Use a corporate team building exercise to grow your business...

How can a corporate team building exercise increase your profits

A team is a very special group of people. Not only is a team a group that is gathered together for a specific purpose or task but they are an intertwined mesh of personnel that depend on one another to accomplish a certain goal.

The team members are not capable of completing the task on their on nor is the team able to complete their task without each and every team member doing their part of the whole. The key to tam building is identifying the roles of each team member and how they fit into the whole.

All team members have to trust one another to the point where they do not have to concern themselves with other parts of the task beyond their own. All team members can depend on their fellow members to finish their part without fail. This sounds like a tall task and it sort of is however there are ways to bring about this group through the use of things called corporate team building exercise programs.

What is team building

What exactly is a corporate team building program and what are the exercises they contain. This is a very broad topic as there are as many exercises as there are colors of the rainbow. Over the years companies that specialize in team building have developed exercises that they have determined assist the group in building a common and impenetrable bond and trust. These corporate team building exercises can take the guise of traditional tasks that would be completed in an office atmosphere as well as games that you would expect to see at a child's party. Not everything is what it seems. At first glance many of these team building exercises look like nothing more than a fun activity but when examined closer they reveal their secrets and you can see personality traits at work and relationships develop between the participants. It is these underlying relationships that allow people to build trust in each other. Once a trust is established the walls are broken down and real teamwork can begin.

How to start off

One of our favorite things to do when we get in front a newly form team is to play a corporate team building exercise called "Don't Step on a Mine". This game is wonderful for breaking the ice, opening up the lines of communication and building trust in each other. This game is a whole lot of fun as well and does not follow the traditional mold of a corporate exercise but work a heck of a lot better. This activity can be done with any age participant and has even been used in grade schools on the first day of the school year as a way to allow the students to loosen up and relax during a normally stressful day. No matter hat the team is that you have to work with this exercise will work well.

The overall goal of this team building exercise is to have one member direct another team member through a landmine field using only vocal communication. The first thing that has to be done is for one team member to blindfold the other and move them to one end of the room and stand behind them. While this is happening a third team member will spread out the land mines across the floor in a random fashion. Once the mines are set out the two team members will begin with the blindfolded one following the instructions of their partner. The goal is to make it to the other side of the mine field without hitting a mine. When the far side of the minefield is reached the participants can switch or a new person can begin to direct someone else. The great thing about this corporate team building exercise is that it can be done in any size room with or without furniture in it. Any objects on hand can be used for the mines from balls and toys to boxes or chairs.

Though this is a fun game to play for all involved and all viewers there is a sense of being put on the spot so the participants must be treated with respect and a serious tone should surround the exercise. Fellow team personnel laughing at mistakes or stumbles can lead to a feeling of discomfort for the participants and will lessen the impact and benefit of the exercise. Allow the team members to develop their own way to communicate and learn what relays the message the best and as time moves on the other team members will be able to develop their own improved ay and share with the group. This exercise can be done with one pair at a time or multiple pairs at once which only adds to the complexity and challenge.

Things to consider

Some of the things to think about when playing this exercise are discussed next. First and foremost the participation in the roles should be voluntary as there are many people that are fearful of being blindfolded and that should be respected. Allow these individuals to play the other role or just view. Forcing involvement in a corporate team building exercise will only defeat the intended purpose for the exercises and wasting time and frustrating team members. This exercise is a great opportunity to allow team members to compete in a positive way and can be done for rewards for the most efficient and effective communicators.

This game is only one of thousands of corporate team building exercises that have been developed by hundreds of team building companies. Feel free to review any of the resources we put in this web page to locate a company that can help you facilitate a team building program for your company. Use your creativity and that of the team members to develop team building exercises of your own or variations on commonly used team building program activities. The more you focus on building your team the faster you will be able to develop a highly cohesive and mutually dependent team unit

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