Tuesday, July 10, 2012

D.I.Y. Team Building Activities

By Shona Wilson


There's always the panic when thinking 'what can I do with my team that is cost effective, easy to do and quick and great fun?' - Well why not try a DIY team building activity? It's very simple - I'm sure we've all come up against those mundane conventional games that involve drinking straws and paper clips or unrealistic survival scenarios (or even the dreaded role plays), whereas now there is the opportunity to source something which carries much greater impact and a much better investment.

The foundation for any team building activity should be that of fun and engagement. In many cases, the facilitator that is brought in will help with this but, increasingly, it is not always viable to bring in an external provider (mainly due to costs). Enter the DIY team building activities, which have become much more advanced and are more intelligent and thought-provoking. They also provide a much greater outlet for training and experiential learning than ever before.

A DIY team building activity offers the facility to be run by you or even any member of your team (just in case you actually want to get in on the action!). In most good DIY team building activity shops you will be provided with everything you need, including full instruction on setting up and monitoring the activity. Now you may be thinking that it would be impossible to say that everything you need is provided - and yes ok it may be necessary that you will have the task of marking out a start line or a no-go area perhaps - but other than that 'everything you need' is pretty much a given

If the thought of having to 'facilitate because no one else will be coming in to do it' scares you - DON'T PANIC - you do not have to be super slick at facilitating to run a DIY team building activity - the best way to learn and to be comfortable at 'training' is to have a go yourself. If you have a good provider, everything should be included within the guidance and training notes which will ease you into understanding more about the experiential learning elements.

The other excellent thing about DIY team building activities is that YOU can make the decisions! You can decide whether to run it indoors or outdoors and look at the range in ages and abilities in your team, perhaps you need to consider a slower pace? Essentially, you have the complete freedom to ensure you are properly catering for the specific needs of your team. Throw in the added bonus that all good DIY team building activities can be used time and time again - with no added cost - and it gives you the advantage of allowing your team to improve with each attempt (at their own pace) or even let other people take on the role of facilitator.

Don't forget the adaptability of these activities and how they can fit into your programme. If you want to fill a longer slot, perhaps combining two or more activities could provide a bigger scope for fun and learning - or you could even get a little round-robin format going with your teams revolving around different activities. The opportunities are endless and, yet again, extremely cost effective!

To be fair, this could go on for hours and hours - but after all this, what are you waiting for - now's the time to seriously consider the DIY team building activity option!

If something's worth doing - it's great to D.I.Y.!




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