4 More Quick Teamwork Games to Engage Employees at Work

RL09-08-2015It’s no secret that the people who play together, stay together. Working hard and playing hard as a cohesive team is what helps build employee engagement and boost productivity. So just because your team may need a break from work, it doesn’t mean you can’t take it as an opportunity to break away from the daily grind and build some camaraderie with teamwork games.

To get you started, check out these four team-building exercises!

Pictionary

The classic game of Pictionary is great for an office because it’s simple and can involve every team member. It helps build stronger communication and ignite that competitive side of your employees. You will need a large enough surface to draw on to ensure the whole group can see, i.e. dry erase board or flip chart.

  1. Split your group into two teams.
  2. Decide which team will go first, and then have the first person on the team select a word card.
  3. Allow the team one minute to try and guess the object being drawn.
  4. If the team isn’t able to guess it within the allotted time frame, allow the second team 30 seconds to guess.
  5. Switch teams, and follow steps three and four. Allow each player the opportunity to draw for their team.
  6. After everyone has had a turn, either start over and continue, or stop when a certain team achieves a certain amount of points.
  7. NOTE: If you have the actual game, follow the game board until one team wins.

Personality Quiz

This exercise is less of a game and more of an opportunity to help your employees grow. Understanding each other’s personality type is the first step in knowing how to communicate and deal with problems or find solutions when office issues arise.

  1. Choose a simple personality test, like the DISC personality test.
  2. When the test is complete, create a chart for each person outlining what type of personality they have.
  3. Break your team up into groups of six to 10 and have them share certain issues that may arise in an office setting, giving each person an opportunity to explain how they would solve the issue.
  4. Have your employees make a note of the differences between personality types and solutions from particular mindsets.

Geocache

Geocache is an app available on iPhone and Android that allows explorers to search and locate different items in cities across North America using their phones as GPS devices. Much like a scavenger hunt, you can either create your own Geocaches, or search for existing ones in your local community. This helps team members work together to find small objects.

  1. Split your employees into smaller groups of five or so.
  2. Print a list of the Geocaches within a certain area near your office building.
  3. Give the teams one hour to locate as many Geocaches as possible, taking a picture of each to show as proof of discovery.
  4. NOTE: Depending on your location, there may not be many Geocaches near you. In this instance, consider creating your own.

Who am I?

This particular game is a great way to introduce new team members to each other. By learning more about everyone in your office, it makes it easier to work together as a cohesive unit—plus you may find similarities between employees that can help build a stronger team.

  1. Have each person fill out an anonymous questionnaire, including the questions “where have you traveled,” “what was your dream job as a child,” “what is one thing no one knows about you,” etc.
  2. Mix all the questionnaires in a basket, and choose one person to stand up and choose one of them.
  3. Have that person read the questionnaire out loud and give everyone a chance to guess who it is.
  4. Once everyone gets a chance to guess, have the person who wrote it stand up and reveal herself/himself.
  5. That person will now start the process again from step two.
  6. Continue until everyone gets to learn about each employee.

What are some fun icebreakers and team building exercises you like to use? Let us know in the comments section below!

Need more ideas? Check out these other Refresh Leadership articles:

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One Response to 4 More Quick Teamwork Games to Engage Employees at Work

  1. Menna September 28, 2017 at 6:24 am #

    it is so useful and funny

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