1. Use Weekly Staff Meetings to Lighten the Mood
Think back to the years when you were a director or manager who dreaded those weekly team meetings. They were boring and the only thing you could think of for the entire duration is that you'd rather be sitting anywhere but here listening to statistics and how the team needed to ramp things up a notch. This could easily be handled with a company-wide memo and so your mind starts to drift. Instead of using that weekly meeting to go over facts and figures, why not send a memo and use that time to play a game or two? Let your team get to know each other.
Pair them off and tell them to share a secret, something they've never shared before. It could be an imaginary secret; in fact, it's better if it is! The point is to make that secret so bizarre that the originator will surely hear the 'rumours' over the coming week if it was shared. There are variations of this where the secret is written down on a small scrap of paper and the group has to guess who told that secret. Make those staff meetings fun for at least part of the time. Go over facts and figures if you must, but don't lose your audience in the process! Break it up a bit.
2. Treasure Hunts Throughout the Week
This one can be loads of fun if done right. There are a number of variations to this type of scavenger hunt game, but the idea is to keep everyone searching for something in plain sight throughout the week. It could be a clock on the wall or a customer service manual on a shelf. The idea is to give them clues but not exactly what they are looking for. This is ideal for a Monday morning meeting before giving the synopsis of the week's tasks which must be concluded by Friday.
It is fun to see how your employees begin talking among themselves when putting the clues together to find the treasure. Anyone who guesses correctly on Friday afternoon receives some form of prize. It could be tickets to the cinema or dinner for two at a local restaurant. However, anyone who guesses correctly would need to be rewarded.
3. Attend Off-Site Events
If you find that your employees are simply not warming up to each other, it may be time to bring in the pros. HR team building experts can quickly assess the situation and then put together a team building package. Sometimes they encourage taking everyone to outside events and other times they recommend internal corporate team building events, which they will put together for you. It may be a day-long affair over the course of a week with each department getting their own day. They get paid for the day but aren't stuck at their workstation. Instead, they will be participating in a team building event. This is one of the most valuable team building activities because everyone dreams of a paid day off. In effect, this is just what this mini-seminar is!
4. Team Sports
Why not form a football team amongst your employees? Encourage other companies in your area to do the same. Have a weekly game and even a championship series once or twice a year. The trick is to get everyone involved in some way. Those who are older or aren't in a condition to be out there on the playing field could be scorekeepers or referees.
If there are no other interested companies, make it front-of-the-house against back-end teams. You can have your event monthly or weekly and you can play the game on company time as an added bonus. The key is to have fun and get to know others you've worked with for years and never even knew their name. In the end, it's like a variation on that old proverb. A team that plays together stays together and that's just what cohesion is all about. Play together, stay together with a single purpose in mind, success.
