Top 10 Summer Team Building Activities
Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management defines a “team is a group of interdependent people who are interdependent for information, resources, knowledge, and skills and seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal.”
Organizations commonly have many teams, and individuals are frequently a part of more than one. Some teams are permanent and in charge of continuing operations. A team is created for a specific one-time aim and has a specified beginning and endpoint in some circumstances. These teams are known as project teams.
Organizations form teams to execute tasks too vast or complicated for an individual to complete. Teams are also helpful for jobs that need a variety of talents and knowledge. For example, developing new goods entails recognizing client wants and designing and building a product that meets these needs. As a result, a new product development team would comprise customer experts, designers, and engineers.
Teams can be of different types:
- Project Team
- Self-managed Team
- Virtual Team
- Operational Team
Strong teams can also benefit from team-building exercises. Fun team-building activities are an excellent way to boost communication, morale, motivation, and productivity. This allows workers or new teams to get to know one another better and learn about one other’s strengths and flaws.
Any organization, large or small, may employ team-building games and activities to develop better workplace teamwork. As most business owners and managers know, excellent cooperation is one of the essential components influencing a company’s success.
The aim is to participate in various enjoyable and challenging activities while also having the “side effect” of developing collaborative skills to increase employee performance and productivity at the workplace.
Hierarchical staffing structures, in which workers have well-defined, particular roles, are making way to flatter ones as organizations reorganize to be leaner and more adaptive. The new keys to success are cross-functional cooperation and teamwork.
Human teams must design and execute profitable strategies that promote customer retention.
Team Building Activities Best Practices
Define your roles
Create trust
Recognize yourself
Understand others
Feedback is essential
Establish ground rules
Based on the mix of personalities and work styles, you learn team strengths and possible hazards as a group. Rules may apply to how members communicate, set and meet deadlines, and deal with challenges. Members understand how to negotiate obstacles and accountability better when ground rules are in place. Remember that ground rules should be adaptable and change depending on the demands of the team.
With the pandemic coming to a halt and summer approaching, it will be a great idea to do some summer team-building by arranging some outdoor summer team-building activities or incorporating company summer outing ideas. A trip to a state park or even a national park/national forest, rock climbing, a river adventure, horseback riding, treasure hunts, team trips, and so on are all fantastic outdoor experiences and activities for you and your team.
Here is a list of some fun summer team-building activities you can consider
Nurture Nature
With over 80,000 acres of forest being lost every day, your company can work together to help our environment by hosting a corporate tree planting event. Contact a forestry company like OneTreePlanted, put on your boots, and save the world.
Recommendation for an Outdoor Location: Arrange your tree planting activity through a forestry group or check with your local city office for tree planting rules.
Build Boat Out of Cardboard
Divide into groups and design a cardboard boat using only the materials given – cardboard and tape. Team members must collaborate to develop a practical boat that can float and sail across water without sinking. After teams have completed their boat, they will prepare a presentation to explain why their boats are the best befitting themes. Teams will race their boats across the sea in the final challenge!
Recommendation for an Outdoor Location: This exercise can be done at any outdoor location with a safe body of water to swim in. Outdoor pools are excellent, but ponds, lakes, and even calmer ocean waters might be appropriate for this task.
Treasure Hunt
This enjoyable and engaging team-building activity is highly recommended if you have at least a couple of hours available for staff onboarding.
You can enjoy treasure hunts because they are a fun and engaging way to introduce new employees to the office and help them acquire a feel for their new position.
It encourages teamwork and interaction, but it is also an activity that people of many personality types may enjoy.
You need to divide everyone into groups of four or five. Give each group a brief list of items to find throughout the workplace (for example, a permanent marker, tea bags, a pink paper clip).
Set the timer for 5 minutes and instruct the teams to find as many items on the list as possible. Team members must devise their method for collecting as many objects on the list as possible. People may then engage in developing new ideas rather than merely executing them.
The winning team is the one with the most items from the list.
Top tip: Including a modest prize for the winning team can make the game more fun.
Egg Drop Challenge
This fun game puts everyone’s problem-solving and teamwork abilities to the test, and you get to toss items from the roof! For this fun summer team-building activity, you will need a Raw egg that needs protecting, Container, like a cardboard tube, cup, box, etc.
Create a landing craft that will safeguard your egg passenger as it is dropped from a great height. For this experiment, use the engineering design cycle: design your landing craft, test it to see if it works, tweak your design to improve it, then re-test to get new findings.
Gather your resources. To securely land your ship, you’ll need a container, some inside cushioning, and exterior protection. There is no “correct” collection of materials, so be inventive and test various approaches to determine what works best!
Sketch your design ideas on paper. How does your lander appear? What materials are you planning to use? Initially, use only one Container, one type of internal padding, and one exterior kind of padding.
Construct your landing apparatus and place your egg inside. Drop your gadget from a great height to see how it works. Your design is successful if the egg does not crack! If the egg cracks, modify your plan and re-test it.
Everyone enjoys tossing things off of buildings; if they claim not to be interested, they are lying.
Top Tips: Use a hard-boiled egg instead (the cracks will still be visible). You may either use a waste bag to cover the landing platform or place the raw egg in a sealed plastic bag before placing it in the landing craft.
Sports Day
We know you’re scarred by your days in athletics when you were wearing three sizes too big for your shorts that slipped down as you were performing the relay, and someone broke a raw egg on your head after the egg and spoon race. On a positive note, a day off from school, out on the sports field, the sun shining, and friendly rivalry with your best friends. Even now, it brings back beautiful memories.
So, why not relive this wonderful time with a friendly, fun, and fast-paced sports day?
Spoiler alert: if you’re an adult, office sports days don’t end with you weeping with egg in your hair unless you work with many unruly kids.
This is not only one of the most self-explanatory activities available, but it also helps in encouraging healthy competitions and boosting productivity.
Organize your own sports day by splitting your party into teams and having them participate in various sports. A little friendly competition and physical exercise, whether it’s soccer, volleyball, or even dragon boat racing, is a terrific approach to encourage communication and collaboration among your fantastic team members. You need a large enough space to play your favorite sport, and you’re ready to go.
Top tip: Consider the sort of activity you select, as well as the physical talents and personality of your group, because some who aren’t naturally athletic may feel ashamed or humiliated, while others who are excessively competitive may make it uncomfortable for everyone engaged.
Horse Riding
Horses are 100% honest, 100% of the time. No matter who you are, the horse will be an authentic team member who will let you know if things are working. And most often, they’ll give you plenty of chances to get it right. Without judgment.
They teach us to be present, honest, clear, and committed.
And, like people, horses come with a wide range of personalities, moods, and quirks. They’ll react differently to each person and each situation.
So if you are looking for company summer outing ideas, horse riding can be an excellent option for your team.
Top Tips: Safety comes first, so don’t forget to take necessary measures to ensure your employees’ safety.
Paintball
Paintball is a competitive team shooting activity where participants eliminate opponents by striking them with dye-filled capsules that splatter when they hit the ground. It’s a fast-paced, exciting, and enjoyable group exercise. However, be aware that being struck by paintballs can be unpleasant and that this sport may not be appropriate for all age groups
Pong Tournament
Water Park Activities
Cooking Class
Cooking classes are an excellent team-building idea. A bond created over food is always the strongest. So if your team is still in isolation and you want to do some activities to help them build their bonds despite the geographical difference, a virtual cooking class is a great idea.
Those are our favorite summer team-building activities. We hope this article will be helpful, and here is some essential information about “How To Build a Strong Remote Team Culture With Online Activities?“
