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Team Building Ideas
Intro
Sales teams working well together is integral to the success of your business. A team that coordinates their actions and is driven to succeed will perform better than a disinterested, un-invested one. It is no secret that one of the best, non-financial, methods to improve sales staff motivation and coordination is to use team-building activities. For more on leading sales teams and keeping them motivated - see our content on managing sales teams.
Why
There is no shortage of academic theory on team building and the types of people in a team, from the likes of Maslow, Belbin, Myer-Briggs and more. However, we'll simplify it all for you; there are different types of people who naturally want to perform different roles in a team – and each person has their own unique needs, which if met, motivate them, and inversely if ignored, demotivate them. If people try and carry out similar roles or have similar expectations of what they will do, they will compete, and little will be achieved.
To prevent this, and to let people figure out their roles – and to solidify communal understanding of who best fits which role – team building is the best solution. Team building exercises let your sales staff figure among themselves who is most suited for what, increasing their efficiency and coordination in working environments. From a social perspective, team building strengthens relationships, allowing people to work alongside one another confidently, and making them more invested in the team itself – driving them to strive for team success. More extroverted personalities may learn to tone their outgoing side down to suit the team's needs, and more introverted characters may involve themselves more with the team due to bonding experiences.
Here are some cool ideas for team building activities – focusing on social bonding, and also more purposed for defining roles and improving team coordination.
Team Building Ideas
Social:
Social team building is incredibly valuable for making team members feel like they belong within a distinct social group. Those who think they are on the fringe of the group or not a member at all may suffer poor communication or a lack of communication. Having your team spend social time together gives them a sense of belonging and improves interpersonal relations.
Theme Parks:
A day out to a theme park gets (almost) everyone excited - the collective sense of anticipation and fear and the shared experience of an adrenaline rush is something everyone can relate to. An exciting day at a theme park gets everyone on the same level, with a central focus that all can enjoy without belonging to any specific social group or personality type. Theme parks can be a great way to create fond and humorous memories for your sales team to share and fondly recall. Be careful; you need to make sure that rollercoasters are something your whole team will enjoy - if anyone has an aversion to them, it isolates them and can have a negative effect.
Climbing/Adventure Days:
Adventure days out to high-rope obstacle courses, such as Go-Ape!, are brilliant for getting your team to learn to work and play together. High-ropes provide a chance for laughter and fun and offer some space for help and teamwork as your staff help each other tackle obstacles. It's a unique and memorable experience that will undoubtedly improve staff relations - but again, as with theme parks, make sure it is something your whole team will enjoy.
Pub Crawl:
The traditional work social, getting everyone down to a pub, or two, or three, to spend some time chatting and having a few (too many) drinks. In today's modern environment, this may feel antiquated, with many preferring trendy bars or coffee shops - but sometimes a good old fashioned pub crawl can be a great way to get everyone to unwind and feel comfortable with one another. Risks include people getting too drunk and doing/saying something they may regret - and many people don't drink, so ensure you won't be excluding anyone. A work meal can be an excellent alternative, to get people out and socialising - as well as giving you all an excuse to eat some delicious grub.
Bowling:
Bowling can work wonders, letting people chat in between turns as well as sparking friendly competition - often bringing introverts out of their shells. However, bowling can backfire - if people get too competitive, it can sour the experience. Bowling can be a great alternative social team-building experience, but you should consider how your team members will interact with one another - to prevent it from ruining relationships.
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Team Building Exercises
Social team-building is beneficial when it comes to bolstering relationships, but to better equip your team to perform well and synchronise with one another, it is often more useful to use exercises that require teamwork. In a team, people need to perform their roles to complete tasks effectively and adequately - overlapping and competing team members create a mess and slow action. Team-building exercises help people fall into their natural roles, establishing hierarchy and how the team bests work together - it also means that any individuals who naturally try for specific team roles (such as team-leader) negotiate tasks in a way that works. The experience gained in team-building exercises becomes the foundation for future efforts, being called upon to illustrate who best performs where and how the team can improve their coordination in business-world efforts.
Expedition/Charity Challenge:
Fun runs, marathons, endurance challenges, and sponsored hikes/treks/events are superb ways to strengthen a team's sense of unity, as well as raising money for a good cause. Take advice from us here at Aaron Wallis - we annually go on charity adventures, and it's helped bring our team together through enduring the elements together, supporting each other physically and emotionally. We've cycled the Coast to Coast Challenge, climbed Snowdonia, completed the Great Glen Kayak challenge and more! We can't recommend this enough!
Team Building Excursions:
Some facilities offer external team-building days out, with specifically designed courses which encourage your sales staff to perform well in their best-suited roles. The tasks these trips contain will require your staff to work together to solve problems while having fun, of course. These are the most direct ways to improve your team's efficiency in working together.
Camping:
Similar to the last two, camping takes your team out of the office, putting them into a situation where they can have a lot of fun while also being forced to work together. All three of these require that your team nurse their problem-solving skills in a group setting.
Office Competition/ Olympics:
A more jovial and fun set of tasks, organising an office Olympics and putting your sales staff into departmental teams means that they can all have a good laugh while working together to beat other departments. The competitive nature of an office Olympics means your staff will genuinely push themselves as a unit to come out on top - exactly how you would desire it in the real world. What's more is this can be done on any budget, at any scale - with the challenges being as creative as you would like, as you get to design them!
Where Next
These are just a few team building ideas. The great thing about team building, and team bonding, exercises is that you can be creative with them - make them as fun or as regimented as you like - if you have any great ideas, do let us know on Twitter or Facebook! Team building is a great way to motivate your team, but if you're looking for more ways to inspire your team - without breaking the bank, check out our alternative ways to motivate sales staff.
Date published: 26th February 2024
by Darren Dewrance
Founding Director
About the author
Darren Dewrance
Darren spent six years in sales and field sales before joining the original sales recruitment specialist, Austin Benn, in 1998. After achieving the status of top consultant, out of about seventy at the time, Darren rose from Senior Consultant to Operations Manager of the commercial sector before leaving to join a London based Headhunter in 2003 before setting up Aaron Wallis with Rob in October 2007.
With a natural leadership style, Darren is an expert on putting his finger right on the heart of the problem. His natural commercial instincts have helped hundreds of employers make better recruitment decisions. Darren is married with two children, and when not at work or with his family, he likes nothing more than to be on the side of a river or a lake with a rod in his hand.
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