Readers often send in ideas, initiatives, and team building activities and icebreakers that worked for them in their organization. It's great to have examples, and in the spirit of this article, I value your collaboration and ideas. Recently, I received a note from Keith Hamm*. A fun team building activity was enclosed with his note.
His note began: "You were asking about fun things in HR. One of the tasks I was given when I came onboard a few months ago as HR Coordinator was to work on team building. The idea was to make us more cohesive and directed.
”I came up with a few ‘serious’ team building approaches, but the one that's received the most interest is team-sponsored radio controlled car racing. This is still in the planning stage, but has a lot of approval. It works like this:
"Teams are formed from whatever groups are available, either by department or project members or committee members. Each team fields a small radio-controlled car, with a body or decorations they have to design. A driver is elected or appointed by the team.
”Our hallway offices are all on one floor, in a ‘square circle’ around the outside of the building. The driver stays in one place and the team spreads out to appointed locations around the building hallway. The race starts and the team yells steering directions to the driver, who most of the time won't be able to see the car. Since these cars will be pretty well matched, the team that gives the best directions wins.
"Prizes will be determined later, but one suggestion is to give the winning team a casual dress week or month instead of just casual Fridays.
"This all started as an off-the-cuff remark about needing something to do over the lunch hour besides catch up on work, by the way. This may not be the best team building event in the world, but it seems to have popular support, which a lot of forced trainings don't.
"It would also succeed with the training and cohesion aspects of the team, from planning and strategy to execution, while providing a release valve for the staff over lunch. Yes, this will all take place on a voluntary basis on the lunch hour. If encouraged, the socialization aspects of this little project can and should carry over into the workplace itself and other projects. Relaxation, socialization, team building, and virtually no out of pocket expenses - sounds like a plan!”
Yes, Keith, it sounds like a great team building plan.
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*Keith Hamm, PHR, at the time of this team building exercise submission, was the Human Resources Coordinator at the Minnesota Valley Action Council in Mankato, Minnesota. The Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) is a private, non-profit organization. It is a local institution working on local needs and interests. The service area includes the nine counties of south central Minnesota: Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley, Waseca, and Watonwan. The Council is a community action program (CAP) that does Head Start, weatherization, and a variety of other programs in the community.
