If you search “don’t want to participate in team building”on the Internet, you’ll find close to 30.9 million related results! Why do people find team building activities so terrible? We decided to do some digging and investigate what companies are doing wrong to turn so many people against something that is supposed to be fun and beneficial for everyone involved.
So let’s take a look and see if your employees have the same objections to team building activities！
Takes up the entire weekend
HRbang conducted a survey looking at the average length of team building activities most companies hold and found that more than 50% of companies block out an entire day or more. In some cases, companies will have team building activities take place over the entire weekend. You can see the problem with this - after a week of busy and intensive work, people want to spend their spare time doing what they want, including spending time with their family. Therefore, full weekend team building activities will be a very hard sell to your employees.
The most popular time of year, is too hot
Most team building activities are held in the summer. However, this might be off-putting to most employees because of how hot it gets in China during the summer. We found some comments on Douban from some over-heated, underwhelmed employees.
According to these comments, employees have a hard time enjoying a team building activity that requires them to spend time outside. Indeed, in China, it is understandable that no one is willing to play games in sweltering hot days.
Lousy activities
The third most popular objection to team building we found was the lack of enthusiasm about the activities themselves! Boring team building activities is one of the most common reasons why employees look for a way out. Up to 80% of respondents in HRbang survey thought that the team building activities organized by their company were just mediocre, and only 16.7% actually stated they had fun in the activities.
In order to avoid weekends and private time, some companies choose to organize short activities, such as karaoke night or a team dinner. But these activities are not very appealing to most employees anymore and don’t achieve a deeper impact on the company itself. With weekends and weeknights off the table, it becomes very necessary for companies to implement a win-win solution that will not sacrifice employees’ private time but will also have a meaningful effect on company performance.
Team Building Asia, as the pioneer of the team building industry, offers many short, fun, and effective team building activities during the weekend, which can improve employees’ abilities to think, create, communicate and support each other, while also respecting employees personal time by keeping time commitments short.
Below are some of the most popular team building activities that Team Building Asia offers that tackle all of the most common complaints, leaving your employees with only positive things to say. These activities aim to bring teams together without sacrificing precious time, or effectiveness of the exercise.
City Build
City Build generally takes 1.5 – 2.5 hours to play. Even in such a short time, everyone can find their position and strength, while still relying on the cohesion of the entire team to succeed. Those who are creatively inclined can tend to the architectural design of the city, while those who have strong leadership skills can help with the city planning, and others can practice their hands-on approach together. Each participant feels that they can excel at something, and eventually it all comes together at the end in the form of an entire city.
Toy Factory
We haven’t found one person who hates toy and has never played with them. However, there are not many people who have built toys by themselves. Toy Factory provides people with a precious opportunity to become toy manufactures and game planners in a given time (usually 2 – 2.5 hours). Teams will build their toys step by step by using 3D blueprint guides, and paint them creatively using the company colors. Toy Factory ignites participants enthusiasm and encourages everyone to be actively involved in the building and game designing process. Afterwards, teams will donate these toys and game materials to charities, making the entire activity even more meaningful and impactful. Participants experience a fun atmosphere, teamwork, and unleash the child within. No one can say no to helping children, and once you get started, you’ll find you’re actually having fun!
