Trust Falls Be Damned - 4 Team Building Exercises That Work

 Team building exercises are a great way to introduce new team members and get them quickly acquainted with your organization. They are also a great way to further connect departments or sales teams. However, they can also be really LAME. Here are some suggestions on team exercises that can actually be really fun and a great experience for all involved! 

1. Improv

Actors take improv to learn about human behavior and to perfect listening skills, commonly using the "yes, and" technique. These same skills can be utilized in the workforce during so many interactions such as product demo's (it's one of the skills we teach in our workshops) and client conversations. Here are some great in office improv games if you can't take an improv class together as a team: http://www.medianet-ny.com/Teambuilding.htm

2. Volunteering

Habitat for Humanity, animal shelters, soup kitchens, (among so many other options) are all a great way  to simultaneously give back to the community and build a personal relationship with other employees. Your employees will walk away feeling uplifted and motivated, and there is always volunteers needed. 

3. Company Jeopardy

This may take some planning, but it will definitely be worth it. It's a great way to educate team members on your organization's products and services in a format almost everyone knows. This can be done on a PowerPoint in your office, with the winning team taking home a prize! 

4. Roller-skating

Or rock climbing, or softball, any kind of competitve team oriented type sport or fun activity can help to build trust and comraderie among your team.

If you completely hated those suggestions, here are some additional game ideas:

http://wheniwork.com/blog/team-building-games/