Team Building Activity: Are You Puzzled?

What's the point?

This exercise requires cooperation, strategy, and project management. It cannot be completed by just one person, although various employees may spend more time on it than others. The goal is to complete a project using something from everyone, and to celebrate the accomplishment without having to identify the "best" contributor.

What you'll need:

A puzzle made up of enough pieces that you can equally divide among all employees in a particular department. Each employee should have no more than 10 pieces.

What to do: 

Announce that the team will be assembling a puzzle together over the course of a period of time that you select. (I recommend your first puzzle take no longer than two weeks to complete.)

Distribute baggies or envelopes with an equal number of puzzle pieces to employees.

Establish a place where the puzzle is to be assembled, perhaps a table in a break room or workroom.

Tell employees that they are to contribute to the puzzle one time per day. Contributing can be as simple as laying one of their pieces on the table, or spending a couple of minutes trying to fit together pieces that are there. They can only contribute one piece a day each (or whatever works to get the puzzle done in the time period you have established.)

Throughout the time period (for our example, two weeks) you should begin to see the puzzle come together. At first, there will just be loose pieces on the table. However, as the supply grows, there may be some attempts to fit pieces together.

Be sure to encourage along the way and establish some type of reward the whole team can enjoy once the puzzle is completed (i.e. lunch brought in.)

You may wish to frame the puzzle and hang it in the room when it is done.

If you try this at your workplace, please let us know how it went!

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Tangible Improvements to Workplace Culture

There's a lot of talk about culture in workplaces, the atmosphere created by the people who spend time there and the norms that everyone in that particular environment adapts to. Cultures vary widely. You'll find a different culture at Google than you will on Wall Street. Part of that relates to the type of industry, the need (or not) for formality, etc. 

There are several tangible elements to consider as you develop a sense of culture and teamwork unique to your organization. Here are some random but important segments of a workplace culture.

Purpose. Do your employees have a real purpose for working for you other than getting a paycheck? Do you get them excited about the mission of your organization?

Meetings. The type of meetings you have, when you have them, who attends...all those things contribute to a sense of teamwork, or lack thereof. I remember years ago when a new pastor came on board for the church I worked for. I was office manager and had not been included in staff meetings. He changed that and allowed me to come. That type of decision can bridge gaps between departments.

At the same time, if you are making employees attend meetings for which they play no useful role, they may be grateful for you to release them from that obligation.

Fun. Some workplaces have more fun than others. Within reason, can you allow for a bit of play time? Use bright visual aids? Bring in lunch occasionally or a special breakfast treat?

Gifts. I started a new job not long ago, and within 8 weeks I had already found a great tote bag on my desk one day and a Starbucks card the other. These items came from other business opportunities the bosses had been to, but it was great to feel appreciated with these little gestures they could have kept for themselves. Are there product samples you can randomly give out? Treats you can stick in mailboxes?

Compensation. While a sense of purpose is important, most employees work to earn a living too. Review guidelines for average pay in your area for certain types of jobs and make sure you are not being a cheapskate. Consider additional compensation such as profit sharing or benefit perks that help the bottom line be bigger for that employee. This is especially nice when it comes as a surprise. For example, if you have a profit sharing or bonus plan, it can be great fun for employees to see what "extra" will be in their check this week. Talk about motivating!

Personal Workspace. Female workers especially like to feel comfortable in their workspace. Allow employees to decorate their space within reason and show their creativity. Try to provide privacy for those having to share a larger room, either through staggered schedules or room dividers. Make sure their workstation is ergonomically correct. Give them somewhat of a budget to get supplies or equipment they need in order to do their job more comfortably and efficiently.

 

Common workspace. Take pride in the common areas in the workplace. Keep the break room and bathrooms clean. Provide beverages and snacks. Have meeting spaces that are uncluttered. If possible, have some view of the outside, keeping windows clean. Have some agreed upon standards for how the overall office/workplace is kept (i.e. reasonable standards of neatness.) Sometimes, you can assign an employee to maintain a particular common area. One place I worked gave this job to the receptionist and daily, she was sure to keep the workroom straightened up.

Take care of a few of these tangibles and create the productive, welcoming culture you want for your team!

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Four Things Your Team Needs from You

If you are a team leader, you will have followers. To do the job well, you have to provide them with some important things. Here are four of them.

Clear expectations. It is difficult to read someone's mind. When you clearly share what needs to be done and what the priorities are, your team members can plan their work accordingly. When in doubt, spell it out, but don't be patronizing!

A listening ear.  You can learn a lot by listening to your team members. Prompt discussion. Ask questions. Find out how things can be better, from their point of view.

Time. Particularly if you are new leader, your team will need time to learn how you like to do things. Don't expect them to adjust to your preferences over night.

Space. Micromanaging doesn't help anyone. Give your team members some authority over their projects. For example, allow reasonable freedom in writing and formatting documents. Allow them to suggest changes to a long standing task...you might find a much more efficient method to getting it done!

While there are lots of things you will need to do to be a good team leader, these four are an excellent start!

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