How to Energize a Product Team? 5 Team Building Exercises

Team members who have done everything to perform their jobs deserve the favor back. It is not only about fair salary, but surely something important – about powerful team building activities.

Taskworld shares 5 awesome exercises on their blog to help any team feel better and get a real team spirit. Here they are:

Zombie escape

You’ll need a rope, a key and 5–10 clues or riddles.

Bring your team to a room large enough for everyone to move freely. Make sure to lock the door. Choose one to play as the zombie amongst the team members. He/she will stand and tied in the corner of the room, leaving a foot of leeway.

Set a timekeeper, that will allow the zombie to lose the rope and move a foot forward every 5 minutes.

While the zombie is performing his role well, the rest of the team will work on series or different riddles or puzzles you prepare, solving series of riddles and puzzles will allow them to find the hidden key. They need to get out of the room as soon as possible, and not let the zombie catch them.

The game builds teamwork and camaraderie.

Plane crash

First, separate your team in groups. Then let them imagine they are in a crashing plane.

Let them think of 10-12 objects they will bring with them, objects that they can see around the office. Then they will rank the objects from most important to the least.

The game helps to improve the decision making and prioritizing.

Truths and a lie

You’ll need paper and pens to play.

Gather your team around. Give them a pen and a paper for each. Then ask to write 2 true things about themselves and a lie.

Collect all the papers and shuffle them. Give one to each participant. Let the member read aloud the two truths and one lie written by their colleague.

They should guess who owns the paper and tell what they think is lie on the 3 options given. It really helps to know each other better.

Paper tearing

The only thing you need here is paper.

You’ll need a manager to lead this game. Give each of the team members a sheet of paper, including the manager.

Everyone should close their eyes. The manager gives instructions on what they need to do with the paper, like, tear the paper in half, tear a small portion on the left side of the paper and so on.

After all instructions are given, it is time for them to open their eyes and compare their finished product to their manager. The closest will win the game.

The game shows how effective the manager is.

Reflecting on the day

A paper ball is needed here.

This ball will be thrown from one participant to another. They will share their experiences during the day, like, what are the things they learn for the day. The ball will be passed on until everyone had their chance to speak.

This will give each team member the chance to reflect and give others the opportunity to learn from the experiences of their workmate.

What do you think about these activities? Perhaps they may seem simple but yet, they can be highly effective and can bring so much fun to your employees.