Why Team Building Activities to Start the New Year?

Are you looking for ways to improve your team culture for the new year? Team building activities help build a purposeful team culture within your organization, so why not include a workshop in your annual kick-off meeting? One of the reasons companies have offsite team meetings is to not only share and gather information but also to improve their team culture by giving people “face time”. If you’re planning an offsite meeting, here are some things to keep in mind.

In today’s economy everybody has to learn to do more with less. What happens when we have limited resources? How do limited resources impact our relationships and integrity? Teams can learn to think creatively through team building activities. Oftentimes in team building workshops, participants are given a series of creative challenges and problem solving activities. What they realize is just because they’ve always done something a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the way they should continue to do it. To not only survive, but thrive we need to do things differently to get better results. Rather than looking for what’s not working – ask what’s possible. This releases creativity and attracts those who care and are committed to making it happen.

When you have an annual meeting it’s a great opportunity for your team to get to know each other through interactive team building activities. You can build camaraderie with interactive sessions because when we are connected to each other, we participate. When we have trust, we take risks. When we care, we are willing to go the extra mile. Collaboration and creativity start when we begin to know each other as human beings, not just roles or titles. For example, we provided our Build-A-Bike® team building workshop for a client in the Seattle area last month. Because of the interactive team building activities, the participants said they knew each other better after a half day session than after a year sitting next to each other in cubicles. And when times are uncertain, it’s the relationship that matters.

Team building activities that include a philanthropic twist have become increasingly popular in recent years. And with good reason! Service to others is a strong part of the culture within many companies who want to feel good by giving back - and not just during the holidays. Our charitable bike building workshop is by far our most popular because teams build bikes that are then donated to
children in the community. Do you remember what it felt like when you got your first car – how it expanded your world? A new bike can change the life of a child, and it’s a goose bump moment when you watch them ride it for the first time. Decide if a service mentality is an important part of your culture, and send that message at your next offsite meeting.

So if you want to improve your team culture, start at your next offsite meeting by learning to think creatively and be resourceful, building camaraderie with interactive sessions, and feeling good by giving back in some way. Your team will discover together what it cares about and set your company up for a successful new year.