

For example, you might have your team create a device that involves movement without electricity, and moves a golf ball from point A to point B. Create a specific project with clear restrictions and a goal. Use What You Haveĭivide your team into equal groups. In other words, they must solve both the puzzle and the problem of getting their pieces back. As a team, they must find a way to convince the other teams to help them. Purpose: This exercise is time-consuming, but it accomplishes creative teamwork on several levels. Whatever they choose to do, they must do it as a group. The goal is to complete their puzzle before the other groups, and that they must come up with their own method of convincing the other teams to relinquish the pieces they need, whether through barter, exchange of team members, donating time to another team, a merger, etc. Explain that some of the pieces in their puzzle belong to the other puzzles in the room. Explain that they have a set amount of time to complete the puzzle as a group. Give each team a distinctly different jigsaw puzzle of equal difficulty. The Barter Puzzleīreak your team into groups of equal members. Participants learn about others and also learn about themselves through the lies they thought were true.

This team bonding game gives them equal footing to reveal facts about themselves as well as expose the assumptions others have made. Extroverts have no difficulty in making themselves known, but introverts often remain an enigma, bowled into silence. Purpose: This exercise fits into the “get to know each other” category. When they are finished, the team should discuss which they think are the truths and which are the lies. Go around the group, one at a time, and have them read the truths and lie in random order. not “I’ve been to Mars”), and the tenor of the truths and lies should not be offensive or crude. The lie should be believable to some extent (i.e. Instruct them to write down three truths and one lie. Give each team member four identical slips of paper, or have them use their laptops if they’re remote. By forcing these ideas to have equal footing, each team member’s ability to contribute is established. As you work as a team, brainstorming sessions often sway towards the vocal and dominant personalities even though other team members have valuable ideas, too. Purpose: This exercise shows the value of everyone’s ideas. You may want to choose a fictional problem that allows you to reveal one aspect of the challenge each round. Continue for several rounds, and then see what the results are. Have them pass the paper to the person on their left, and instruct them to use the new idea to build another solution upon. They only need to write a sentence or two. Assemble your team, and have them write down an idea on a large sheet of paper. It could be a theoretical product, a brain teaser, a riddle, a design challenge - anything that needs a solution. Ideas As Building BlocksĬreate a fictional problem that must be solved. It’s also a great icebreaker as participants can share their results and compare with others.
#Puzzle pieces outline how to#
By establishing how each team member works best, and how they react in different situations, they can learn how to approach each other differently to succeed in work and personal interaction. Purpose: Knowing what motivates and what demotivates other team members is powerful. During future teamwork efforts, when conflicts arise, a team member can say “remember, I am orange” and the others will know exactly what she means. These tests simplify things and create easily remembered results. The DISC personality test is a good choice, as is the True Colors personality test. Bring in a speaker, if time allows, to expound on the different personality traits, their strengths, their weaknesses, and a plan on how potential clashes can be alleviated.Ĭhoose a personality test that isn’t excessively complicated. As a group, take a personality test together. You could think of this as “what makes you ticked off”, as this is an exercise in learning about each other’s personalities and seeing what kind of personalities will clash.

Here are 32 team building games to choose from, and none of them involve trust falls (whew): 1.
