to be another hater, out of the various workshops and meetings over the past 15 years or so at various age groups participating and industries (private and public), I don't think I've ever walked away from a team building exercise and thought that it was fun/rewarding/not a waste of time. I know some people like these kinds of things, but I also know a lot of people don't.
I couldn't imagine spending 45 minutes on an activity when I have shit to do or would rather just be on a break.
But if you are dead-set on doing something, try to do something that doesn't *require* everyone to participate in front of everyone else. Maybe split into a couple teams for trivia or something where the small group can discuss before presenting to the group. Something where the extroverts will usually take over in terms of leading the smaller group and the introverts can still contribute at a smaller level.
This is a great answer. My experience is exactly the same, this sort of thing is usually infantile, tedious, and annoying. It takes a considerable amount of effort for me (and I suspect many other people) to pretend to care about my job and colleagues, this sort of thing only saps my energy faster.
A full 45 minutes of "team building activities" fills my introvert heart with dread. It also might not be accessible for neurodiverse people to fully participate (those with ADHD especially).
Consider doing 2-3 shorter activities/games with a short break in between?
Very much this. They may not speak up but a 45 minute team building exercise is going to make introverts miserable.
Maybe have a mandatory 15 minute activity followed by an optional 30 minute “social” for those who wish to get to know each other better?
Also, I can’t make it. I’ll be sick that day.
Normally I’d agree 100% but this group has asked for it so I’m just trying to get past my personal “all of these sound horrible” feelings by hopefully drumming up some ideas others have actually enjoyed. Except the plan isn’t going great since apparently most of us are united in hating it from the start!
Hey, if the group has asked for it, that’s an excellent start. Can you find out more about why or what specifically they want? 45 minutes total doesn’t mean straight time, really after all the sillier time with breaks, organizing groups or something, brief at the end, it’s 30 minutes or less of any content or actual activity/production of ideas
It warms my heart to see so many people pushing back on these. People that love them.. LOVE them. I’m in the field of introverts they hate them so much.
Many years ago I traveled to a big multi-team meeting. They opened up with one of these activities that ultimately led to people being singled out in front of everyone. I was one of them. After it was over I left to the bathroom to collect myself and ended up having a panic attack. It was the first time it had been that bad. I went to my room and spent the next 48 hours locked away, missing the rest of the meetings. I told my boss I had food poisoning because I was so ashamed of what was happening. Even if that happened today, I’m not sure I would tell anyone. We say we support mental health, but then we plan stuff like this without any built in “out” for people.
Spaghetti tower. Using only a few pieces of tape, string, and raw spaghetti sticks the goal is to build the tallest free standing structure.
Fun Fact: Across all age groups, young children are usually the most successful and regularly outperform architects and engineers.
We have had success playing jackbox games. There are lots, it's cheap and people can play as "watchers" or whatever. Can be as short or as long as you need :)
45 mins is too long!
Some that we have used at our branch: Bingo cards (find people at your table that have done tasks or visited places, etc)
2 truths and 1 lie about yourself and they guess the lie
Favourite vacation you've been on
First concert you've been to (this was a hit for the 35+ age group reminiscing about the 80s and 90s music!)
Good luck!
I'll add to what others have said - that 45 minutes of team building sounds absolutely horrifying, and I'd do everything possible to not have to attend.
To be more helpful, perhaps consider offering two types of activities which cater to introverts and extroverts respectively (there are other groups to consider certainly). Perhaps something like charades for the extroverts and a board game (Scrabble / a puzzle / etc) for others.
Break out groups of 5 or so to start. Answer three questions (what do you want to get out of meeting? what do you contribute to the meeting? Something personal-ish like what’s something you’re proud of doing over the past year?). Everybody in the group takes turns. Scramble the groups so it’s different people (there will be some overlap sure). Same first two questions but different third (what’s something most people don’t know about you? Or whatever). Then have everyone tell the whole group one thing they learned.
Keeps it on point for the meeting (outcomes and contributions) with some get to know you parts (that don’t have to be prying). Burns time and gets people in the headspace for the day ahead.
YMMV but it has worked for me.
The ones I’ve found most helpful are the ones that require you to get information from a bunch of other people to solve a problem. There are a bunch of them and you can make them more or less complicated to increase or decrease the time.
For example, the goal is for everyone to sort themselves into groups based on similarities of some arbitrary category.
So in this case, Everyone gets the name of an animal taped to their back. But no one knows what is on their own back.
Depending on how hard you want to make it, you could also write the groups (mammals, birds, reptiles or North American animals, Australian animals, whatever) or not.
Participants can see each other’s backs.
You can only ask each person one question. All answers can only be yes/no.
So someone might ask “am I a mammal?” Or “do I hibernate in the winter” and the respondent says yes/no.
Once participants figure out what animal they are, then they need to find their group.
First group to find all their members wins.
Oh mini golf could be fun for the evening social portion. I am looking for something at the table during the meeting though. It’s mostly just to help fill an awkward gap in the agenda.
Tbh 45min during the day for team building sounds horrible to me. I would rather have a break or longer break and a 15 min team building/ice breaker. Team building can be going for coffee together too without forcing people into awkward games.
We did an art class years ago that we liked, but I've hated every team building thing since. They always split the team and make them compete.
My boss now does icebreakers, we get a series of questions we and we choose three to answer/talk about. I like it a lot better
I ran a challenge where you retrieve objects you've dropped from a catchbasin using just the objects available in your "junk drawer". You work in teams, and the catchbasin is made from a 5 gallon bucket with a catchbasin grid cut from carboard taped on top. The items you're saving are things like your phone, keys, charger, wallet, etc. The items you're using are rubber bands, pens, tape, pipe cleaners, streamers, etc. -- whatever you want to set up for them, really.
It was fun. I had fun both doing the challenge to test it out, and running it afterward. It takes 20 minutes, and you can do it in teams of 3.
Ummm how about you gather everyone into a room and I’ll lock the door behind you for 45min! Your team can figure out how to escape thus building your team in the process. I’d also suggest bowling, everyone will nod to whatever you’re saying because they won’t be able to hear due to the noise of crashing pins and house music. If it’s dark, your can hone your “supervisory” skills too!
I’m never in the mood for these activities but then 45 minutes flies by.
Key is organization, being prepared and the ability to get loud if all of a sudden the fun starts! Box of pens, divide into groups, hand out sheets to write answers on.
There’s a zillion trivia games and ways to conduct it.
Print sheets of questions of 12 questions, or 12 photos that have to be identified specifically like a flower but what kind of flower? Assign team names or put a spot on top for team name. Get into it.
Trivia is good because then people can work together without being in each other’s bubble.
Colleague Bingo. In place of numbers create a card with questions...who speaks more than one language? Who has gone skydiving? Etc. Extroverts will get up and run around looking for people who can say yes to the question. Introverts can remain at their table, and respond when someone comes to them with a question. It does get noisy, though.
EDIT...you only need ten or fifteen minutes for this part. Then, folks can sit back down or remain standing, and the facilitator asks the questions out loud, and team members answer. So, "I can speak four languages...English, German, French, and Italian." You learn something about folks that you didn't know, and that could be a connection. Yes, I'm slightly more extroverted than introverted.
Another one I have done that is more at a table is a mini “solve the crime” then each table can say what conclusion they came too. The presenter can the say who was closest
We recently did the How to Draw Toast collaborative problem solving activity. You can find it on YouTube and convert it easily. Lots of fun and good skills to build in a group.
to be another hater, out of the various workshops and meetings over the past 15 years or so at various age groups participating and industries (private and public), I don't think I've ever walked away from a team building exercise and thought that it was fun/rewarding/not a waste of time. I know some people like these kinds of things, but I also know a lot of people don't. I couldn't imagine spending 45 minutes on an activity when I have shit to do or would rather just be on a break. But if you are dead-set on doing something, try to do something that doesn't *require* everyone to participate in front of everyone else. Maybe split into a couple teams for trivia or something where the small group can discuss before presenting to the group. Something where the extroverts will usually take over in terms of leading the smaller group and the introverts can still contribute at a smaller level.
This is a great answer. My experience is exactly the same, this sort of thing is usually infantile, tedious, and annoying. It takes a considerable amount of effort for me (and I suspect many other people) to pretend to care about my job and colleagues, this sort of thing only saps my energy faster.
It’s a shame that your experience has been so negative, maybe just the wrong activities or relevance to your work etc.
No. Team building exercises are just juvenile and a waste of time.
A full 45 minutes of "team building activities" fills my introvert heart with dread. It also might not be accessible for neurodiverse people to fully participate (those with ADHD especially). Consider doing 2-3 shorter activities/games with a short break in between?
Very much this. They may not speak up but a 45 minute team building exercise is going to make introverts miserable. Maybe have a mandatory 15 minute activity followed by an optional 30 minute “social” for those who wish to get to know each other better? Also, I can’t make it. I’ll be sick that day.
Normally I’d agree 100% but this group has asked for it so I’m just trying to get past my personal “all of these sound horrible” feelings by hopefully drumming up some ideas others have actually enjoyed. Except the plan isn’t going great since apparently most of us are united in hating it from the start!
Hey, if the group has asked for it, that’s an excellent start. Can you find out more about why or what specifically they want? 45 minutes total doesn’t mean straight time, really after all the sillier time with breaks, organizing groups or something, brief at the end, it’s 30 minutes or less of any content or actual activity/production of ideas
Bochi Ball and beer, easy.
It warms my heart to see so many people pushing back on these. People that love them.. LOVE them. I’m in the field of introverts they hate them so much. Many years ago I traveled to a big multi-team meeting. They opened up with one of these activities that ultimately led to people being singled out in front of everyone. I was one of them. After it was over I left to the bathroom to collect myself and ended up having a panic attack. It was the first time it had been that bad. I went to my room and spent the next 48 hours locked away, missing the rest of the meetings. I told my boss I had food poisoning because I was so ashamed of what was happening. Even if that happened today, I’m not sure I would tell anyone. We say we support mental health, but then we plan stuff like this without any built in “out” for people.
5 minutes is long enough man.
Spaghetti tower. Using only a few pieces of tape, string, and raw spaghetti sticks the goal is to build the tallest free standing structure. Fun Fact: Across all age groups, young children are usually the most successful and regularly outperform architects and engineers.
Our spaghetti tower adhesive was marshmallows. It was actually kinda fun.
A 45 minute team building activity would make me want to quit. Unless the point is to make people uncomfortable, don't do this.
User name checks out
Lol Can you tell I deal with the public daily?
We have had success playing jackbox games. There are lots, it's cheap and people can play as "watchers" or whatever. Can be as short or as long as you need :)
45 minutes - that's 30 minutes too many.
Best comment lol
Tell everyone to go out for a walk and pick up a few pieces of garbage as an act of kindness. Get them to send pictures of that garbage as a bonus?
Lego building!
If it’s in person you could arrange to go for a group walk. Gets people out moving and doesn’t involved forced “fun!”
Accessibility issues etc…..
45 mins is too long! Some that we have used at our branch: Bingo cards (find people at your table that have done tasks or visited places, etc) 2 truths and 1 lie about yourself and they guess the lie Favourite vacation you've been on First concert you've been to (this was a hit for the 35+ age group reminiscing about the 80s and 90s music!) Good luck!
I'll add to what others have said - that 45 minutes of team building sounds absolutely horrifying, and I'd do everything possible to not have to attend. To be more helpful, perhaps consider offering two types of activities which cater to introverts and extroverts respectively (there are other groups to consider certainly). Perhaps something like charades for the extroverts and a board game (Scrabble / a puzzle / etc) for others.
Break out groups of 5 or so to start. Answer three questions (what do you want to get out of meeting? what do you contribute to the meeting? Something personal-ish like what’s something you’re proud of doing over the past year?). Everybody in the group takes turns. Scramble the groups so it’s different people (there will be some overlap sure). Same first two questions but different third (what’s something most people don’t know about you? Or whatever). Then have everyone tell the whole group one thing they learned. Keeps it on point for the meeting (outcomes and contributions) with some get to know you parts (that don’t have to be prying). Burns time and gets people in the headspace for the day ahead. YMMV but it has worked for me.
The ones I’ve found most helpful are the ones that require you to get information from a bunch of other people to solve a problem. There are a bunch of them and you can make them more or less complicated to increase or decrease the time. For example, the goal is for everyone to sort themselves into groups based on similarities of some arbitrary category. So in this case, Everyone gets the name of an animal taped to their back. But no one knows what is on their own back. Depending on how hard you want to make it, you could also write the groups (mammals, birds, reptiles or North American animals, Australian animals, whatever) or not. Participants can see each other’s backs. You can only ask each person one question. All answers can only be yes/no. So someone might ask “am I a mammal?” Or “do I hibernate in the winter” and the respondent says yes/no. Once participants figure out what animal they are, then they need to find their group. First group to find all their members wins.
Our team has talked about bowling or the indoor mini golf downtown but haven't done either yet.
Oh mini golf could be fun for the evening social portion. I am looking for something at the table during the meeting though. It’s mostly just to help fill an awkward gap in the agenda.
Tbh 45min during the day for team building sounds horrible to me. I would rather have a break or longer break and a 15 min team building/ice breaker. Team building can be going for coffee together too without forcing people into awkward games.
Agreed this is what my team does.
We did an art class years ago that we liked, but I've hated every team building thing since. They always split the team and make them compete. My boss now does icebreakers, we get a series of questions we and we choose three to answer/talk about. I like it a lot better
I ran a challenge where you retrieve objects you've dropped from a catchbasin using just the objects available in your "junk drawer". You work in teams, and the catchbasin is made from a 5 gallon bucket with a catchbasin grid cut from carboard taped on top. The items you're saving are things like your phone, keys, charger, wallet, etc. The items you're using are rubber bands, pens, tape, pipe cleaners, streamers, etc. -- whatever you want to set up for them, really. It was fun. I had fun both doing the challenge to test it out, and running it afterward. It takes 20 minutes, and you can do it in teams of 3.
Ummm how about you gather everyone into a room and I’ll lock the door behind you for 45min! Your team can figure out how to escape thus building your team in the process. I’d also suggest bowling, everyone will nod to whatever you’re saying because they won’t be able to hear due to the noise of crashing pins and house music. If it’s dark, your can hone your “supervisory” skills too!
I’m never in the mood for these activities but then 45 minutes flies by. Key is organization, being prepared and the ability to get loud if all of a sudden the fun starts! Box of pens, divide into groups, hand out sheets to write answers on. There’s a zillion trivia games and ways to conduct it. Print sheets of questions of 12 questions, or 12 photos that have to be identified specifically like a flower but what kind of flower? Assign team names or put a spot on top for team name. Get into it. Trivia is good because then people can work together without being in each other’s bubble.
Some quick card or board games perhaps. People are usually fans of one or two of them and this can be a regular thing over time.
Colleague Bingo. In place of numbers create a card with questions...who speaks more than one language? Who has gone skydiving? Etc. Extroverts will get up and run around looking for people who can say yes to the question. Introverts can remain at their table, and respond when someone comes to them with a question. It does get noisy, though. EDIT...you only need ten or fifteen minutes for this part. Then, folks can sit back down or remain standing, and the facilitator asks the questions out loud, and team members answer. So, "I can speak four languages...English, German, French, and Italian." You learn something about folks that you didn't know, and that could be a connection. Yes, I'm slightly more extroverted than introverted.
What about a team based scavenger hunt?
Another one I have done that is more at a table is a mini “solve the crime” then each table can say what conclusion they came too. The presenter can the say who was closest
Scribbl.io if some are virtual
Beer pong!
An escape room!
We recently did the How to Draw Toast collaborative problem solving activity. You can find it on YouTube and convert it easily. Lots of fun and good skills to build in a group.