How engaged are your employees?
The State of the Global Workplace report by Gallup has reported that a mere 15% of employees over 150 countries worldwide are engaged in their jobs while two-thirds are not engaged and 18% are actively disengaged. The image below provides a breakdown of these numbers across the different regions.
These numbers are indeed alarming and definitely shows more has to be done when it comes to retaining, increasing happiness and productivity amongst employees to drive passion and commitment. It is no question that boosting an employee's happiness has a direct relationship with greater motivation and productivity in the long run.
Just put yourself in the shoes of someone who dislikes his or her job. It must indeed be a chore to have to drag themselves to work every single day and this can be easily identified through their work ethic. Moreover, if your employees are unhappy with their jobs, they are more likely to radiate this negative energy to the clients and customers they are dealing with and the people they work with as well. This entire experience then starts to have a domino effect.
Hierarchy of Employee Development
There are four distinct levels of the employee development hierarchy:
Team Building Activities To Try At Your Next Corporate Event
With teamwork being highlighted as being amongst the top two needs of the employment development hierarchy, fostering great relationships between colleagues and teams is a great way to boost employee engagement and productivity amongst them. After all, a team that bonds together, succeeds together, right?
Team building for some reason is always seen to be this stereotype where participants may feel inferior getting too childish while on the other hand, others see it as less time to get their own work done. However, this doesn't have to always be the case. Teamwork is an ongoing process. It ensures that everyone is on the same page and are all heading in the same direction. The number of hours spent in the office does not guarantee success, the quality of your work does. Spending too much time in the office space can also result in fatigue which affects the quality of work. Thus, some time away from the office and your desk provide a great opportunity to unleash your creative energy through fun and games! Here are some exciting activities you could have a go at your next corporate retreat, event or team bonding day!
ACTIVITIES
1. Team Building Kits
Developed by the team who invented the Hunt A Killer subscription box, Team Building Kits provides an all-in-one, immersive team building activity that makes use of unique storylines. These kits are designed to encourage participants to channel their inner creative energy and build deep relationships between players. The subscription also means that you will receive a new team building kit every month, which saves time on planning for new activities to carry out. This activity requires communication skills, critical thinking skills as well as creativity to solve the mysteries. Companies can use these kits for ice-breaking exercises, building company culture as well as for orientations.
2. Sprint Week
Carrying out a Design Sprint does not only provide for a great, engaging activity but can also have a huge impact on your business. Our entire team took a week off our usual duties a few weeks ago to focus on important development work for 2 of our upcoming projects. We went through a tedious week of understanding how the entire process was user-centred and takes into considerations the wants and needs of ideal users of our products and services. It also helps us take into consideration everyone's perspective through empathy, a key attribute of the Design Thinking process. Lastly, this sprint allows us to fail fast and learn fast as well. Indeed a great way to inculcate collaboration, communication as well as problem-solving skills amongst participants.
3. Escape the Meeting Room
Yes, you read that right. Give your entire team a huge surprise by converting your usual meeting room into an escape room! This might take some thorough planning and execution but trust me, it is bound to leave your team thrilled without even having to leave the building. Providing a change in the environment has also been psychologically proven to increase productivity levels. With clues to find and puzzles to solve as a team, this activity not only encourages teamwork within teams but also critical thinking as well as building trust within participants, crucial traits for having a close-knit team.
4. PowerPoint Karaoke
PowerPoint Karaoke is an improvisational activity in which each participant will deliver a presentation on a slide deck they have never seen before. The activity intentionally pushes people out of their comfort zones and forces them to be comical and put on their best show. This game is one that tests your skillsets, gets everyone in the room laughing hysterically and keeps an element of suspense in the air as no one would know what to expect next. Being able to think on your feet is definitely a key skill every team member should have - this tests their ability to be creative and come up with solutions on the spot. You could use the slide deck provided here if not you could also create your very own!
5. Rolljak - Engagement and Collaboration Platform
With creativity being highlighted as one of the top three skills needed in the 21st century, inculcating and encouraging a creative mindset amongst teams is absolutely necessary.
Rolljak provides you with a platform to unleash your creative side in an open, fun and engaging way. This interactive workshop enables users to put their creativity to the test using relevant design thinking principles, everyday objects and scenarios.
Rolljak delivers a unique experience that brings you through a creative thinking and design thinking process. Participants will get to understand the core aspects of design education as well as techniques for rapid idea generation. Being able to think on your feet and come up with ideas can be a rather challenging task and this workshop is bound to get you out of your comfort zone.
What's more, you can also use Rolljak to boost engagement as well as productivity in your meetings. It might sound insignificant, but many employees label most of the meetings they attend as unproductive. Study found there are around 55 million meetings held each week in the United States alone. On average, organizations spend about 15% of their time on meetings and about 71% of those meetings were regarded as not productive.
So imagine the improvement your business may achieve when you can make every engagement point with your employee meaningful & effective. Spark participation and increase productivity with Rolljak!
Want to find out more? Sign up here to find out more about how you can run Rolljak at your next corporate event!
6. Corporate Dragon Boating
Dragon Boat Innovate (DBI) aims to build teamwork and camaraderie through its ultimate dragon boating experience. There is no better experience where participants are all from different walks of time and fitness levels can take part in this together. Not to worry about the physical demands on this activity as well as The presence of fresh air and outdoors also provides participants with a fresh environment in comparison to holding an activity in the office space.
Dragon Boating is a sport with requires a high level of coordination, teamwork and communication skills that also pushes people outside of their comfort zones. Teams will need to work together to effectively communicate and align their movements to move in the right direction together. In a sense, it shows that every team member is a piece of a puzzle and that effective teamwork indeed leads to success. The leader of the team also has to exemplify great communication skills as he or she will be delegating instructions to the rest of their team.
7. Potato Pirates - Coding With Carbs!
It covers concepts such as functionals, loops, conditionals and many more in a fun and engaging manner! Definitely a popular workshop with the adults for a company retreat or corporate event as well as a great activity for families to build strong relationships.
Potato Pirates provides a great avenue for participants to exercise computational thinking which consists of four components.
1. Decomposition
The ability to break down a problem into parts of steps to be able to see things clearly.
2. Algorithmic Thinking
The process of developing a set of instructions or a sequence of steps to solve a problem.
3. Pattern Recognition
Being able to find similarities or patterns amongst small, decomposed problems that help us solve more "general" problems.
4. Abstraction
The process of filtering out unnecessary information to solve a problem and generalising the information that is required.
This development of critical thinking and emotional competencies are vital in today's world as we no longer face problems with direct solutions, but rather unknown problems with unknown solutions. Companies are always looking for people who are able to come up with new ideas and solutions.
Price: $50 per pax
Find out more here: potatopirates.game or email for further queries.
8. SaberFit
SaberFit is the world's very first high energy group fitness workout that involves striking techniques and provides you with a unique full body workout experience. Bond with your team members and colleagues while burning calories; I couldn't think of a better combination. This activity incorporates pair-work elements and has team-building aspects which are great for putting your team's perseverance, communication skills and motivation to the test.
This activity consists of elements of pair work as well as communication. Pairs will need to work together to complete certain tasks. The exercises are also of high intensity, which will require a certain level of perseverance from the team. These are key traits that should be present in any team for it to be an efficient and a productive one. Teamwork makes the dream work, doesn't it?
BENEFITS OF TEAM BUILDING
Team building is definitely a great way to provide an avenue for your team and colleagues to relax, engage and learn from one another. Forming these connections and trust between each other is important especially when working together on a day to day basis. Putting in that extra effort to make this experience fun and lasting leaves nothing but a great impression on your employees, which in turn motivates them and keeps them satisfied. Not only does it enforce deep bonds but it inculcates three levels of empathy as well.
- Cognitive Empathy
Being able to think and understand what others are thinking.
- Affective Empathy
Being able to feel the emotions that others feel.
- Conative Empathy
When you find yourself doing what others do.
Going through this process really helps teams understand how their peers think and the way they do things which helps them connect on a deeper level and have a better understanding amongst one another.
We would love to hear what kind of activities you have run to encourage team bonding at your previous corporate events below 😬
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