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5 tips for better team-building days
Do you want to improve your planning to make your team-building days better? Start by finding a good answer to ‘The Why’, and you'll be well on your way to success. Or you could simply ask one of our own experts at organising engaging team-building days - our HR manager, Benedikte Böttger. She has a total of 5 good pieces of advice on how to create even better team-building days. And they are all listed below:
- Setting the stage: You may already think that a powerful introduction is key to grabbing the attention of your colleagues on a team-building day. First it's time to set the stage for the day. A powerful introduction also relies on preparations made before you even start: Make sure the lighting is agreeable, the music is contemporary (and that it’s not too loud or too soft), and check to make sure the AV equipment works properly. Once everything is installed, checked and ready, it's time to open the doors and welcome all the participants. During the meeting, it'll be your enthusiasm that grabs their interest, rather than your frayed nerves due to technical challenges at the start of the day.
- Generating energy: It may seem simple, but it’s still one of the best tips in the book. Make sure you radiate the energy you want your colleagues to feel during your team-building day. If you can’t feel the energy yourself, you can be sure your colleagues won’t feel it either.
- Use ‘The Why’: The message behind your team-building day - or ‘The Why’ - should always be the common thread when planning and holding a team-building day. What message perfectly fits this team-building day? Make sure you have this message very clear in your head when you start your planning. You have to be able to clearly convey the message to everyone on the day so they're all well aware of the reason why they’re there.
- Preparation for everyone: You’re not the only one who needs a little time reserved to prepare for a team-building day. Make sure that the participants have also invested time in the day beforehand. Ask them to also be prepared - you have work to do on your team-building day. Topics should be directly related to ‘The Why’ on your team-building day. For example, will the focus be on cooperation? Ask your colleagues to think about how they can best contribute to good cooperation within the department/company.
- Variation is the way forward: No team is made up of completely identical people. So your colleagues are not expecting completely identical meetings. It’s important to have fun when you’re planning your team-building day. We’re all different and so we all learn in different ways. Some of us process a message through physical activity, others by watching a video. You can rely on group work, reflective experiences and role playing. Skip the long PowerPoint presentations and make sure that you rely on variety when working with the content you have created based on your ‘Why’. During the meeting, you need to ensure that everyone understands the messages in the content in a way that best suits them.