For a spring event between March and June, an induction seminar in September or an end-of-year event in November or December, a team-building outing can help you achieve some of your objectives. Beyond a day of general fun and relaxation, an off-site seminar is an excellent way to boost your teams and address your company’s major challenges.
Improve internal cohesion
The very definition of team building is to strengthen bonds within a team. Therefore, the primary objective of organising such a day is to bring your employees closer together and create a sense of solidarity among them. This promotes a good atmosphere within your organisation, fosters a genuine team spirit and makes work more efficient. Through team building, your employees will learn to cooperate through games and fun activities, with commitment but without major stakes.
This is an opportunity for many to reveal themselves in a context that is not purely professional, in a competition that has no impact on their future within the company. By breaking down barriers and obstacles, it allows them to get to know their colleagues better, to better understand how each person works and, beyond this discovery, to understand how to work together to share objectives and move forward collectively in the best possible way.
Boost communication between your employees
It is possible that some of your employees never meet within your company, yet they are required to work on the same projects. Allowing them to put a face to a name and interact with each other is a key factor in facilitating communication and smoothing relationships. Organising a seminar encourages informal exchanges between your employees and helps them get to know each other better. For teams who already know each other, it is also a good way to strengthen bonds between individuals and avoid pointless conflicts and misunderstandings. At an event where everyone can let their hair down, emotions and natural behaviour take over. Your employees will be able to better understand their colleagues’ sensitivities and subsequently interact with each other in a more positive environment.
Reveal the nature of each person
Getting out of the usual office environment can allow teams to reveal their specific skills, their unusual interpersonal skills and know-how! We had no idea that Francis from Accounting had such a great team spirit and that Charlène, the HR manager, was actually a top-level athlete. Now is the time to discover your employees’ hidden talents in their favourite areas, get to know how they work, identify the leaders and the life and soul of the party who boost the good atmosphere within the teams, or even the competitors who can take your company to the top! Ultimately, you too will learn more about your team, which will enable you to work better alongside them.
Re-motivate your troops
Has your team just had a great year? This success is partly due to the hard work and dedication of your employees. They have given their all to your organisation, and to show your appreciation, you have decided to thank them, and rightly so! Regardless of their role within the company, employees need to feel valued and recognised for their work. Rather than lavishing praise, offering a fun team-building activity will contribute significantly to showing your appreciation.
A team-building day will be seen as a moment of recognition for the efforts made. The laughter and moments of sharing that punctuate the day will only accentuate this feeling of appreciation. And once the stress of the office has been relieved, you will see a very different return to work and re-motivated teams ready to take on new challenges, in a constructive direction for your department or company.
Build employee loyalty
One of the challenges for a company in terms of human resources is retaining its employees. Companies train their employees according to their vision of the market and their values, so it is always very disappointing to see one of them leave for greener pastures. In this case, a team-building day is also the best way to get your employees to embrace the company’s values and get them involved in the medium term. They will undoubtedly feel lucky to be able to participate in such an organisation and experience this extraordinary moment that you are offering them.
Secondly, a team-building day will significantly improve the internal atmosphere and boost your employees’ sense of belonging. Given that the resignation rate in the UK in recent months has reached one of its highest levels since 2008, providing a pleasant and reassuring working environment punctuated by moments of ‘breathing space’ is one of the first objectives that managers should keep in mind.
Which team-building activity is right for my company?
There are countless team-building activities to choose from. First, you need to tailor the day to your team by choosing activities that suit everyone’s personalities and are likely to appeal to the majority. To ensure that the whole team gets the most out of the outing, at Fontdouce we have come up with some original ideas for organising your outing, with a range of options allowing you to tailor your outing to your team’s expectations. We will reveal these in another article, but you can already take a look at the different types of team building activities available.
