Tag: Management Tips

5 Ideas for Team Building in the Workplace

WAI Staff

teamwork scrabble tiles

If the words “team building” make many of your employees roll their eyes and head for the exit, you may need to add some new exercises to your repertoire. At Whitman Associates, Inc., our experts know all the best strategies to help your employees bond, work together and trust each other. With five new in-office and remote team-building ideas, your employees may be a little more enthusiastic next time you suggest team building in the workplace! Explore our top exercises to find the best ones for your team.

1. Code of Conduct Exercise

We recommend this exercise for the beginning of any retreat, event, or workshop. It sets the tone for your day and allows employees to feel like they have a say in what’s going on while team building in the workplace. In addition, this simple activity ensures your employees are building bonds through shared values.

Exercise Details

  • Duration: 30+ Minutes
  • Objective: Build Trust & Establish Group Values

How You Play

  1. Write the words “Meaningful” and “Pleasant” on a whiteboard.
  2. Ask employees to give ideas on making this workshop meaningful and pleasant.
  3. Add everyone’s suggestions to the board in the form of a mind map.
  4. Ask employees to elaborate on their suggestions in relation to the workshop.
  5. Create a code of conduct for the day based on the mutually agreed-upon ideas.

When the group has guidelines they created to dictate their behavior, your entire team-building event in the workplace will go a lot more smoothly. The Code of Conduct exercise is ideal for both in-office and remote team-building ideas.

2. Memory Wall

The Memory Wall is a physical activity that allows your team to share memories, build camaraderie and enhance working relationships. Conduct this team-building exercise in the workplace early during your event and keep it up for the rest of your time together.

Exercise Details

How You Play

  1. Provide your team members with paper, markers and tape.
  2. Ask them to write positive memories of each person they’ve worked with.
  3. Once they’ve written something down, have them draw these memories.
  4. Tape the completed images to a wall that’s visible throughout the space.
  5. Have a few volunteers share their creations and what they mean.

Illustrations can be simplistic, abstract or detailed. As long as the employee can draw a meaningful connection and explain it, that’s all that matters. Even funny depictions can enhance the exercise and add much-needed levity to the workplace. The visual memory wall encourages people to talk about their relationships and reinforce good teamwork from their past.

3. Magazine Story

This in-office and remote team-building idea offers employees a fun, creative way to bond. Use this kind of team building in the workplace to explore the hopes, goals and dreams of your team members.

Exercise Details

  • Duration: 60-90 Minutes
  • Objective: Visualize Future Success & Encourage Employees to Think Bigger

How You Play

  1. Break your employees into small groups.
  2. Ask them to create a magazine cover about themselves, complete with quotes, images and side stories.
  3. You can provide a template, have them work in an image editing program or provide art supplies for them to create a physical poster.

These magazine covers should be goal-oriented, focusing on what employees want to achieve in their careers in the years to come. You can offer a prize for the magazine cover that’s voted the best!

4. Shark Tank

woman in an office pointing to sticky notes on a wall

Pitching an idea Shark Tank-style encourages employees to work together, get creative and find their inner entrepreneur. You can also use this type of team building in the workplace to hone a competitive edge.

Exercise Details

  • Duration: 90 Minutes
  • Objective: Promote New Ideas & Collaborations

How You Play

  1. Have teams pitch mock products to secure investments from the group.
  2. Play some clips from the show to inspire your teams.
  3. Pitches must include brand name, slogan, business and marketing plan, and financial data.
  4. Choose upper management to play the “Sharks.”
  5. Encourage the Sharks to ask questions and offer investments.
  6. The team with the most investments wins!

Creating your own version of Shark Tank is about stimulating big thinking in your employees. Furthermore, the collaborative element of this team-building idea in the workplace will promote better teamwork and bonding.

5. Trivia Time

You don’t have to make every exercise during team building in the workplace part of the event. Sometimes, a quick break for some fun trivia can help re-engage employees that are losing interest.

Exercise Details

  • Duration: 30-60 Minutes
  • Objective: Engage & Excite Employees

How You Play

  1. Create trivia questions based on your work environment.
  2. Break your employees up into teams.
  3. Ask questions aloud and keep track of the team with the most right answers.
  4. Give out a prize to the best players.

The trivia game is fun, easy and the perfect idea for remote team building. It highlights what everyone has in common and helps connect your employees.

With these unique team-building ideas for the workplace, you can rejuvenate and refresh your employees with games that help the entire office thrive. Find more workplace advice for employers when you explore the Whitman Associates, Inc. blog today!

Working Remote

WAI Staff

For many of us, remote work is something new and exciting, but it also requires diligence to stay productive and engaged. We are grateful to our clients for enabling our employees to work as much as they can in these very unusual circumstances. We also recognize that this may be a new way of life for many. We must all be aware that it is our responsibility to provide our very best each day whether we are working remotely or physically in the office. We are accountable for our productivity while out of the office just as we are when in the office. A couple of key points:

  • You are getting paid to WORK remotely
  • Prepare for you workday just as you would if going in-person
  • Be grateful your commute is so peaceful
  • Be on-time just as if you were commuting to work
  • Be prepared to intentionally engage with your manager:
    • Ask the manager for a schedule of the day’s work
    • Demonstrate progress on the work assignment
    • Notify the manager of task completions
    • Schedule your lunch break (the manager knows you’re off-line)
    • Be accessible (chat, text, call, video) during the entire work day

There are many tools and methods that enable you to be productive and remain engaged during your work-at-home opportunity. While this is a new initiative for most employees and employers, some industries have been leveraging mobile employees at home, off-site, or on the road for many years.

Don’t be alarmed if the company you are employed by asks to load virtual private networking (VPN) access applications on your desktop, tablet, or phone. Recognize that companies engaging in tele-work are exposing themselves from a security perspective. They have a right to protect their company, their mission, and their intellectual property. As an employee, you have an obligation to comply with their security requirements and you must follow their policies when connected to their network.

Strategies For Getting Employees To Buy Into Their Jobs

WAI Staff

According to some estimates, the cost of disengaged employees can be as much as $550 billion a year. It’s no wonder, therefore, that U.S. businesses are urgently committed to finding ways to get employees to buy into their jobs and to reap the benefits of full-on employee engagement.
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Building Authentic Relationships With Employees, And Why It Matters

WAI Staff

Every business depends on fresh ideas and innovation to grow. Where does innovation come from, if not a team of dedicated, trusted employees? But trust and dedication aren’t built into the workplace. These qualities must be earned by every employer, and that’s only possible by building authentic relationships with the people who comprise your team.

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Networking

WAI Staff

When you are unemployed, it’s important to take advantage of every resource you have in order to find a job. While you are submitting your resume to every job posting you feel qualified for, you should also pursue some less traditional means. For example, networking is a great way to learn about new job opportunities and get your name in with the right people.

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Maintaining Professional Social Media Pages

WAI Staff

Social media can be a great resource for job seekers, but it can also be a large hindrance for those who don’t monitor their pages’ content. Make sure your social media pages present you as an employable, respectable professional before using them as a resource in your job hunt. Even if you don’t use Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to help you network and apply for jobs, some organizations go out of their way to check social media pages before presenting a candidate with a job offer. Read over our tips below to make sure your social media pages present you as a great candidate to any potential employer.

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Writing a Professional Email

WAI Staff

Whether you are a job seeker applying for positions and corresponding with hiring managers, or a working professional writing to coworkers, superiors and clients, being able to write a professional email is a critical skill. Learn how to avoid making simple mistakes and seeming unprofessional by following our tips below:

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Why It’s Important to Be Nice to Everyone

WAI Staff

When job seekers go on interviews, they typically focus solely on impressing their interviewer(s). Next time you go on an interview, be sure to be friendly, polite and professional with every person you encounter. You never know the importance or professional status of each individual, so it pays to be nice to everyone! First impressions are critically important, especially on a job interview, so make sure the impression you make at a potential employer’s office is a positive one.

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