Team-building activities provide several benefits to all businesses.
Regardless of the nature and number of employees of a business, team-building activities should be done regularly as these can improve communication within the workplace. This, in turn, can lead to better collaboration among all employees. There will also be positive changes in the productivity and work output of your staff.
Team-building exercises can also help enhance your employees’ problem-solving skills. When your staff engages in mentally stimulating activities, they get to use their brain, creativity, and imagination.
These experiences allow them to learn and develop more efficient means of handling issues and solving problems.
Also, all the fun activities your employees take part in during their team building sessions can strengthen their trust and respect for each other. This will further boost their bond and relationship in the workplace.
All these reasons make team building a must for all companies.
Recommended Team-Building Exercises
For your business and employees to experience these benefits, you need to choose the right team-building activities.
If your company is based in Doha, below are the five best team-building activities you and your employees can engage in:
1. Team Outing
Many team-building activities do not require a lot of planning. A day or several hours out of the office during a weekday can make for a fun learning and bonding experience for your employees.
Schedule a trip with your employees to the best shopping mall in Doha. Doha Festival City has various amenities perfect for simple team-building activities.
Angry Birds World is one of the largest theme parks in Qatar. The park’s fun and exciting rides include the Super Slingshot Tower, Red’s House, the Bird Bath, and the Big Tree. You and your team would surely love trying out all these features.
For a bit of fun competition, have everyone try go-kart racing. Everyone will have a blast racing through the track.
Snow Dunes is another unique entertainment center in Doha Festival City that makes for a great team-building venue. It is the first winter-themed indoor park in Qatar.
It is an excellent place for employees to try various winter-based activities that will allow them to de-stress and have fun.
A day at the mall provides you and your employees various opportunities for fun and bond-strengthening team-building activities.
2. Team Lunch
If you have a small business, a monthly lunch at a restaurant or anywhere outside the office is also a simple and easy team-building activity you can plan and do with all your employees.
Treat your employees to a meal at a restaurant in a mall or anywhere they would like to go for lunch.
However, make the most of the hour that everyone is together in one place. During this monthly activity, assign someone to talk about a hobby or teach others a skill they are proud of. This can be anything work-related or something they do in their spare time.
Examples of skills your employees can talk about are gardening, baking, and de-stressing and meditation techniques.
This is a type of team-building activity that your employees will love since they get to be rewarded with a great meal. Moreover, you help them build their mentoring and presentation skills when they give their talk.
You and your employees will get to know each other better, as well.
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3. Outdoor Activities
Most employees welcome the chance to get out of the office and do something healthy outdoors.
Planning a monthly or bi-monthly outdoor activity, therefore, is a great team-building idea.
Conduct a simple survey about outdoor activities your employees want to do. These may include hiking, running, or cycling.
Fortunately, there are several places where you can do these activities in Qatar. When your team wants to go hiking, Umm Bab and Ash Shaqra are two of the best hiking trails here.
Aside from being a hub for nature activities for kids in Doha, the Outdoor Leisure Trail in Doha Festival City is an excellent place for running, walking, and cycling.
The Outdoor Leisure Trail has a track with exercise stations for runners. It also has various routes, gradients, and obstacles for cyclists.
The area is free for all visitors to use and explore. As such, you and your employees can visit here anytime.
Moreover, there is a rock-climbing wall here that you and your employees can climb and include in your team-building activities.
4. Group Games
There are plenty of simple group activities that you and your staff can do both indoors and outdoors that can also double as effective team-building exercises.
A quick game of basketball, for instance, can give your employees a break from their daily routine and a chance to stretch and workout. A basketball court near your office makes it easy for you to organize an outdoor game. However, an indoor hoop or well-placed waste-paper basket can also do the trick.
Board game tournaments can also spark your employees’ competitive sides without having to leave the office. Choose games with reasonable play times such as Boggle and Jenga and divide your workers into teams.
Don’t forget to offer prizes for first, second, and third place winners to encourage your employees to compete.
Whether you plan a tournament in advance or pull out the board game in the middle of the afternoon, you will help your team to loosen up and encourage them to work together in different and creative ways.
5. Escape Room Games
Escape the Room, Adventure Rooms, and Puzzle Break games have become popular team-building exercise options for organizations. These make excellent bonding activities that help employees work on their leadership and problem-solving skills.
In these games, your employees are locked in a room for an hour. During this period, they have to find hidden objects, solve puzzles, and discover clues to locate the key that will set them free.
If you have an unused room in your workplace, you can turn it into an escape room. You can hire a company to prep and outfit it.
An easier option would be to rent an escape room. There are already several ones ready for use in Doha.
In conclusion, team-building activities are crucial for any organization, and Doha offers various options for businesses to choose from. Whether it be a simple team outing to a mall, a monthly lunch, outdoor activities like hiking or rock climbing, group games like basketball or board game tournaments, or engaging in escape room games, each activity provides an opportunity for employees to bond and build a stronger team dynamic. By investing in regular team-building activities, businesses can foster a positive and productive workplace culture where employees collaborate and work towards shared goals.
AUTHOR BIO:
Hisham Elzubeir is the Marketing Manager at Doha Festival City, the largest entertainment, fashion, dining and shopping destination in Qatar. The mall has more than 400 international and local brands, including some of the most anticipated names, many of which made their Qatar debut, such as Harvey Nichols, Charlotte Tilbury, Kiehl’s, Dior Beauty Boutique, ACE and IKEA. Hisham brings over 15 years of international expertise to the communications team at Doha Festival City.