Simple & Quick Team Building Activities
Team building activities are a great way to enrich company culture and strengthen employee relationships, especially to get remote teams together. They can enhance creativity, develop and build skills and increase communication. They are great for icebreakers, the morning huddle, and work meetings. Here we share the best 8 quick team building exercises that are easy and perfect for both large and small groups.
Why are Team-Building Exercises and Games Important?
Quick team-building exercises are important in the office because it builds trust, mitigate conflict and helps to keep employees engaged and focused whilst improving communication. One of the key factors for any successful business is engaged employees. In fact, teams with highly engaged employees earn 2x the annual net income of companies with low engagement levels.
Team building events can also encourage friendships within the workplace. Research has shown that having a good friend at work can boost one’s engagement level by up to 50%. So, next time you’re wondering whether quick team building exercises are worth your investment, it’s a yes.
Tips for Delivering an Engaging Team Building Event
Begin with Icebreakers
Kickstarting your event with icebreakers is especially beneficial for team-building activities for small groups. Creating a comfortable and open atmosphere among participants is crucial, and icebreakers play a pivotal role in achieving this. Icebreakers serve as a catalyst for breaking down initial barriers and encouraging interaction within team building activities.
By engaging in light-hearted and non-threatening activities, team members can become more familiar with one another, which promotes better communication and collaboration throughout the rest of the team-building session.
5 Minute Icebreaker for Adults
One of our favourite icebreakers that can encourage team members to chat and start building team bonds is ‘Two Truths and a Lie’. What’s great about two truths and a lie is that you don’t need any materials and is a completely free indoor team building game!
One person will then stand up and makes three statements. Two of them are true and one of them is a lie. The team then have to work together and discuss which they think is the lie.
This is a fun team building activity idea to get the team talking and is also a good opportunity to tell your team members a bit about yourself that they would have never of guessed! Making time to speak a little bit about your personal life in the office will lead to better team camaraderie and a happy workplace. It’s also ideal for both hybrid and remote team members.
Find more icebreakers to build team relationships.
Organise an Offsite Event
Opting to host your team building activities offsite offers a range of benefits that enhance the overall experience. By stepping outside the usual workplace environment, participants are offered a refreshing change of scenery that stimulates creativity and engagement.
This change can lead to increased focus and a more open mindset, enabling team members to approach challenges and tasks in unexplored ways. Offsite team building venues such as Yarnfield Park also provide an opportunity for colleagues to interact in a more relaxed setting, fostering stronger relationships and better communication.
Provide Constructive Feedback
Providing constructive feedback following your event is beneficial when hosting team building activities for adults as it enables participants to evaluate their contributions and performance, encouraging growth within the workplace.
By emphasising strengths and areas needing refinement, feedback fosters a culture of continuous improvement. It also nurtures unity among team members through transparent discussions, building trust and enhancing relationships within the workplace.
Simple Team Building Activities and Games
Our list of team building ideas is great for large groups as well as quick team building exercises for small teams. All the games listed can be done in teams of all sizes and are easily adaptable. Here is our ultimate list of fun, quick team building activities for adults.
Egg Drop
Looking for something a bit messy? Well, then Egg Drop is sure to be your answer. This quick team building idea is a classic activity and involves collaboration, problem solving and creativity.
What you’ll need: Eggs – 1 per team, straws, paper, tape, rubber bands, plus any other office stationery
Participants: Even number as you need to partner up
Length of Time: 20 minutes prep + drop time
What to do: The idea of this team building event is to bring your team together to design and build an egg carrier that can keep a whole uncooked egg intact when thrown off a 2-4 storey building. If you have a large team, then splitting the group into multiple teams also adds some friendly competition.
This team building activity can be kept relatively cheap, with the main materials supplied being from around the office. You can set the time for people to make their egg carrier so this activity can last as long as you would like it to.
Blind Drawing
This team bonding game is the best for enhancing communication skills. This is a simple team building activity but is very effective.
What you’ll need: Pen, paper and pictures of images
Participants: Even number as you need to partner up
Length of Time: 15 – 30 minutes
What to do: Sit back to back with your partner. One of you is given a picture of an object whilst the other is given a sheet of paper and a pencil. The employee holding the picture has to describe the object to their partner without specifying directly what the image is of.
You have to use descriptive words that are non-related to the picture. For example, if the image was of a pair of glasses you could start off by saying ‘draw two evenly sized circles next to each other, leaving an inch between them’.
The person drawing will make their own interpretations and the final outcome is to see whether two members can effectively communicate together (not to mention fun and hilarious).
Keep the Balloons Up
We love simple team building activities, this one is perfect for a boring Friday afternoon in the office and can be a quick team building game for an afternoon wake up call!
What you’ll need: Balloons
Participants: We recommend 3-10
Length of Time: 10 minutes or as many rounds as you want
What to do: Split your staff into teams and get them to blow up three times the amount of balloons that there is in each team (make sure each team has their own coloured balloons). The aim of this team building activity is easy; make sure none of the balloons touches the floor. If a balloon touches the floor, the team is out.
This team building exercise is designed to encourage light-hearted competition and is a fantastic way to let off some steam. This will enable your co-workers to work closely together and will teach valuable lessons on how to handle customer problems. This is an excellent team building activity for small groups.
Scavenger Hunt
An exciting team building event that gets your team members out of the office for the afternoon for some friendly competition.
What you’ll need: This one requires a little bit more planning or you to purchase a scavenger hunt pack.
Participants: 10+
Length of Time: 60+ minutes depending on the difficulty of your scavenger hunt
What to do: Divide your employees into teams and give them a list of items they need to bring back or tasks they need to complete. The team to come back to the office first with all the items wins.
A scavenger hunt can be themed and can involve a variety of fun clues and twists along the way. You can stick to just retrieving items or you can have some fun and get them to take a selfie with a stranger for example.
This fun team building activity is a great way to get the team working together and is an opportunity to break up the groups and cliques. The employees will have to get their creative hats on and collaborate with each other if they want to stand a chance at winning the ultimate prize! (Chocolate, wine and beer always go down a treat in our opinion).
To keep this fun team building event but make it quicker, why not hold the scavenger hunt within your office space?
Mine Field
This is another quick team building event idea that is designed to be played outside.
What you’ll need: Several blindfolds and various handheld objects.
Participants: Even number, must be able to pair up
Length of time: Approx. 30 minutes for both partners in each team to try this fun game
What to do: This outdoor team building idea is perfect to play in the office car park or open space. Place the objects you have collected sporadically across your event space. The objects can be items such as cones, bottles, chairs etc. Make your team pair up and get them to assign one player to wear the blindfold.
The second player must lead their teammate from one side of the car park to the other, without stepping on any of the objects. You are only allowed to use verbal instructions. This team building activity is great for building trust, communication and effective listening skills.
The Barter Puzzle
Looking for easy team building games? This puzzles focuses on your team’s problem solving skills as well as helping individuals improve their leadership skills.
What you’ll need: The Barter Puzzle
Participants: As many as you would like split into smaller teams
Length of time: Approx. 20-30 minutes.
What to do: Split your team into small, equal-sized groups. Each team is given the same puzzle, with the same difficulty. Teams compete against each other to complete the puzzle first.
You can mix things up a bit by mixing some of the puzzle pieces into the other group’s puzzle. You can then leave it to the teams to come up with a way to get those pieces they need to complete the puzzle. This will have to be done through negotiating, trading, exchanging team members etc.
The team building activity will let you know who the natural team leaders are and who will stand back. However, everyone must work together to succeed.
Yin and Yang
Another easy team building activity is Yin and Yang. It allows the entire team to join in and encourages the development of communication skills within your team.
What you’ll need: paper, sticky tape and pens
Participants: You’ll need an even number of people to participate
Length of time: Depending on your team’s communication skills, this could take approx. 10 – 20 minutes
What to do: Before the game begins, the leader will need to have several ‘pairs’ ready. For example, Yin and Yang, Male and Female, Night and Day. One of each pair is written down on separate pieces of paper.
Next, one piece of paper is stuck to the back of each player (make sure they don’t see it!). Each player must move around the room asking other players simple yes or no questions. Once they’ve figured out who or what they are, the next step is to find their partner. The first pair to sit down together wins!
Off-site Team Building Activities
These are some of our favourite team building activities, ideal for different teams and working styles. If you’re looking to bring remote teams together, why not explore the option of an in-person team building event? This can incorporate important meetings or training, as well as awards dinners and physical team building activities.
Our event venue in Staffordshire is equipped with plenty of outdoor space, perfect for team building, as well as flexible event spaces for indoor team building activities. Onsite bedrooms, sustainable food and event spaces plus great location, just 15 minutes from the M6, means we’re perfect for your business.
We also partner with a third party company to offer fun team building activities, such as Crystal Quest, with excellent team building games and props.
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