Indoor team building activities provide a weatherproof way to engage employees and enrich corporate meetings, seminars, conferences and retreats. Many meeting planners seek outside team building specialists with solid reputations for providing fun, interactive experiences for employees. Often, they can easily justify the expense because the right facilitators can drive home the key points of the meeting and maximize the success of the entire corporate event.
Experiential learning strategies can be instrumental in motivating teams to improve communication, increase creativity and innovation. Why? Well, for one, there are far fewer rules and restrictions when comparing team building challenges with complicated office projects. Perhaps most important is that the event’s relaxed atmosphere is free of workplace pressure to perform. Team building activities offer few, if any, rules to accomplish a task from start to finish, vs. strict directives required for company work.
When corporate leadership allows time for professional team-building sessions, they also send a clear message that they appreciate employees, and share the value that breaking from routine promotes camaraderie, while enhancing skills in creative thinking and problem solving to transfer to the office. This shared attitude increases morale in the workplace and naturally smooths the way for increased productivity. Employees who like their company and like what they do accomplish the most.
0utsourced team building events often have portable props and may be held just about anywhere, off-site or at work. The following list shows popular indoor team building activities to engage employees at all professional levels:
1. Artistic Mindful Activities
Whether you have gung-ho staff ready to take on an artistic team challenge, or a group inclined to say “I can only draw stick figures,” creating art can be a therapeutic mindful experience. When employees engage in a “no rules” artistic challenge, there’s no reason to fear critics. It’s time for all to enjoy the creative flow. You may choose a program to adapt to different skill and experience levels, or offer a collective team project. One such event involves a series of teams, each with a canvas that is part of a whole. The canvas is really a puzzle piece that, when finished, combines to create a company logo, or a corporate image to hang on the conference wall – and to display back at the office to reinforce the teams’ experience and the meeting’s success.
2. Building Activities
Engineers, designers, architects, and techies overall were once those kids in school who got devoured by that one physics project – building a go-kart, making a rocket or assembling a computer – leaving most of us in the dust. Now, people of all persuasions can use their talents to change lives by assembling 3-D printed bionic hands for disabled kids, or build bikes for kids at local Boys & Girls Clubs, and other social service organizations.
3. Theatrics
All the world’s a stage. In a business setting, the greatest actors are often the most successful. A wide range of activities bring out the thespian in just about anyone. You can break up into teams in small groups to create sketches. You may also produce your version of American Idol, challenge quick-thinking skills with improv games, or provide a venue to uncover hidden musical talent in your staff.
4. Mystery-Solving
People love solving mysteries. Lately, Escape the Room scenarios have been a big hit, and anything that incorporates zombies speaks to those hordes of Walking Dead fans. Team building mystery games may incorporate riddles, Nerf blasters or require assigned roles to make your real-life Clue game an engaging team event.
5. Game Day
Field days are fun, but indoor games ensure your fun doesn’t get rained out. Game days can be based around a meeting or corporate theme, with game shows and casino-style activities being two popular options. What about carnival games? Corn hole, a game of tossing bean bags, has made a strong comeback with community and corporate teams. You can reward winners with goldfish prizes, if PETA approves. Human Foosball, life-size chess games are two activities requiring teamwork. Both games are portable and can easily fit in a gym or other indoor open space.
6. Service Activities
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is more than just a buzzword. Employees are actively seeking companies that demonstrate their values. Volunteering for a day might not sound glamorous, but it is personally rewarding. Companies who allow staff time off to volunteer succeed not only in giving back to the community, but also boost morale, build internal and external relationships and energize the office. When you touch the heart of the people, you reach the heart of the organization.
Giving back helps maintain a strong corporate culture. Some companies offer in-house competitions to collect can goods, or may have an ongoing commitment for staff to volunteer at food banks or a community farm.
Other people-focused CSR programs may focus on education, offering tutoring or career building presentations to community groups, or make crafts for charity , fill care boxes for the military, or provide services to the elderly.