded and is given instructions by his team mates that (sitting behind him) on how to drive through the obstacle course.

• Sumo Wrestling

This is another great team building activity where in each participants get a chance to dress up in inflatable sumo wrestler suit and go wrestling with their coworkers, boss, and even their clients.

• Humans versus Zombies

Is a team building game that can be customized according to your company’s needs, so enjoy role playing as a zombie or as human zombie hunter with your coworkers and boss in your favorite park, or even indoors.

• Flash Mobbing

This type of team building activity that requires a large group of people who will get together suddenly in a public location and stage a certain public performance, usually a simple choreographed dance number, then dispersed rapidly after the performance.

• Chariot Racing

This activity gives every team a chance to build and assemble their own full scale chariot and race it through an obstacle course in a limited period of time.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Effective communication plays an important part in our everyday life. From the top corporate world down to the simplest organization, effective communication is necessary to achieve success in every business or non-business goals. Effective communication also plays an important role in fostering healthy working or personal relationships. It helps us maximize our performances, capabilities and potentials by having a clear understanding of our goals and the things that we should do.
But effective communication does not come easily for many individuals. For this reasons here are some top Communication Games that can effectively improve you communication skills. These games are commonly used in group dynamics or team building workshops.
Games that improve communication skills
• Message Relay
Objectives: Shows the importance of listening and relaying message accurately.
Mechanics: Group the participants into two to four even groups and let them form a straight line. Ask the leader in each group to pass a certain message, a single sentence statement, to his or her group members. Then let the last person in each line or group run to the facilitator and relay the message. The group with the closest relayed message to the original sentence wins the game.
• Blind folded games
Objective: Facilitates effective communication through giving accurate instruction, listening and following instruction. It also helps build trust in each working partner.
Mechanics: Group the participants in pairs. Have each pair choose the “it” or the blind one between them, and hand over a blind fold. Set up an obstacle course. Let the person with sight, in each pair, lead the “it” or the blindfolded one through the obstacle course by giving instructions. The person giving instruction should not touch the “it” or his or her blindfolded partner. The pair who finishes the game with the shortest period of time without cheating wins.
• Tight knot
Mechanics: Divide the participants into two groups and let them form a big circle by holding their hands together. Let each group choose a leader, and let each leader come in front and face a wall while you tangle each group to form a messy knot. Now remind the participants in the big circle not let go of each other’s hand while you tangle them. Then, let each leader face their respective group and try to untangle them by giving out instructions. The first group to untangle their group mates and form a big circle without breaking their connection wins the game.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Team Building Workshop has the main objective of helping its participants understand and act upon the importance of working together to promote optimum group, individual and industrial development. It usually comprises of activities, such as lecture and games, which promotes team work and stresses the significance of the role each one play as part of the team.

Basically a team building workshops are structured in a way that fosters healthy relationship within team members. Here are the major points or the major building blocks of a team building workshop.
• Setting and clarification of goals and objectives
• Openness and commitment to confront certain issues and develop the correct attitude.
• Degree of support, coordination and trust to each group member as a team.
• Degree of cooperation and conflict among group members
• Decision making techniques and working strategy
• Assessment of leadership style and techniques used
• General assessment
• Barriers and opportunities for individual development
• Motivation and inspiration to achieve the group’s goal

Importance of Team Building Workshop

Team building workshops usually help business organization improve or enhance their members / employees working relationship, performance and overall company output. It also facilitates individual skill development, improves team spirit and skills. It also brings out and enhances the leadership qualities in employees.
It is also widely used by schools, sports organization or teams, and nonprofit organizations as a way to mold the leadership qualities in youth and help improve their performance as a team.

How is it done?

As for those who are faced with the task of organizing a team building workshop, here are some tips to help you organize a successful one.
• Choose an appropriate venue. Choose a venue where the participants, the emcee and the speaker will feel comfortable and grounded.
• Order and buy the materials and supplies needed for the workshop.
• Invite a speaker. Choose a speaker who is highly experienced in team building and in handling a group of people. He can be from your own company or from professional team building speaker organization.
• Coordinate properly for the things needed.
• Delegate an emcee. Choose the one that can handle your target audience.
• Don’t forget the icebreaker. Prepare a set of icebreakers that can totally get your participant’s attention engage them in the workshop.
• Evaluate the result. Lastly, let the participants evaluate their experience and give comments about how the event was organized and how it helped them.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Building teams effectively in the workplace that are capable of achieving the company’s goals and objectives are necessary to make the company more efficient and have an edge on other companies.

It is also one of the responsibilities of those who are in the top managerial positions or leader employees to facilitate, and create an effective team of  skilled employees. For these purpose here are some tips on how one can build effective teams in the workplace.
Team Building Basics

• Start it of when hiring personels.

Hire personels that has the personality, skills, talent, and expertise that your company teams need. By having a lineup of skilled people who can work together effectively to manage, run the business, you’ll have an asset team that can make the company more competitive in the market.

• Communicate clearly and effectively to your team members

Make sure that as a manager you communicate your instructions clearly and effectively. Also encourage your team members to affirm, confirm, raise questions, and clarify  the instructions given to them. This will ensure that they thoroughly understand what they should do. Also by doing so, it help establish an effective communication between team members.

• Assess from time to time you’re communication method

Based from your team’s communication mode, assess the current communication trend and methods used by your employees. This can help identify and eliminate communication barriers that can hinder relaying messages effectively. Also it can help you device of come up with a strategy that can help improve your group members communication skills.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

• Inspire and boost your group’s morale

Reward your team’s good works and use constructive criticisms when needed. Also be calm, enthusiastic and optimistic when dealing with problems.

• Have faith in your team

Stop snooper vising your team members. Show them that you trust them and that you count on their expertise and working attitudes. This can help you have confident and respectful team members. Also another way of showing that you trust your team is by being open to their suggestions and ideas. It can help them feel valued and boost their morale and work ethics as a group.

Corporate team building is usually part of organization building strategy that aims to improve group cohesiveness and overall team output.
It include activities that center around improving work relationship and enhances employees inert skills and leadership. Team building activities can also be performed indoor or outdoor.
Different activities in any corporate team building may fall in one or more of these categories.

• Communication exercises

These are activities or exercises that center around improving the participants communication skills. These activities help them identify common communication barriers, come up with a solution on common communication dilemmas, and appreciate the importance of good communication. Problem solving activities are great example of this category.

Example:

Message Relay

Mechanics:

The participants are asked to sit in circles. Then the facilitator pass a one sentence message to the person in his right side. Then the message is then passed on the next person on the right and so forth. When it comes to the last person in the circle the message is then evaluate and compared to the original message.

• Problem solving and decision making exercises

Activities that falls under this category brings out the creative side in each team members. It poses problems that cannot be easily solved, and requires complex decisions and creative solutions. It enhances the each team member’s commitment and responsibility in finishing the task at hand by cooperating with the group to achieve their goal.

Example:

Tower Building

Mechanics:

The participants are divided into groups, and each group is given the task to build a tower made out of newspaper. Also each group is given the same materials such as an equal number of newspaper, a scissor and a roll of tape. If a group wants more supply, they should exchange it for a specific object that the members own. The first group to finish a stable tower wins the game.

• Planning and adaptability exercise

Corporate Team Activities that fall on this category usually requires team members to be flexible in dealing with complex tasks, and to be head on in facing different challenges. These activities also stresses the importance of having a sound plan before acting upon a challenge.

Example:

Survival Scenarios

Mechanics:

Participants are given scenario of transferring a wolf, a sheep and a child to the other side of the riverbank. But their boat capacity is for only two passengers. The fastest one who solves the scenario wins the game.

• Trust exercise

This include activities that facilitates and promotes trust between team members.
Example:

Trust and Fall

Mechanics:

Each group members are blindfolded, steps into a platform, and fall backward to the arms of their group members.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

These games are very familiar and can transform from games that are played by children to difficult problem solving challenges. Aside from that, the activities can be done outside or indoor, in the morning or in the evening. The materials needed can go as cheap as you can imagine but the only thing that you need to have is the expertise of a person who can facilitate the event. Trusted organizer and facilitators can give the event a positive result but an untrained one can ruin the opportunity for the employees to learn and be productive from the said event. Thus, the role of an organizer is important.

Here are some of games that you can engage through the event:

Improvisation circle – this game is highly recommended for ice breaker purposes especially for groups that are just formed. They will need to create a circle while the organizer will introduce a topic. The group should need to create a story on the topic by adding one word each turn. The one who will start on the topic needs to look at the person on the right side and make an eye contact then say the first word until it goes on and on to each member of the group. The eye contact is an important part in making the story and at the end of the story, you will be able to create a story together.

Catastrophe – of all the problem solving games, it is the most advanced kind because this game requires effort and commitment to be done successfully. The team will be given different situations like crashing in a cold wilderness with a temperature of below zero. The team needs to have twelve items and give priority to each item that will help them in surviving the wilderness. This gives a chance for each member to know their fellow worker through how they think and what they would do during a disaster.

Minefield – an activity that can be done indoors or outdoors and does not require certain materials to be used. You also need to prepare a mine field that is being placed randomly. The participants should look for partners and this can be done by drawing names in a hat. This game is all about the first person to be blindfolded while the other one’s going to be responsible for giving instructions to the blindfolded one to go pass through the minefields. This game aims to develop trust and good communication within the group or the organization.

Group juggle – targets the capacity of the group to solve problems and how they cooperate with each other. This is formed by a group of six to eight members or more and need to form a circle. This game needs a ball and the ball should be tossed to each person but nobody should be having it twice already. After the game, the time is calculated and determine who has been the best group in this game in the second attempt of the game. Then, after the second attempt the group should be able to solve why they weren’t able to finish the game faster.

Once you are in an organization, there are certain things that you need to engage in and you will be able to achieve the goal of the team through improved team spirit and unity.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Team building activities will help boost the confidence of every single person in the team to collaborate in the working place to meet the goals being set for the organization. In short, it will help to achieve the given goals of the organization.

The truth is, when a group of person chooses to work together they just give tolerance to the new environment that they are in. Sometimes, there are instances that each person may not agree on what to do to achieve the goal that is being set. With team building activities, they are being given the chance to get along with each other. When they compete with each other, they will be able to find a chance to prove that they can win in certain activities but will not bring it to their perspective working environment.

The activities carried out on a team building proper event should not be misled with too much drive to win the game and offensive actions. Remember to take this out and be sure that you should not offer this to the individuals. It does not need aggression to achieve a goal like doing activities that will humiliate each other.

Unity of the group is the main target of team building activities so that each individual will be able to achieve the goal of the organization through each of their contribution without hurting or demeaning others.

It is very essential to give time in thinking for the appropriate team building activities that will make a lasting impression for the effectivity of each individual in the group.

Choosing the activities for team building should not be taken by chance, it should be well-thought of. It is the main criteria for a successful effectivity to the group. You need to think about about activities that will help the group develop their strengths while augmenting the weaknesses. With these activities, you will be able to eradicate misunderstanding between the group plus enjoying each other’s company and strengthening the tie to each other.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

What are the advantages of corporate team building?

There are a lot of benefits that you can get from conducting team building activities and one of the main reason is to improve communication within the group or workers. If done well, management of the group can be done easily because there is a smooth communication between them and they will be able to discuss problems without barriers. It is very important that they understand each other well enough to achieve their common goal. Factors like attention to details, problem solving, decision making and good communication should be targeted to avoid stress.

When do you proceed to team building activities?

You will know when to apply team building activity when the communication within the group is not working anymore. When the company or organization is losing their potentials for better meant, it just means to say that they need to repair something that is missing within the workforce. May it be poor problem solving capabilities, conflict within the group, and resentment between employees.

Various techniques with corporate team building

Facilitators and organizers of team building activities provides different techniques to instill motivation and positivism within the group depending of the effort needed. Experts do have an accurate clockwork to follow once they will be able to find out the main problem of the company. You may either go for outing, camping, go to the beach, hunting, or do something extreme and adventurous just to rekindle the fire within. There are extreme, adventurous, mild and moderate activities that can be done.

Ask from the experts

You will be able to know more from facilities that offer training for team structuring events and they have their packages depending on the kind of activity you want to indulge in. It will all depend in the king of activity that you want to incorporate with your teams as well.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Goals of Team Building Activities

Why do companies or organizations conduct corporate team building programs? There are many reason why these activities are being undertaken but one thing’s for sure, for the organization to succeed, team structuring is the best weapon to avoid declination. It creates entrenched development to the entire group. Aside from that, you need to see to it that the activities being organized should be appropriate to the kind of working environment being handled with.

Keeping a competitive environment within a work group  is relevant to maintain a healthy ambiance with teammates. Team structuring events are being done to ensure that the skills and capability of an employee is still working and eradicate rustiness. This ensures that the group advanced learning, well-developed expertise and amend prowess. A productive and effective work group is the real asset of the organization. The use of methods that will inhibit attitude that they can apply to the working environment.

Team building is an eye-opener for ideals that you wanted to imbue to your employees through games, events, or exercises – you will be able to put a positive attitude to your workforce. When the productivity is increased, then success is the only way to go. These activities are done to deter the potentials of a certain employee which is done within a group so that they can see on how to help you when it comes with the working environment.

With team building, age doesn’t matter because it is important for everyone to achieve new lessons that can be learned from this kind of exposure. Of course, there are new methods being used in order to instill good attitude to individuals and to the group as well. This is giving them the chance to collaborate with each other in a new nature and games are a fun way to spend time with each other. At the same time, it can create a special bond with the organization.

Some of the activities that you can engage in would be sports festival, word games, problem solving games, trivia, quizzes and even social events like charity works and camping out of the office. This is the best treatment to be able to achieve the company’s goal. It is not only enjoyable but a better way to know and spend time with each other instead of facing computer screens, files, beating deadlines, making reports and getting away just for awhile.

James Carter is the Founder and CEO of Be Legendary, a socially inspired team and personal development company. James has created emotional learning experiences for thousands of participants through executive retreats and large meetings. James’ passion lies in helping each person feel valuable as an individual and as part of the whole.

Just contact James Carter HERE.

Cargill set a Legendary precedent kicking off their three-day, northeastern conference building 15 bicycles for the youngsters of the local Boys and Girls Club of Geneva.

With corporate responsibility threading together their international initiatives in food and agriculture, they were given a unique opportunity to literally give back to their customers.

As 180 Cargill employees and their spouses gathered at the Watkins Glen Park Community Center, they gazed upon 15 large rectangular boxes.

“Today you will be building Cargill’s latest and greatest product,” said Be Legendary’s Founder and Chief Instigator James Carter.

With a simple countdown, these participants were off and building what they now found to be bicycles.

As wheels were attached to frames and these new products were beginning to take shape, Carter redirected the crowds attention.

“These are not just ordinary bicycles,” said Carter. “This is a dream come true for a child. And we just so happen to have some special guests here for you.”

With that, music blasted as Cargill was greeted by the smiling faces of 15 children of the Geneva Boys and Girls Club.

Try not smiling at that.

It was not the fact that these individuals built a bicycle, it is about what that bike means.  To a child it means freedom.  It means wind blowing in your hair and two tiny pedals at your feet.  It means happiness.

Building a bicycle may not be super exciting.  You screw in pedals, attach a handle bar, put on a reflector, and all the while, hope you are doing it correctly.  But the moment that child’s face comes into the picture, every action that went into building a bicycle takes on a whole new meaning.

There is meaning behind everything we do.  Although, children do not come into our offices everyday and remind us of this.  You may have to look a little to see it.

When a child brings home a lump of clay from art class, there is meaning behind that.

When a company launches a new product, there is meaning behind that.

When your spouse asks you to cook dinner tonight, there is (definitely) meaning behind that.

When we choose a life of meaning, we are choosing an intentional life. Everything you say or do means something.

For the participants of Cargill they came together as one team to build bicycles for the local Boys and Girls Club.  But the meaning of their actions is in the value they place on their company, their community, and on Tuesday, making a child’s dream come true.