Successful organizations realize the importance of having an open and collaborative culture. They want to encourage relationship building and teamwork among their employees. Group team building activities and exercises can help them achieve that.

Fun activities and events that allow co-workers to see each other in a different light encourage them to get to know each other better and form stronger bonds. They can help in improving employees’ motivation, interpersonal communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

Planning for group team building events and activities can seem like a challenge. If planned and executed properly, they can serve to promote trust and relationship building among your employees. Your employees will feel happier, motivated, and will view the organization more positively.  But if done improperly, employees may regret attending the event and morale, and overall satisfaction with the organization may decrease!

So, before you set up a team building event for your employees, you should answer these questions.

1. What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Having a clearly defined goal or purpose should be the first thing on your mind when planning a team building event. A good approach is to involve more people from the team in this process who can give you more relevant feedback and insight.

You should have a good understanding of what you aim to provide your employees with through the event and what will be the key takeaways for them on that day. It could be a de-stressing exercise during high-pressure times or an event organized mainly to appreciate employees when they have successfully achieved company targets.

Knowing your ultimate objective will help a lot in selecting the best-suited activities and exercises that will deliver on what you want them to. Some examples of corporate goals could be:

• Introducing new leadership
• Instilling a culture of trust and honesty
• Enhancing employees’ skills and competency
• Revamping corporate vision and mission
• Promoting creativity in the workplace
• Training resilience and adaptability to the team

 

  2. Will the Team Actually Want to Do This?

If your employees have to be forced to join the event and participate in the activities, you’re doing it wrong. Therefore, it’s important to gather feedback across all departments and teams well ahead of time. That way, you’ll stand a better chance of improving employee engagement and enthusiasm.

Never assume that your employees will share your interest in a particular activity. They won’t necessarily protest and may just go with the flow because they want to keep the boss happy. However, this will breed resentment and could result in low employee morale and productivity.

3. What’s Your Timeline?

The more time you have on your hands, the better off you are with regards to planning. Keeping this in mind, a minimum of 4-6 weeks of planning and preparation is necessary for an event that will cater to about 100-150 people.

Once you have an approximate timeline in mind, create a project plan with your event planning team. Schedule each activity in detail and then keep track of the list and monitor progress.

4. What’s Your Budget?

It’s important to have an accurate idea of the available budget when planning for a corporate team building event. The budget should be approved by the senior management to avoid any problems or last-minute cancellations later. Try to keep a realistic budget but leave some room for any unexpected expenses.

You can create a budget table to keep track of your expenses along the way. Some important items to consider when budgeting for your event include venue booking and permits, food and beverages, accommodation (if the activity is supposed to last for longer than a day), transportation/travel, activity providers and insurance.

5. What Would Be the Ideal Time and Date for the Event?

Picking the right date and time is crucial for the success of your event. When scheduling the event, keep your employees’ work calendar and obligations in mind. Also, employees will be more receptive to activities that are held during work hours and do not interfere with their valuable personal time.

You also have to decide on how long your team building event is going to last. You may run the event over a few hours or even days to accommodate more people’s schedules.

When planning for outdoor evening team building events in London, you should also take seasonality and weather conditions into account.

6. What Will Be the Right Venue for the Event?

The venue or location for your team building event depends on the goal of the event, the availability of your employees, the season, and of course, your budget.

Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can decide on the location according to your available budget. An off-site location or a short trip to another city may do the job if you want to reward or appreciate your employees for their efforts.

Weather also plays an important role here. An indoor venue is great for the winter months. Also, the summer season is ideal for evening team building events in London.

If employees are short on time and you also want to cut down on travel time and cost, you can go for an in-house team building activity.

7. Do You Need the Services of a Professional Facilitator?

If you have a specific objective behind the activity, facilitation could be a great tool. This is especially useful if you want to train your employees on certain skills like leadership, communication, resilience, creativity, etc. Professional facilitators will discuss your objectives prior to the event and organize their activities and materials accordingly.

 

A quality team building event should be able to provide employees with new learning and insights that they can channel into their daily work interactions, priorities, and attitudes. Therefore, proper event planning is a must. These team building events will eventually translate into your business’ success.

 

Author Bio

 

Sarah Hill is a content writer at Seven Events Ltd – one of the leading corporate event planners in Birmingham who specialized in organizing team building events, incentive travel, and conference organizer. She started her career in the events industry almost a decade ago as time progressed she became an avid event blogger sharing her insight on corporate event planning.