Graham O'Connell says fun and learning can be combined to create a perfect team building exercise.

My general tips are:

• Avoid too many activities that just make the point that team working or collaboration is a good thing; have a bias towards those activities that help people work together constructively and build those skills.
• Combine creative/fun/energised activities with making the learning explicit and linking it to the workplace; they are not alternatives, it is possible to do both.
• Think carefully about organisation, facilitation and logistics; exclusion, safety, and unhealthy or unproductive behaviours need to be managed.
• Work with the group in planning the event; if no diagnostics have been done then build them into the day; respect that they will be after a feel good factor and also you need to make it is a productive outcome not just a nice one; use experienced facilitators; and take carefully calculated risks, but not with safety.

If you are after a basic intro to designing and running such events you might try 'Legendary Awaydays and Games for Legendary Awaydays' published by Gower.

View the original posting: Teambuilding Exercises

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