5 Fun Games In Office Which Promote Teamwork
Nothing can be as simple or effective for your team-building efforts as playing some fun games in office. Strong company culture is built on the foundation of having great teams. Even then, for a team to work at its best, its members must also have an exceptional team bond. But such bonds are less likely to happen overnight and without any prior team engagement efforts and a bit of fun.
In today’s fast-paced corporate world, not only can it be difficult for team members to get to know the rest of the team, it can be pretty difficult for new hires to transition into the team smoothly. Playing games is a fantastic way to get people to connect with one another. Moreover, some of these team-building games will put your coworkers’ strategic thinking and problem-solving skills to the test.
Here are 5 Fun Games In Office Which Promote Teamwork
1. Heads Up
The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-5 team members.
Material Required: Smartphone or pen and sheets of paper.
Time Limit: None
Why Does It Work?
Since it is a guessing game, it requires some quick thinking skills and also the ability to look at the bigger picture.
How To Play?
In this fun game, one team member puts the phone on their forehead, the rest of the players can see the item written and give clues. Then the player has to guess the word written from the given clues.
There are numerous categories, ranging from singers to animals, that make this an excellent team-building activity.
2. Charades
The Recommended Number Of Players: 6-10
Material Required: None
Time Limit: None
Why Does It Work?
This party game is a classic for a reason.
However, before you judge this as too cliched, you can add your own “office twist” to it by switching movie names with the familiar office lingo. “The boss’s beard,” “night shift,” “broken coffee machine,” “quarterly reports.”
Basically, it includes anything that your team would have a good laugh over.
How To Play?
Step 1: A player from one team is chosen by the other team and given a movie name.
Step 2: The player enacts the movie name and tries to convey it to his teammates without talking or pointing out any objects.
Step 3: If the team guesses the movie name correctly, then they win a point. If not, then the rival team gains a point.
Step 4: Continue steps (1-3) The team with the maximum points wins the game.
3. The Barter Puzzle
The Recommended Number Of Players: Four or more small groups
Material Required: Different jigsaw puzzles for each group
Time Limit: Approximately 45 minutes
Why Does It Work?
Inspired by the popularity of jigsaw puzzles, this team-building game aims to utilize the problem-solving and leadership skills of the team members.
How to Play?
Step 1: Have everyone break off into small, equal-sized groups.
Step 2: Give respective teams a different jigsaw puzzle but with the same difficulty level. The goal is to see which team can finish their jigsaw puzzle the fastest.
Step 3: However, here’s the catch. Some jigsaw puzzle pieces of each team will be mixed with the jigsaw puzzles of the rest of the groups. It’s up to each group to come up with a plan to get those pieces back. It may either be through negotiating, trading, or through other methods. Whatever the decision might be, the whole team will have to reach a consensus about it.
4. Salt N Pepper
The Recommended Number Of Players: 10-15 team members.
Material Required: Tape, pen paper for each team member, and
Time Limit: Approximately 20 minutes
Why Does It Work?
Playing this fun game in office will boost communication and creativity among the team members. It will also encourage teamwork as communicating with the rest of the team is necessary.
How To Play?
Step 1: Have a list of well-known pairs (think Mario and Luigi, salt and pepper, yin and yang, shadow and light, peanut butter and jelly, Mickey and Minnie) on hand.
Step 2: Separate the pairs, and only one of them should be written on each sheet of paper. For example, Mario on one paper chit and Luigi on the other.
Step 3: Tape one paper on the back of each person, making sure the rest of the team can’t see it.
Step 4: When the game starts, every team member must walk around asking yes or no questions to find out what word they have taped to their backs.
Step 5: Once they figure that out, they’ll be able to find their other pair. The two will sit down and learn three to five interesting facts about one another.
5. Murder Mystery
The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-5 team members.
Material Required: Pen, sheets of paper, post-it notes.
Time Limit: Approximately 45 minutes
Why Does It Work?
A Murder Mystery Dinner is an interactive activity that will require everyone to get involved. It is the sort of team-building activity that everyone is bound to love.
This fun game is famous for being entertaining and because the winning team needs to have superior team collaboration and problem-solving skills.
How To Play?
Follow the instructions on your chosen murder mystery scenario, passing out invitations, name tags, maps, and suspect files.
Divide the teams into groups of 2-3 and see who figures out whodunnit first. Either way, your group will rally around the main goal─solving the mystery and finding the murderer.
