Finding ways to motivate and build up your team can pose a challenge. In the past, many team-building activities focused on physical challenges, such as obstacle courses and building items together. While these activities might seem successful for a small group of your team members, some might feel uncomfortable or unable to participate in hard physical activities. Many companies are looking for ways to include every team member in activities that can help strengthen the group and improve overall results.
Team-building activities come with a number of benefits. Employees often benefit from feeling a sense of accomplishment through working with members of their team to achieve a result. Many team-building activities require people to get outside of their comfort zones, although pushing people too far from where they feel comfortable can turn them off to the activity. It’s important to find a balance between doing something different and pushing people away. With the right activity, your team can return to the office feeling invigorated and excited, bringing a new set of problem-solving skills and improved ways to communicate and work with one another.
One option that can sit between the two extremes is a corporate scavenger hunt. Since this doesn’t necessarily require extensive physical activity, members of your team who might be out of shape or unable to run or jump can still take part in the fun. When you set up a corporate scavenger hunt, participants will gather at a starting point and go through pre-determined steps and locations to find clues and answer questions, leading them to the next spot. The hunt might also include treasures, treats, and other exciting things to find along the way.
You can have your team work together or assemble in smaller groups to decode clues and find what they’re looking for by relying on each person’s unique strengths. A corporate scavenger hunt should include questions and clues that encourage people to think carefully and find ways to involve everyone on the team. The groups that are successful will typically find that they must employ the skills and strengths of every team member instead of letting one person take over.
There are a number of options available to those looking to host corporate scavenger hunts for their employees. You can rely on an outside group to set up the hunt. Companies across the United States offer options and corporate scavenger hunt ideas designed to make it easier for you to provide this team-building activity. Most of these companies offer customizable activities to help you cater to those on your team and help them build the skills they need to improve.
If you’d rather handle the logistics of the scavenger hunt yourself, the first step is deciding on a location. You could take your employees to a theme park, zoo, resort, or museum for the day, although this will require more planning on your part. Placing clues around a theme park will involve going to the park before the event takes place. The time and cost involved in taking your team to an outside location will also increase.
You can also host a scavenger hunt at your office to save money. Getting your team up and moving around the office can make a big difference in encouraging communication and helping them work together. Other options include hosting scavenger hunts in nearby neighborhoods or hiring cars to take them to different locations around the city.
Regardless of how they are organized, all corporate scavenger hunts should provide opportunities for bonding, strategic thinking, and communication among team members.
Team building scavenger hunt
Team-building activities, such as a team-building scavenger hunt, can also help your employees identify their roles within the team and develop into those roles. According to team specialist Dr. Meredith Belbin, most people have roles that naturally suit them. Some of your employees might be great at delegating tasks, while others might take a step back and check the finished work for mistakes.
When you allow your employees to participate in something unique and different at work, you can see them fall into their roles and find ways for them to strengthen skills that help them excel in those roles. Managers and supervisors tend to see different sides of their team members during these types of activities.
In a busy office environment when you’re trying to get finished work out the door, it’s hard to take the time to watch your staff members to see where they excel. You may not have the time available to discover your employees’ skills and strengths, causing you to put them in roles that don’t really suit them. This can lead to higher rates of turnover and dissatisfaction at work. When you use team-building exercises to push people outside of their comfort zones, their strongest skills tend to shine through. You may also notice that your employees develop better leadership and communication skills, which can help them in all aspects of their professional lives.
A team-building scavenger hunt can also help your employees build stronger relationships with one another. You don’t necessarily want your team members to be so close that they struggle to get work done, but strong relationships can help them work together more efficiently and communicate better. There is a definite need for this type of balance in the workplace.
The idea behind a corporate scavenger hunt is that it puts all members of the team on a level playing field. Each person is coming in with the same level of understanding about the task at hand, requiring them to collaborate and work together. Overcoming an obstacle through the support and hard work of others helps relationships to develop quickly. Even when you get back to the office, your staff will remember the feelings they had when someone helped them achieve success.
If you’re struggling to get your team members to work together and talk to each other, a team-building scavenger hunt can go a long way. This activity will help your employees break down barriers and get rid of the pre-conceived ideas of their team members. People who don’t usually work together will have to do so to accomplish a shared goal, leading to improved communication. You may find that your team continues to talk about the experience even when they return to work, solidifying the relationship and communication skills that they learned during the activity.
A good corporate scavenger hunt should be fun for employees, yet educational and motivational. It can also help to reduce burnout and boredom at work. If you choose to host your event at a museum or within a neighborhood of your city, you can encourage participants to learn more about their surroundings and gain historical insight. The activity should also help people form lasting relationships, even with those with whom they may think they will never get along.
If all of your employees are at least 21 years old, you can even send them on a pub crawl scavenger hunt. Find bars or pubs along the route that will allow you to hide clues and keep your team moving to the final destination. You might have the bartender share interesting facts that your employees can use as the key to unlock the last clue. This type of activity could be fun for teams that are celebrating a recent success or getting started on a new project together.
Understanding the unique needs of your team is the first step in organizing a successful team-building activity. If you’ve recently reorganized the structure at your company, you may need to host several activities to help people get to know their new coworkers and establish trust. Throwing people together and expecting them to work well without any help often has negative results for both managers and team members, especially if any of those people are feeling anxious or disgruntled about their new roles within the team.
Providing opportunities for them to communicate effectively and show off their skills will encourage better teamwork, which extends far beyond the hours that the activity takes place. By putting together a unique and fun experience, your staff members can make memories together and learn to work with each other in a variety of settings. A corporate scavenger hunt requires a number of skills, making it a perfect solution for teams that are struggling to get along and achieve results. You can even use a team-building scavenger hunt as a way to figure out which members of your team will excel in certain roles and are able to take on new tasks in a professional capacity.
