teambuilding

Team building is essential for creating highly effective teams in the workplace. At The Handproject, we specialize in team building with a focus on charity and social impact. Our unique team building events foster stronger communication, collaboration, trust, creativity, and morale among team members.

The Importance of Team Building in Business

Team building refers to various activities and exercises aimed at improving teamwork, communication, trust, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal relationships. Strong teams are critical for organizational success as teamwork leads to increased productivity, efficiency, innovation, and employee engagement. Team building also creates a positive work culture and helps align employees with company values and goals.

For businesses and organizations, investing in quality team building pays dividends through:

• Enhanced communication and collaboration
• Increased creativity and problem-solving abilities
• Higher employee motivation, morale, and loyalty
• Reduced conflicts and improved conflict resolution
• Greater trust and accountability among team members
• Breaking down of silos and improved coordination
• Developing shared purpose, identity, and commitment

At The Handproject, our team building events emphasize fun, engagement, and social impact. This aligns perfectly with our mission of using teamwork to make a positive difference in the world.

Benefits of Team Building

Let’s explore some of the top benefits of team building in more detail:

Improving Communication

Open, effective communication is vital for teams to function optimally. Team building can dramatically improve communication skills such as:

• Enhancing verbal communication – Exercises focused on listening, questioning, explaining, and providing feedback strengthen verbal communication.
• Developing non-verbal communication – Activities that require observing body language, interpreting tone and facial expressions, and sending the right non-verbal cues.
• Building listening skills – Games and challenges that require careful listening and following instructions.
• Encouraging open dialogue – Creating a safe environment for team members to engage in open and honest discussions.
• Improving written communication – Collaborative writing or documentation exercises.

At The Handproject events, assembling prosthetic hands requires team members to carefully listen to and follow instructions. This immerses participants in real-world communication challenges.

Increased Collaboration

Team building activities facilitate better collaboration by:

• Teaching team members to leverage each other’s strengths and weaknesses
• Developing skills for collaboration such as cooperation, coordination, and resource-sharing
• Fostering partnerships and relationships between team members
• Encouraging brainstorming, group problem-solving, and collaborative decision-making
• Motivating employees to work together towards a common goal

The Handproject’s prosthetic hand building events require intense collaboration with each person playing a distinct role. This shows the power of teamwork.

Building Trust

Trust is the foundation for effective teams. Team building can strengthen trust by:

• Bringing team members closer together through shared experiences and challenges
• Establishing vulnerability-based trust through open sharing and personal storytelling
• Increasing accountability, reliability, and dependability among team members
• Cultivating inclusive environments where team members feel respected and valued
• Having fun together! Humor and laughter releases oxytocin which builds trust.

At The Handproject, trust is built through the shared mission of changing lives. Team members also get to know each other better during the hand assembly process.

Boosting Morale

Team building has proven results in elevating employee morale and satisfaction by:

• Making work more enjoyable through fun activities and games
• Building camaraderie, friendship, and stronger interpersonal bonds
• Developing a sense of purpose in contributing towards a meaningful goal
• Creating change and variety in day-to-day work life
• Motivating employees and increasing their engagement
• Promoting healthy competition and celebrating accomplishments

The Handproject combines hard work with fun. Seeing pictures of recipients with their new hand is incredibly uplifting.

Encouraging Innovation

Imagination and creativity lead to innovation. Team building sparks innovation by:

• Bringing together diverse perspectives, ideas, and approaches
• Incorporating creative elements such as art, music, or design into activities
• Promoting out-of-the-box thinking through brainstorming sessions
• Solving challenges and problems in new ways
• Fostering positive risk-taking and pushing boundaries
• Sparking new energy, passion, and motivation

While assembling prosthetic hands follows a process, discussions during The Handproject events lead to fresh insights and ideas.

Types of Team Building Activities

There are many options when it comes to choosing team building activities. Some of the most popular include:

1. Problem-Solving Exercises

These encourage analytical thinking, strategizing, troubleshooting skills, and decision making. Example activities include:

• Escape rooms – Players have to solve puzzles and clues to escape from a themed room.
• Amazing race – Teams compete in challenges across multiple locations to reach the final goal.
• Murder mysteries – Participants have to cooperate to solve a simulated murder case with limited clues.
• Scavenger hunts – Teams work together to find items or information and complete tasks.
• Design challenges – Creating structures, Rube Goldberg machines, presentations, or other projects within constraints.

2. Outdoor Team Building Activities

Outdoor activities provide refreshing change of scenery and inject energy and fun. Examples include:

• Amazing races – Outdoor races with physical and mental challenges.
• Scavenger hunts – An outdoor twist on finding items and solving clues.
• Survivor games – Modelled after the TV show with camps, physical games and vote-offs.
• Orienteering – Navigating to specific locations using just a map and compass.
• Outdoor parks – Low ropes courses, ziplines, trust falls and more.

3. Creative and Artistic Activities

These get teams thinking outside-the-box and tapping their creative potential through:

• Cooking competitions – Teams create dishes within time and ingredient constraints.
• Art contests – Expressing yourself through painting, drawing sculpture and other mediums.
• Improvisation – Thinking on your feet through unscripted acting scenes.
• Music and dance – Getting into the groove together through song and movement.
• Storytelling – Crafting and sharing stories as a team.

4. Charitable Team Building

Giving back provides a shared sense of purpose. Examples include:

• Assembling prosthetic hands – Creating hands for amputees together like at The Handproject events.
• Packing food parcels – Teaming up to pack meals for the needy.
• Habitat for Humanity – Building or renovating houses for underprivileged families.
• Environmental conservation – Clean-ups, tree planting, recycling drives, etc.
• DIY for charity – Making toys, blankets, care packages and more for donations.

Charitable team building combines learning with social impact.

The Handproject’s Distinct Approach

At The Handproject, our team building is purpose-driven. Some unique aspects include:

Team Building Centered on Social Impact

Our prosthetic hand building events provide a meaningful goal that brings people together:

• Hands are donated to amputees in developing countries who can’t afford prosthetics.
• This creates a shared sense of purpose beyond just having fun.
• Seeing recipient photos reinforces the profound impact made through teamwork.

Transformation at an Individual Level

Beyond just corporate team building, our events change individual lives:

• Amputee recipients regain mobility, independence, and dignity.
• Assembling a hand leads to deep personal fulfillment.
• Empathy develops by simulating a hand amputation during assembly.
• Inspires ongoing volunteering and community engagement.

comprehensive Experience

We offer a holistic team building service including:

• Working hand-in-hand from start to finish.
• Detailed pre-event consultation and planning.
• Professional facilitation by energetic experts.
• All equipment and supplies provided.
• Packaging and shipping prosthetic hands overseas.
• Sharing photos and videos of recipients using their new hands.

This creates an impactful and hassle-free team building experience.

The table below shows the different team building Activity Types.

Team Building Activity Types

Planning a Successful Team Building Event

For maximum results, strategic planning is required for team building events. Here are some top tips:

Set Clear Goals

Align team building goals to business objectives by improving:

• Communication and collaboration
• Innovation and creativity
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• Conflict management
• Trust and relationships
• Diversity, equity and inclusion

Having measurable goals will allow you to track progress.

Choose Appropriate Activities

Select activities that align with team building goals and suit the team profile:

• Assess the team’s needs and weaknesses. Where is improvement needed?
• Consider team size, demographics, physical abilities and personalities.
• Mix up low-energy and high-energy activities.
• Rotate participants to introduce variety and new perspectives.
• Ensure everyone can actively participate.
• Add elements of fun and humor. Laughter goes a long way.

Handle Logistics

Work out timing, transportation, materials, facilities, food, etc:

• Create a detailed schedule balancing activities with breaks.
• Arrange venues suitable for the activities.
• Gather all required project supplies and resources.
• Organize transportation and parking if needed.
• Plan catering, snacks and hydration to keep energy levels high.
• Send reminders before the event with all essential information.

Focus on Inclusion

Team building should make all employees feel welcomed and valued:

• Ensure activities are accessible to differently abled participants.
• Respect cultural sensitivities and traditions.
• Use name tags or icebreakers if team members don’t know each other.
• Split teams to mingle colleagues from different departments.
• Monitor participation and rotate dominant personalities.
• Keep competition friendly and de-emphasize winning/losing.

Team Building Planning Considerations

Integrating Team Building into Corporate Events

Incorporating team building into internal conferences, meetings and other corporate events is an excellent way to maximize benefits.

Energizing Kick-Off Activities

Start events on a fun note with non-competitive icebreakers and creative sessions to reinforce inclusion and set the tone.

Breakout Sessions

Split larger groups into teams and rotate participants to maximize engagement and cross-pollination of ideas.

Themed Workshops

Align small group workshops to event themes for deeper learning. Make them hands-on and experiential.

Meeting Warm-Ups

Inject quick team building activities into meetings to recharge teams between long presentations.

Charitable Components

Add a social impact element like assembling prosthetic hands to reinforce purpose and community.

Closing Activities

Wrap up with high-energy team building activities to end on a memorable and inspiring note.

Best Practices for Seamless Integration

Follow these tips when incorporating team building into corporate events:

• Select activities that align with event themes and company values.
• Schedule team building at strategic points to re-energize participants.
• Group employees from different departments to enable mingling.
• Rotate event staff and organizers into activities.
• Ensure proper materials and resources are available on-site.
• Provide clear instructions, guidance and facilitation.
• Allow time for reflection and sharing insights afterward.
• Capture photos, videos and participant feedback.