Team Bonding

Many organization and successful teams have attributed their achievements to the support of their team members. There is no 'I' in the word team, it sounds a bit philosophical but it's true. To perform efficiently, as a cohesive unit, there needs to be understanding and cooperation among team members. Team bonding is an integral part of any unit, may it be in sports, office or under any other setting.

A team bonding experience can make a big difference in the thought process of individuals. Almost everyone has some pre conceived notions or perceptions about the people around them. An exercise where team members come together to solve problems, have fun and understand each other is a good way to build team spirit.

Activities for Team Bonding

Exercises will help highlight some very important aspects of success, and help the participants understand how crucial it is to work together. Team bonding activities can accentuate the usefulness of effective communication. Some team bonding games designed around a problem solving activity can be a forum for participants to show their leadership qualities. These activities can also advocate the importance of adaptability, and use of innovative ways to further one's goal. When working as a team it is important to trust your team members, a team bonding game that helps build trust among the participants is always a good idea.

If you want the people who you lead to give their best performance at work a few team building activities for adults can help. Such activities can bring out leadership qualities among team members and also motivate them to achieve more.

Spaces
Spaces can be one of the games you could try as part of your, youth team building activities. All you need for this game is a piece of chalk. Divide the participants in two teams, then draw a circle on the ground and ask the participants to stand in the circle. Every time they achieve the task, reduce the size of the circle. This game is very simple but can bring out team qualities of cooperation, planning and innovation.

Round Runs
Round runs is a game based on baseball and is fun to have as part of your outdoor team building activities. Put four stones in four corners and one for the batter and one for the pitcher and use a tennis ball to play the game. Divide the group in three to four teams, the batters have to use their hand instead of a bat. You can add rules like 'use the other hand' for example if you are right-handed you bat or throw left-handed.

Team Bonding Games for Kids

To sharpen the young minds and educate them about strength in unity, you could try out some fun bonding games. These activities will bring out communication and interpersonal skills helping them bond with each other.

Design
This game can be one of the most interesting team building activities for kids. Get the students in different teams, do not have more than 6-8 students in one team. Get a set of Lego blocks and distribute them to different teams. Give them different designs which are a part of the final design. Ask the teams to complete their design and then join it with the others, to form the complete picture.

Task Whisperer
Task whisperer is one of the best creative team building activities for kids. Make 4-5 teams and pick one student from each group to take the first turn, whisper a task in their ear. The kids will have to go back to their respective groups and act out the orders, they cannot speak or write down the orders to make their team members understand the given task. The team which understands and completes the task first is a winner.

Here are some other team bonding ideas for you:

Obstacle Course
Design a simple obstacle course and divide it into three parts, 'Hop', 'Skip', and 'Jump'. Participants will have to choose one area of the course that they wish to tackle. They can either choose the part where they have to skip on one leg, jump over obstacles or hop around the course. Now segregate people for each course, the people who choose to skip will be one side, the ones who would like jump will be on the other and the ones interested in hopping can be on one side. Allow them to complete the course of their choice, it is fun to watch how participants struggle on seemingly simple obstacles. Once everyone has finished their course, have them alternate between hop, skip and jump. The people who were hopping before have to skip, the people who were jumping have to skip, hope you get the idea. It is a great way of team building and indicating the specific obstacles faced by individuals and departments during the course of work.

Treasure Hunt
Divide the participants in teams and have them look for treasure. Make a treasure map and let the participants find team bonding quotes with every clue they get. You can use quotes like 'talent can win matches but teamwork can win championships'. You can also incorporate some obstacles which need team activity to overcome them, to reach the next clue. For example have one clue point out that the next clue is on the tree and the treasure seekers need to make a human pyramid to get to it. The treasure hunt is one of the coolest team bonding activities for cheerleaders. It brings out the importance of cooperation and lets the participants know that if they work together a treasure awaits them. These games are also beneficial for group assessment and understanding the group dynamics.

A good team bonding exercise will help improve efficiency and will propagate much higher levels of understanding between team members. It will also improve team productivity and correct decision-making abilities.