Impact of Team Bonding Activities on Organisational Performance.

Regardless of how you try to look at it, your organisation can only succeed as a result of the roles people play. So it’s safe to say that people are the backbone of any business. But let’s look away from the people who invest in buying your products or hiring your service i.e. your customers. Now focus more on those who get the job done and ensure your customers are satisfied and pleased with your offerings, i.e. your employees. Doing the same job all day could get really boring, repetitive, and sometimes, we are bound to run out of juice and the willpower to get going. That’s where team bonding activities come into play.

 

Impact of Team Bonding Activities

You can only reap the benefits of team bonding by being intentional about including it in your business operations. Before you learn how to do so, you must first know why it’s important.

 

Resolves Hidden Dispute

In the course of daily interaction between your team members, there’s a high chance some might get into disagreements which may affect their work-relationship with the other person. Team bonding is a great opportunity for them to bury the hatchet and get back on the same page with each other. In any type of relationship, there always comes a time when the parties involved do not seem to agree with each other. Not to talk of office relations where people make decisions that are beneficial to the company even if it doesn’t sit pretty well with every member of staff. During these kinds of activities, there’s a high chance that many will mend their relationships and get closer than they ordinarily would be.

 

Eases Work Tension

Sometime in 2020, just after we concluded a massive project for a book fair which was run concurrently with two other projects, we decided it was time to take a break. Luckily for us, this period was very close to our 5th anniversary. So we put together a committee to plan a week-long event that included a series of in-house and outdoor team bonding activities. This didn’t mean work had ended for the team. We just knew that everyone had put in their best to successfully deliver the project and catching our breath was essential to staying productive.

After this event, everyone came back more energised, excited to work, and the performance of every team member improved. This also reflected on our performance as a company. Sometimes the best ideas come to you when you aren’t searching for or thinking of them.

 

Breaks Barriers in the Workplace

Every organisation has top-level members of staff. These are people who do not really interact with the entire team on a regular basis. An example of this will be those in administrative roles. In fact, some members of staff hardly interact with each other simply because they work in different sub-teams. It becomes unhealthy when some members of your team see others as unapproachable or they try to avoid a superior staff member. During team bonding activities, it is expected that everyone loosens up and interacts with even the youngest staff member. 

At Big Field Digital, our CEO is very approachable and pleasant, yet it’s always a joy to see him join in and get involved during our team bonding activities. It just reminds everyone that although he is the boss, he is still human and enjoys the company of those he works with.

 

Helps Learn More About a Colleague

It’s normal for employees to strive to be of their best behaviour at work. They’re all trying to stay prim and proper, keeping everything official and serious. Truthfully, we are more than the personality we portray at our workplace. Some people have hobbies and talents they never mention at work. Engaging in team bonding activities is a good way to learn about those sides of our colleagues that they try to hide. Some of the talents or skills you discover could even be of help to your company and they can earn from this as well.

 

Brings Everyone Together

If you have a remote team, you might have been doing a lot of virtual meetings to keep them abreast of what’s going on within the team. Organising these team bonding activities is a fantastic medium to bring everyone together. Doing this helps to establish lasting memories and create shared experiences that will be useful when you least expect them.

 

How Often Should You Organise Team Bonding Activities? 

As often as possible. At our organisation, we work towards having such hangouts at least once every quarter. This was difficult to achieve at the beginning but with some intentionality and establishing a dedicated team to plan the event, we’ve been more consistent. To make this easy and realistic, it would help if you create a budget dedicated to such activities. 

Did I hear you say team bonding activities are too expensive (especially if you have a large team)? Well, they could be. But the best way to go about it is by creating both high budget and low budget events consecutively or as is comfortable for your company. Even if you plan to hold these events at your office, try to make sure it is fun and doesn’t feel like a workday.

To ensure it doesn’t become predictable and monotonous, you must create a variety of enjoyable activities. We’ve helped you find a list of games and activities you should try out with your team at such events. As a final thought, be adventurous, act more like friends and less like colleagues. This way, people will feel more comfortable being vulnerable around you.

We sure hope you had a good read. If you did, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment or share this post with your community. You could also do both!