We’ve all been there – sitting on the office meeting table, trying to look interested as the branch manager goes on about how important the team is and how it will improve your work, while you’re trying to figure out what that guy over there’s name was. John? Josh? You squint at him, almost not hearing the manager asking you what you think would be the best thing to do to bring your team together. Sound like your office yet?
So what IS the best activity to bring a working team together? And why?
From the dawn of time, ever since we have recorded history, folklore was mainly created in two areas – at home and at work – be it in the field or in a workshop. Why? As social animals, as Aristotle has said, our brains work best when we communicate and it so happens that when we cooperate – work suddenly starts to, well, work! Who would have thought?
Now back to your office in 2022, manager’s starting to make some good points, so you start thinking – how do you get a team to cooperate better and make the workflow smoother? Obviously, team building is popular with the company for that reason, but most of them end up in a drunken mess at a resort somewhere, so how can you make an efficient one?
How to bring the team closer by cooperation and make it really fun without even involving alcohol? Easy – Escape rooms!
Why escape rooms? Simple – be they real or online, their main goal is this – placing the players in a fun, exciting environment, where they have no choice but to cooperate to solve all the puzzles and win. So rest assured, everybody will know everybody else’s name by the end of the game, and not only that! They will also see that these colleagues they usually shy away from asking for help, might actually have a good way of thinking and maybe if they apply that way of thinking back at the office – workflow might actually go smooth as butter!
What about the underachievers? Escape rooms are a great place to spot the office ‘underachievers’ – the people who don’t do much and rely on their colleagues to drag them along for the team’s sake. Why is that valuable? Not only will you be able to spot them, if you’re the manager of the branch, it will be a great opportunity to help this person out and see why they are slacking and what you can do to help him be better, which not only will help the person in question, it will also boost morale greatly.
If you want to make the gaming process even more interesting for a larger team of people – split them up into a few player groups. You can set up a little tournament with a prize at the end and have the groups that have passed watch their other colleagues play – you can make a whole party out of it!
This type of team building has an enormous benefit for teams that work together daily – people have the opportunity to see their colleagues in a new, fun light – something that in these busy times is sometimes a rare sight, especially when stress and deadlines take over. Why is that important?
People react differently under stress, and some people just become really crabby, which makes their colleagues think they’re crabby all the time, which will discourage them from grabbing a coffee with them at the office kitchen, which will eventually result in a misunderstanding. Now imagine putting that same person, with that same team in a gaming environment – they feel at ease, it’s fun, everybody’s laughing, including them – suddenly, the entire team sees this person in their actual light!
This person isn’t crabby after all, they’re just stressed out with no outlet, and you see that even after the game ends, the rest of the team has started to treat them better, to talk to them more, and their work behaviour towards them changes and suddenly you have a team with no outcasts!
The real-life or online escape room gaming experience is the ultimate gift you can give your team, one that not only will have them talking about it for weeks after that, but also one that will have the greatest of benefits to them – both individually and as a team, which is the main reason team building is a thing, to begin with, and of course, taking care of your employees is the best way to ensure that you will have happy, satisfied clients and better revenue!
To view more information about our Team Building on site here in Gravesend – Click Here
To view information about our Mobile Escape Rooms where we come to you – Click Here
To view information about our Online Escape Rooms – Click Here