Team Building Exercises Make a Positive Difference
If your practice is like most, employee engagement and collaboration amongst staff are key components to your success. In a fast-paced environment such as a medical office, stress can negatively affect morale; employees often focus so diligently on getting their work done that their interaction with one another is limited. A simple yet highly effective way of overcoming this is to incorporate team building exercises into your practice.
Benefits of Team Building Exercises
Team building activities are a great way of encouraging employees to work together to solve problems. They can foster a sense of belonging and lead to improved camaraderie. Besides that, they’re a fun break from the usual routine.
Team building exercises are beneficial for many reasons. They accomplish the following:
- Improve Productivity
- Build Trust
- Increase Motivation
- Improve Morale
- Promote Collaboration
- Generate Better Communication
- Encourage Creative Solutions
- Identify Strengths and Weaknesses
With so many positive benefits, you’re probably wanting to implement team building exercises into your practice. But how do you go about that – and which activities work best?
Which Team Building Exercises Work Best?
You might be tempted to hire an expert to come in and help, but there’s no need to spend the money – there are many tried and true team building exercises that you can put together yourself. Some proven activities include:
- Have people act awkwardly together. Taking your employees outside of their comfort zone might sound tricky, but when everybody is doing it together, this method works! Try group “minute to win it” challenges or have everybody do the wave. Any initial self-consciousness is usually replaced with smiles and laughter.
- Get out of the office for a little exercise. Head outside for a group walk when the weather is nice. This helps people relax and focus, and exercise promotes good health. It’s a win/win and costs nothing.
- Play games. Team building activities have to be fun if they’re going to be effective, and there are a wide variety of games you can have your staff play that they will actually enjoy. The list is endless but could include scavenger hunts, balloon tosses, egg drops, three truths and a lie, etc. The internet is a great resource for coming up with creative and fun ideas.
When in doubt, put it to a vote! During your next regular meeting, have your employees share ideas for group activities. The more involved they are from the start, the more they’ll look forward to participating.