Team Building on a Budget: 5 tips

“Make them laugh, collaborate, communicate, and have a good time and you will be instilling them with a sense that their employer values their existence. This is 90% of all team-building.”

Do It Yourself

There are many team-building organisations out there promising to improve your workplace culture forever and boost office morale, to have your employees working as a well oiled machine, and have everyone be laughing and giving their all.

With their fancy technology or decades of experience  in changing human behaviour there are countless high end services available (us included). BUT not every team needs a total professional overhaul. What if you’re just looking to do a simple activity for the office? Something you could make yourself? Then here are our 5 steps to create your own teambuilding event on a budget.

Values vs Goals

The very first step is going to be how can I provide value? If you want to do it right you’re going to need to think about how you’re going to provide your team with value and not necessarily achieve goals. The point of team-building is NOT to increase sales, or boost productivity, or build culture. These are all side effects emerging from your team operating with a set of consistently aligned values.

Your goal is going to be to provide your team with an experience that makes them feel valued, connected, trusted, and comfortable. A large part of what teambuilding is IS the employer showing their employees that they are important to the company, to each other, and within themselves. So plan with the idea in mind that you are going to be giving something of value to each person involved. That might mean a free bbq lunch, some office merch, new knowledge or insight, increased responsibility. See what your budget allows and build the reward around that budget.

Plan an Agenda

Plan for the day by the hour, then by the minute.  Let’s say you schedule 2-3 hours for some team-building on a Friday. You could spend 1 hour of that time with everyone engaged in a simple Scavenger Hunt around the office. Then an hour reflecting or working together on a group project like a meaning board or something like our Graffiti Art . Break it down into hours. Your team will stay engaged if they only need to spend 30 minutes to 1 hour on each activity, so keep it simple. Choose two to three games or tasks that you would like to play with your team. Check out these quick, easy, and cheap teambuilding games from our friends over at Goose Chase.

Choose Your Space

Choose a space that gets people out of their comfort zone. If it is going to be a space they are familiar with like a meeting room or location inside the office then make it interesting by hiding an entire deck of playing cards around the area and tasking the group to find each card but only of a certain suit. Find a place that is free: a BBQ at a public park, book a table at a nearby restaurant or bar, or a meeting room in a local library.

Reward Participation

You have to be in it to win it. As your goal is to provide value (and not have expectations met) by changing behaviour you want to reward your team simply for participating. Prior to the event create a small thank you package. These only need to be simple: a handwritten note, some chocolate coins (or dietary requirement sensitive alternative: nuts, fruits, dark chocolate, sesame seeds, edible piece of cardboard etc), a printed out card stating your company’s values, and a gift voucher or some company merch.

Thank your team for being a part of a group event, this gesture alone provides value, grows culture, and communicates appreciation (key gestures in growing a positive culture in the workplace). A simple BBQ lunch, or free round of drinks at the local bar can also go a long way in rewarding participation.

Play Don’t Pay

Team-building does not have to break the bank. When deciding how much you would like to spend on a teambuilding event break the price down to PER PERSON. 

Would you like each person in your team to receive $5, $10, $15 worth of value? Decide on what you can afford and then reverse engineer the reward and thank you gift from there. Your scavenger hunt, group collaboration, or communication games are not going to cost you anything as their value is derived from the game mechanics. 

Do not pass the expense onto your team under any circumstances! 

As stated earlier, one of the main things that “team building” does is display to the employee that they are valued by the employer. And no one will feel valued if their boss makes them pay for their own betterment. 

TL;DR

Too Long; Didn’t Read

To team build on a budget all you need to do is focus on providing your team with a valuable experience. Make them laugh, collaborate, communicate, and have a good time and you will be instilling them with a sense that their team leader, company, boss, or employer values their existence. This is 90% of all teambuilding. Organise your event by the hour, choose a new location or change an existing one, reward participation, and spend your money directly on your employees. 

Remembering to make your team feel special by taking a personal interest in their wellbeing will be the most inexpensive and fruitful action you can take in building a positive, efficient, and motivated team.