At Carrwood Park, we’re firm believers that engaged employees are key to business growth. In fact, studies suggest that businesses with highly engaged employees achieve twice the annual net income than businesses whose employees lag behind on engagement.
One of the most effective ways of improving employee engagement is by encouraging your employees to take part in team building exercises. This can lead to increased morale, improved relationships and higher employee productivity. And there’s no better time of the year to get your staff involved in team building activities than the summer!
We regularly host our own team building events at Carrwood Park, from BBQs to bonfire night events and so we have put together our top ten team building activities for your office this summer.
1. Sports day
Sports day was always an exciting day back in school. So why not bring the excitement to your workplace? You could head to the local park with your team for a fun day of sports events. Depending on how serious you decide to take it, this could be anything from a fun game of rounders to an action-packed day of athletics. If it’s hot outside, why not even host a game of water balloon dodgeball to round up the day? For added competitiveness you could split your employees into groups at the start of the day with a prize for the winning team.
2. BBQ
What better way to celebrate the summer than a staff BBQ? We understand that closing businesses for a day or allowing whole teams to leave early isn't always feasible, but there are many ways around this. Why not simply cook up a delicious lunch? Or finish early on a Friday afternoon and start the weekend flipping burgers in the sun? Both of these examples ensure that not only do your employees have a great time but that business isn't impacted too much either!
3. Volunteer work
Working towards a good cause as a team can really be inspiring and is a great way to give back to your local community. Odds are someone in your business will already have some form of relationship with a local charity, but if you’re stuck for ideas why not search for good causes in your local area? You could even ask your team to vote for a new charity to work with every quarter.
4. Office 'Come Dine With Me'
Have you ever watched the popular reality TV show ‘Come Dine With Me’? Well this is essentially the same idea, just in the office. Split your employees into five groups (for each day of the week) and take turns to cook for the rest of the office, with everyone anonymously giving a score out of ten. At the end of the week the team with the highest score is crowned champion!
5. Laser tag
Who doesn’t love laser tag? This can be a light-hearted bonding session for your team and an extremely fun group day out. Or if you want to take it to the next level why not try your hand at paintballing?
6. Head to a local event
Summer’s the busiest time of the year for events. Why not head to one of the many events in Leeds or your local area as a team. Whether you head to a local sports game, a music event or a comedy night, this is bound to go down a treat!
7. Food trucks
From a simple ice cream truck to an army of street food vans, food trucks are a brilliant team building idea. What better way for your team to get to know each other than over some delicious food? At Carrwood Park, we have a monthly visit from fish & chip van The Big Blue Whale – because who doesn’t love fish & chips!
8. Visit the local pub
Why not simply visit the local pub for a couple of drinks after work? It really doesn’t take much effort or planning and can be a nice way to get to know each other outside of the office environment.
9. Board games
You can’t go wrong with board games! Why not invest in some games for the office, or just ask your employees to bring in some of their own? This can be a nice way to end the week and bring your team closer together. If the weather’s nice why not even enjoy board games in the sun?
10. Team day out
From a theme park to the countryside, you could go absolutely anywhere – and it doesn’t need to break the bank. An easy way to organise this without overcomplicating things could be to suggest a few locations to visit and ask your team to vote for their favourite.
So there you have it – ten great team building activities to add to your calendar this summer! It’s important to remember that not everyone will enjoy the same team building activities, so whilst you should encourage everyone to get involved don’t force it on anyone. Why not simply ask them what activities they would prefer to take part in?
Do you have any other ideas for summer team building activities? Or have you taken part in any fun team activities? We’d love to hear! Why not send us a message, or even better, a picture of you and the team on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, or leave a comment below?
Are you looking for high quality office space in Leeds? At Carrwood Park, we have plenty of outdoor space on site – with over 100 acres of land for your employees to get involved in some fun team building activities! From serviced offices or co-working spaces to meeting rooms or virtual offices, we provide expert solutions designed to encourage business growth. Why not get in touch today?
