Top 10 Team Building Games

Up team morale through games.

Team building helps to strengthen bonds and build appreciation among team members. Different personality styles are interested in varying activities. One way to address this is to have smaller activities that involve the sub-teams, in addition to full team activities.

Here’s a countdown of the top ten team building games. Remember—keep activities short and fun!

10. WHOSE LETTER?

Have all participating team members’ draw another team member’s name. The task is to write a letter to the person whose name you drew, detailing their many strengths and one item to work on. Letters can be delivered anonymously to their recipients, or read aloud.

9. WE ALL HAVE SKILLS

Give all participants a pad of sticky notes. Participants mix around the room, write one positive item per note, and adhere it to the individual it refers to. Encourage participants to visit every team member at least once.

8. A SECRET SHARED

Each team member submits a secret from their past before the meeting to one chosen person. This person compiles a list of the secrets, which are shared during the meeting. Team members try to match individuals to their secrets. Have a prize for the best guesser.

7. DESIGN A COMMERCIAL

Break the team up into groups. Have each group create a humorous commercial or ad selling your product or service. Let the team vote on the funniest and post all of the results.

6. IMPROVISATION

Have the team write down funny situations that may happen around the office. Break the team up into groups and have each group draw a situation. They must improvise the situation, and can mimic individuals not in their group for added fun.

5. PICTIONARY

Always a fun game at the end of a meeting, Pictionary allows the team to express themselves creatively. This game allows the team members to find out who are the artists on the team, and how each other puzzles out problems.

4. THE DESCRIPTOR

Like the Whose Letter? game, each team member draws a name of a team member. Next they write a humorous description of the team member whose name was chosen. The descriptions are read aloud by team leader, and all team members have a chance to match the description to the individual.

3. OFFICE SCAVENGER HUNT

Create a scavenger hunt list from items found around the office. Break the team into groups of two or three to work on the list. Such items found around the office may be:

• A client file opened between April and August 2010
• A green file folder
• The signature of a past employee
• A pen with red ink

Have your list include approximately 20 items or more.

2. BABY PICTURE EXTRAVAGANZA

Have all team members bring in a picture of themselves under the age of one. The pictures are delivered to an appointed team member who will catalogue the pictures and create a display. At the meeting, all team members are given a chance to match the individuals to their pictures.

1. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

Have personality assessments conducted outside of the meeting. Work with a business coach who can help all team members complete their own assessment. When the results are in, divide the team into their same personality types to introduce them to their similar coworkers. Use any adversarial game to bring these groups together.

Team building games can be incorporated into any team meeting, and do not have to incorporate the entire team. Many small events will make a longer lasting impression on the team!