The phrase "We're a family" or "We're like family" that once symbolized camaraderie in workplaces has taken on a different meaning over the past few years. Now, this saying has essentially been branded as a red flag, suggesting potential issues like unhealthy work-life balance or lack of respect for personal boundaries.
However, while the idea of being in a "work family" has lost most of its appeal, the need for strong workplace relationships remains, as work environments can sometimes feel isolating and tense. According to a Gallup study, people want to find meaning and build genuine relationships at work, and those who are lucky to have this tend to be more productive. Another research has shown that there's a strong link between high employee engagement and positive work outcomes.
Now, the challenge is for leaders to transform workplaces into nurturing, vibrant communities where authentic connections can flourish. In this guide, we'll touch on the importance of team bonding, tips for effective team bonding, types of team bonding activities, and brilliant ideas for your next team bonding event.
Understanding Team Bonding
Team bonding is the art of deepening personal connections among team members. It involves fostering understanding and improving communication through shared experiences.
By nurturing the social bonds between employees, leaders can build a solid foundation for collaboration, respect, and cooperation in their organization. As a result, the risk of costly distractions like workplace conflict will be reduced significantly.
Why Should Team Bonding Matter to You?
If you take a good look at any thriving workplace, you'll find that they have great culture-building and team-bonding activities. Here are 5 main reasons why team bonding is important and should be taken seriously:
- It reinforces inclusivity
Team bonding, when done right, helps employees feel like they truly belong at an organization. By participating in these group activities, employees begin to feel more comfortable with their colleagues and they find new ways to connect with them. When you have a solid company culture that people are mentally and emotionally invested in, you'll most likely have lower turnover rates.
- It builds trust and openness
Team bonding is a great way to build trust between employees because it gives them a chance to know each other beyond their daily work interactions. When employees are able to see more sides to their colleagues, they're more likely to become more understanding and considerate of each other. And when there's an understanding, it's easier for trust to grow and for relationships to blossom.
- It increases collaboration
When it comes to collaboration, no matter how great a team player you are, the fact is that it's often easier to work with people you trust and understand than people you barely know. That's why team bonding is essential for increasing effective collaboration in an organization.
- It promotes creativity
Another great thing about team bonding is that it helps employees to step out of their shells and be more comfortable sharing their ideas, no matter how unconventional they may seem. And because they trust their colleagues, they'll be more receptive to feedback and would be excited to blend different perspectives and concepts to create innovative projects.
- It improves overall team results
While team bonding activities are usually light and fun, some are designed to reveal certain strengths and weaknesses of employees and give insights into how they can grow individually and through collaboration. These insights help create new and much more effective work dynamics that improve team performance.
What's the Difference Between Team Bonding and Team Building?
"Team Bonding" and "Team Building" might sound similar, but they mean different things. Understanding these differences can help you better define your activities and ensure you get your desired results.
Team Building
Team building primarily involves training sessions for employees to improve their individual skills as well as their team's collective productivity. Team building activities are usually tailored or geared toward achieving a specific company goal or objective. Problem-solving and decision-making are some of the top skills that are cultivated in team-building sessions.
Team Bonding
Team bonding, on the other hand, involves activities that focus on deepening interpersonal relationships. Employees are encouraged to connect with each other through fun games and tasks. While some team bonding activities can result in improving qualities like problem-solving and decision-making, the main desired result is often better communication among teammates. Team bonding activities are also less structured and are more about creating safe and fun memories for employees.
Team building focuses on improving team productivity, whereas team bonding focuses on improving team relationships.
Effective Team Bonding Activities
Even if you mean well by organizing a team bonding session, the reality is that many employees may view it as just another mandatory activity that they'd rather skip. So, before we explore some great team bonding activities, here are a few tips to ensure your efforts and ideas are well-received:
- Time it right - Choose a date that suits your team. Avoid scheduling events during stressful times, and don't plan them on weekends when people usually have personal plans. If possible, dedicate a day off for an outing or extra break time for an in-house team bonding event.
- Ask for your team's input - Don't decide for everyone! Talk to your teammates to find out what activities they like and what interests them.
- Mix things up - Variety is key here. Include different activities to appeal to various interests. You can also throw in some surprises and rewards to make it more exciting.
- Keep things fun - Plan light and enjoyable activities. Don't make things too complicated, and be sure to leave enough room for mingling and building connections.
- Don't force it - Not everyone will be enthusiastic about every activity. Let people join because they want to, not because they have to.
In-house Team Bonding Activities
In-house or indoor team bonding activities are great for bringing teammates in physical work settings together - beyond casual desk conversations and meetings. These activities are typically cheaper, easier, and quicker to plan. So, if you’re on a tight budget or perhaps you’d like to slot in some low-effort daily or weekly team bonding activities, this type is for you.
Some of the most popular in-house team bonding activities include:
- Scavenger Hunt
If you’re looking to add a touch of adventure and/or exercise to your in-house bonding, a scavenger hunt is the perfect activity.
All you need to do is create a list of objects that can be found in the office, hide them well (but not too well!), share the list with your teammates, and set a time limit for them to find it. If you have a small team, they can compete individually, while larger teams can compete in groups. The first person or group to come back with all the items on the list wins.
- Show and Learn
This is one of the best activities for building your team’s confidence and getting them to learn from each other.
It involves having each team member come up with a short presentation on a unique skill they have, or a skill they’re most proud of. These skills can be either work-related or hobby-related. Depending on the size of your team, you can choose to have 1-3 presentations every week.
- Board Game Tournament
The great thing about board games is that there’s something for everybody. You can declare a day as a board game tournament day with different prizes to be won.
There are different ways to organize this. First, you can provide a variety of board games for your team to choose from and play. Another option is to ask your team members to bring their favorite board games (from different categories) to work. Lastly, you can provide materials (cardboard, stickers, etc.) and challenge your team members to create their own board games. However you decide to go about it, make sure you book a large room or create enough space for your teammates to play side-by-side.
- Two Truths and a Lie
This game is an interesting icebreaker and a good way to help your team members get to know each other on a personal level.
To play this, simply ask each member of your team to say two truths and one lie about themselves, without specifying which is which of course. It’s up to the rest of the team to guess or vote on what they think is the lie and the truth. At the end of each round, the player can also decide to share more context about one or both of their truths.
- Charades
This classic game is one of the easiest team-bonding games to play. It only requires prompts and a bit of drama.
Start by splitting your team into groups, then choose a prompt or a theme, e.g. ‘SitComs’. A member from each team should then be chosen to act out the prompt while the respective teammates try to guess the word or title in 1 minute.
Destination Team Bonding Activities
While in-house team bonding can be fun, your people are more likely to relax and connect freely outside the office. It’s why quarterly and annual team trips and “dates” have grown more popular.
So, if you’d like to give your team a fun and more memorable experience, here are some destination team bonding activities to consider:
- Team Retreat
From beach parties to hiking to kayaking, there’s a variety of activities to be enjoyed during team retreats. Of course, the activities will depend on your destination or team retreat spot, but wherever you go, the thrill of adventure is sure to follow, and the new scenery might be a great source of inspiration.
For beachside vibes, LaCampagne Tropicana, Tarkwa Bay, and Omu Resort are great retreat spots to check out. And for real adventure experiences, Obudu Mountain Resort and Lekki Conservation Centre are decent places to explore. There are also other relaxation spots like SV Chrome and Lakowe Lakes.
- Escape Room
Escape rooms have become one of the top team bonding and team-building activities in Nigeria. They are perfect because there are different themes to choose from and people have to work together to find clues, solve puzzles, and more.
If your plan is to keep things fun while also creating a learning experience, then you should consider this activity. If you’re in Lagos, Escape Room 33 has great reviews.
- Team Dinner
Sometimes, the destination can just be a decent restaurant. After all, some of the best connections are formed over good food and drinks.
To spice things up a little, try picking a restaurant with outside seating, a great view, live music, and maybe even dancing! Tamberma and Bogobiri House are good places to start!
- Picnics
Food, fresh air, greenery, and games make an amazing combination. Picnics are a great way to mix team lunches or brunches with fun physical activities like races, horse rides, Simon Says, trust walks, and more!
You can also set up a Paint n Sip section to encourage creativity and light-hearted painting reviews. These activities can be organized at most parks or gardens in your city.
Team Bonding for Remote Teams
For remote teams, effective team bonding can be more difficult to pull off and often requires more constant effort to ensure it sticks. However, if you’re intentional about it and are willing to embed it into your work culture, it can end up boosting employee engagement and productivity.
For this to work, you need to be creative and open-minded. Here are a few ideas to explore:
- Create virtual clubs for different interests
To ease your team members or employees into communicating freely with each other, try creating virtual clubs where they can join and geek out about their interests. You can start with book clubs, movie clubs, music clubs, and sports clubs. You can also decide to have sub-groups for each club e.g. basketball, tennis, soccer, for sports.
- Take personality tests
Choose a popular personality test like the 16 Personalities Test and have your team members take it and share their results. This is a good way to learn more about each other’s traits and how to work better together.
- Create a breakout room
The goal of this breakout room is to create a space for healthy banter among teammates. In this room, random facts, personal wins, interests, and even check-in messages can be shared, but no work talk is allowed!
- Set up virtual coffee chats
Mix and match members from different teams within the organization to have a chat every week. This way, employees don’t just get to meet or interact with colleagues outside their departments, they also get to see the bigger organizational picture.
- Enjoy lunch and dinner together
Remote teams shouldn’t have to miss out on treats like team lunches and dinners. Try surprising your team with food delivery. And if that’s difficult to organize for your distributed remote teams, consider using an employee benefits platform like Motherboard which uses a voucher system to cater to the diverse needs of your employees.
With Motherboard, you can easily set up a benefits budget and assign vouchers for different benefits from a range of categories like food & groceries, adventure & experience, work-from-home, lifestyle perks, health & wellness, learning & development, and more!
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