The difference between corporate team building and team bonding all depends on what goals you have set out to achieve for the event, but in the end these are both important tools that help you nurture a productive and efficient workforce.
Simply put, company team building is all about creating an environment where your staff has to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate efficiently to be successful. In contrast, company team bonding is accomplished by connecting with coworkers outside the office for fun and enjoyable activities that facilitate communication and laughter.
Effective corporate team building activities are centered on bringing diverse team members from different roles and positions together for work for a common cause. For team building activities to be successful, they must be structured with clear rules and direction with defined event goals.
Competition ensures staff members develop strong working relationships. Making the activity fun ensures your staff will want to get involved and participate. The end result is lasting lines co communication that harbor loyalty towards coworkers and employer.
Picnic People offers numerous corporate team building activities and games. Our process of working with our clients to custom build corporate team building events based on their specific goals has allowed for us to help San Diego companies grow and be more productive. Now that you know more about team building let’s learn more about team bonding and the benefits of this event format.
While team building is all about bringing together employees towards a common goal, team bonding is about building new teams and strengthening established working relationships through fun outings and organized activities.
Team bonding events include sports and beach sports tournaments, tailgate games and competitions, and themed activity based events like Pumpkin Carving Contests, Halloween or Holiday Kooky Cookie Cook Offs, or other organized activities. These team bonding events are less based on achieving a certain goal and more focused toward having a good time together away from work. The idea is to set up an environment that may lead team members to start casual conversations with each other. Team bonding events can be big or small and it’s always a good idea to plan a few different outings, onsite team bondings, and/or other recognitions throughout the year.
A few examples of fun team bonding events include cornhole tournament and fast pitch contest tailgate before a Padres game. One popular activity is a scavenger hunt through historic landmarks across San Diego’s Balboa Park. Or team bonding could be a simple as an onsite ice cream social, Friday happy hour, bbq catering in the office parking lot, or a fun holiday cookie decorating contest, just to name a few.
To get the most out of your event and to maximize participation always make sure delicious food, fun activities and/or entertainment are provided. Your outgoing members will get to be in the limelight while spectator team members will enjoy watching, laughing and cheering for their team members, which is what team bonding is all about.
This leads us to our 5 mistakes to avoid when planning corporate team building or bonding events.
Remember, any team bonding and team building activities should be centered on your team’s interests. Listen to their suggestions and structure your event around their interests if possible. If done right, this could lead to maximum participation levels across the team.
Every person has varying levels of skill and ability. Getting to know their strengths and weaknesses will help you choose activities that complement their particular skill set. More importantly, it ensures that no one is left out!
It is important to create a goal roadmap for each activity to ensure your team reaches its full potential. Not having a clear goal in mind may end up jeopardizing your event. Start by determining the primary objectives of the event. It also helps to define a few metrics to measure the success of each event.
Breaking up interoffice cliques when forming teams for activities will help to make the most of the team building experience. This will both allow for more group interaction and help to eliminate side conversations making easier for all involved to pay attention to game instructions.
It is recommended to host a couple of team building and/or team bonding events and activities throughout the year. This ensures your team is keyed in on the importance of teamwork, communication, and cooperation throughout the year. A one-off event once a year would do little to hammer home the idea of employee appreciation, teamwork, and company loyalty.
Contact a Picnic People Event Coordinator to help you build the perfect team building or team bonding event for your team. At Picnic People, we have numerous fun and engaging activities and event themes fully developed by our experienced Event Coordinators and ran onsite by our energetic event MCs. Rely on us to build incredible team building and team bonding events that take your vision for your team and make it a reality. Click here to learn more!
It's never too early to start. Give us a shout to find out how we can deliver the most scrumptious picnic catering in town and help you throw an epic event from start to finish.