Recommended games for team building: How to create a team that can perform at its best
Even though each employee is talented, things just don’t go well as a team…
Many of you may share this concern.
In this article, we introduce “team building” as an initiative to solve that problem.
Team building is the practice of creating the best team—one that can achieve its goals—by leveraging each individual’s strengths.
Through games and activities, you can learn how to understand and appreciate your teammates, collaborate, and accomplish objectives together.
- A simple and fun co-op game that enhances teamwork
- Team-based recreational activities for adults that are fun even with large groups
- [In a Short Time] Icebreakers and Fun Games That Shine at Morning Meetings
- Fun games recommended for making friends with people you’ve just met
- Brain-teasing game roundup
- Company recreation ideas everyone can enjoy!
- Icebreakers that get people moving (for both small and large groups)
- Party and drinking games to liven up a company welcome party
- Break the ice with intros and team battles! Party games to spice up your welcome event
- Ideas for team-based games to enliven a party
- Fun activities that liven up the office: recreation games
- Games that liven up social and networking gatherings
- A fun, everyone-joins-in game that gets everyone excited!
Recommended games for team building. How to build a team that can perform at its best (1–10)
Werewolf game
If you trace it back, it’s a game based on one created in Russia in the 1980s, and nowadays it’s become a major title you can enjoy on smartphone apps! Players split into a Villagers team and a Werewolves team, and the ultimate goal is to find the werewolves hidden among the villagers.
To do that, you keep holding discussions, while the werewolves try to avoid suspicion by lying and skillfully talking the villagers around.
It’s often called a “game that makes you unable to trust people,” but it’s actually a battle of wits driven by logic.
After playing together a few times, you’ll start to notice things you wouldn’t learn from ordinary conversation—like each other’s personalities and how quick you are on your feet.
It’s a fun way to get to know one another!
Escape Game
There’s an escape game designed for talent development and team building.
When you call it a game, younger people are likely to tackle tough challenges without resistance.
Traditional shout-it-out style training still has its place, but we should actively combine it with new approaches to build a stronger organization.
In the escape game, you start on the top floor of a sealed building and use clues, hints, and items to get out.
Sometimes you might even have to retire partway through.
Let’s make team building a success through an escape game that tests teamwork, role allocation, and a sense of responsibility!
Snowball fight
How about a snowball fight for team building? It may sound like just a game, but there are official rules established by the Japan Yukigassen Federation, a general incorporated association.
I’ve heard there are international rules under different organizations as well.
It’s an activity that depends on the season and location, but if you live in an area where you can play, definitely give it a try! Since it’s a team match, you’ll need to divide roles: attackers who push into the opponent’s side, defenders who protect your own territory, decoys who draw attention, and stealthy players who move under the radar—structures that resemble how organizations are built start to emerge here and there, don’t they? And of course, once the battle is over, it’s all about the no-side spirit!
Recommended team-building games: How to build a team that can perform at its best (11–20)
personal history
At the company, a few people will present personal stories such as “Why did you join this company?” By hearing each person’s reasons directly from them, the distance between colleagues can quickly shrink, creating a good opportunity to respect different values.
Beyond reasons for joining, there could be many themes, such as what they’re passionate about or unexpected hobbies.
To strengthen team bonds, the most important thing is to be genuinely interested in one another.
Because it’s about themselves, people find it easier to talk, and their desire to “share with others” and “be understood” may come through strongly.
Finding commonalities
Even when meeting someone for the first time, finding commonalities like hometown or age can make you feel the distance naturally shrink.
In psychology, this is called “rapport,” which fosters a sense of mutual understanding—namely, the building of trust.
At company gatherings, simply identifying as many “common points” as possible helps you increasingly feel that the other person is similar to you, which positively impacts the development of teamwork.
The topic can be anything—family structure, favorite sports, how you spend your weekends—finding shared subjects will naturally make the conversation livelier.
BBQ, camping
In today’s world, even inviting someone to dinner after work can be contentious, but a barbecue held during training hours is something everyone might enjoy.
Capable men—like SMAP or Mokomichi Hayami—can cook too, so the idea that women cook and men just eat might already be outdated.
Role division is essential for team building: a grocery-shopping team, a fire-starting team, and so on.
Some people demonstrate leadership, some reliably complete assigned tasks, and some bring harmony to the group—barbecues and camping tend to reveal a person’s true character.
Cooking
After entering junior high or high school, there are often overnight training trips or cooking practicums at a time when you still can’t match everyone’s names to their faces.
The idea is to use collaborative activities as a springboard to smoothly build the class community.
It’s the same for working adults: doing something together can really bring people closer.
Simple cooking is fine, or you could make it feel more like training by trying your hand at lesser-known dishes from other countries.
Budgeting for ingredients and planning backward from mealtime to schedule the cooking both involve all kinds of calculations.
Deciding on roles—who cooks and who cleans—and having each person carry out their task also incorporates many elements that form the foundation of a company’s organization.
There are rental spaces where you can book a kitchen, too.
Companies with more men, please give it a try as well.