Team Building Activity Ideas | Team Building Activities For Teenagers
Team Building Exercises For Staff |Team Building Examples

Team Building Exercises For Staff

There are two sorts of team building exercises for staff. Firstly, there is the problem that every new member of an established team faces, which is how to become accepted and secondly, there are top-down, team building exercises for staff imposed by management. In the rest of this article we will be looking at activities and ideas for both forms of team building exercises for staff.

Team Building Exercises For Staff

When you join a new team, there may be some resentment from existing employees about your appointment. Possibly because a much-liked colleague was sacked, retired, moved away or died. This is normal and anyone who has worked at a few businesses will have experienced this challenge. There are several tried and tested methods for success at joining a new team.

The first thing to do is listen more than you talk. Let people tell you things, let them show you how they do things even if you are their new manager. If you go in criticising their ways, you are not going to be popular.

Slowly is the watchword when team building as a new member of staff. Pay particular attention to people's names, roles and characters. Do not be closed to the fact that you may be learning new skills and a better way of doing things.

Just as when you go on a first date, it is not a good idea to harp on about your previous partners. In this case it also applies to your old job and responsibilities. No one cares. It is what is happening now that matters, so stay focused on that reference point.

Show that you are trying to learn their existing ways and ask if you do not know. Most people are willing to help as long as they do not feel threatened and they are not being patronized. Pull your weight, and show that you are reliable, but do not take on activities that you do not know how to handle without telling a senior member of staff that you are unsure how to do it properly.

Get help if you need it. It is better than someone having to take over your job, if you muck it up. Furthermore, someone may be reprimanded for giving you work above your capabilities and later resent you for it.

If you are a manager you will be interested in team development and will want to carry out some motivational, team building exercises for staff development. The first thing to do is evaluate the existing team members. How old are they? Are they more athletic or more intellectual? How big is the gap between the oldest and the youngest members of staff?

Think about team building activities that they can do together for maximum employee involvement. If you are a democrat, draw up a list of ten events on a sheet of paper. Check that they are suitable and read your list to the staff members.

Allow staff to add exercises, activities and ideas to the list and then vote on them. Pick three or four, put them in order and then you have some team building activities to work with.

If you want to impose team building exercises for your staff, then create a list of events that will suit all the age groups. Remember that ageism - discrimination on the grounds of age - is illegal in many countries, so pick some outdoor games and exercises, but also some less strenuous indoor games, intellectual exercises and quizzes. Be careful to recommend an activity which will encourage mass employee involvement