Team Communication Activities

Teams exist in every domain. There are teams in sports, at work place, in class rooms and even within these teams, there exists other smaller teams. A team is a unit that works towards a common goal, and to achieve this goal with maximum potential, the members must work together as, obviously, a team. To work together, the team members must have good understanding with each other. This understanding leads to better communication, which, in turn, improves working conditions and creates a friendlier environment at the workplace. Team communication activities seek to enhance this camaraderie at workplace further so that employees stay motivated and happy. All these activities are simple and fun to do and almost always result favorably. They help in highlighting important facets of communication and other areas. There are different types of team communication activities for different kinds of groups and/or teams. Read the next section to know more about some of them.

 

 

This is one of the most famous team activities that involve trust and communication. In this activity, all team-members are asked to stand in a line and everyone except for the team leader is blindfolded. Now, the team leader is asked to lead the team around a room full of obstacles with clear instructions of what lies ahead. The team that finishes first, with minimum mistakes, is declared winner. This helps in getting across to the team members the importance of clear communication and helps to foster trust within the team.

 

There can be any number of participants in this game. All teammates, except for one, are asked to stand in a circle holding each other’s hand and are instructed not to let go of their hand, no matter what. They are then asked to twist and turn in a way that they tangle themselves, still holding each other’s hand. Now the teammate standing idle is asked to untangle the twists and help each player return to his/her prior position. The idea behind the game is that everyone together designs a problem that needs to be solved.

One question exercise, as the name suggests, is all about asking just one question to get the maximum information. Any random field or post is chosen by the leader for which an employee is hired. The players are divided into teams of two, where, one assumes the role of employee and the other takes the role of an employer. The employer can ask just one question to the employee to know whether she/he will be apt for the job or not. This helps the person to work his or her mind along analyzing the job profile and making a job description. This exercise helps in precise and clear thinking, which leads to better communication and acts as an icebreaker among new employees.

 

Truth or lie is a game where each person is given time to jot down three facts about themselves—out of these three one has to be a lie. After they finish, each person is asked to get up one by one and read out their facts. The others have to guess which one of the three facts is a lie. For this, the person giving the facts has to talk about himself/herself for at least one minute. The game therefore helps the person to improve their public speaking and understanding skills.

The leader who is administering these activities has to be a quick thinker and very organized. In most of these games, it is necessary that the team members do not know the purpose of the game before they start playing it. It is also important that at the end of each activity its purpose be explained. Then, the last step of feedback comes—after each session of these activities, you, as a leader, should take down the details of how it has helped and how it did not help for further reference.  The above activities, in their simplicity, can serve a very crucial purpose. Learning how to work and communicate together can become easy and relaxed with these team communication activities.