Team-Building Activities to Raise Morale

Build cohesive teams to raise morale.

Team morale can lag during economic turmoil or industry downturn. When this happens, productivity dips as well. So follows profitability. Conversely, if team morale is high, then the team is productive. Its members work well together, find creative approaches to problem solving, continually self-renew and make significant contributions to the organization's bottom line. How do you rally troop morale with your team-building activities?

Traveling Blue Angel Award

There is no reward like a heartfelt thank you. Perhaps you regularly thank the members of your own team. But, how often do your team members take time to show appreciation and thank members of other teams? Team collaboration is important in nearly every organization. When teams collaborate effectively, they build morale and work life becomes easier for all. It is easy to demonstrate appreciation. Purchase a large, glass figurine. It can be anything, for example, a blue angel. Make it silly, tacky and fun. Each month, have your group nominate members of other teams to receive the Blue Angel Award, casting their votes for the final recipient. Make a ceremony of it. Chant "blue angel, blue angel!" or make up a song to sing as the team makes its way to the desk of the recipient carrying the blue angel high in the air. The recipient keeps the blue angel until the next month when the activity is repeated.

Sounding-Board Sessions

A 2008 study by the national staffing firm Accountemps reveals that lack of honest communication is the number one reason for low morale. When communications are poor or non-existent, the imagination takes over and employees experience a lack of control. Members need to hear and be heard in order to build cohesive teams. Sounding-board sessions provide an opportunity to express issues and concerns as well as quell the rumor mill. You can increase the effectiveness of your session by using a professional facilitator. Establish ground rules to set the appropriate tone, for example, suspend judgment, respect the speaker, limit your time and seek to understand rather than to persuade. The number one rule, however, is that all problems must be paired with potential solutions.

Team Date

When the going gets tough and morale is sagging, there may be nothing to do but laugh. Teams can get so caught up in day-to-day survival that they forget to have fun. Even teams that work in close proximity may share humor only through the occasional email smiley face. Laughter connects people. If you can create an environment for laughter, you will raise team morale. Gather the troops for a fun team-building activity. It could be a funny movie, a bowling outing or a silly scavenger hunt. Allow the team to take some time after the activity to relive the fun and cement the good feelings.

Team Give Back

Spend some hours volunteering. It can be at a shelter or a food bank or a holiday clothing drive. Select an activity that allows your team to work with the beneficiaries of their efforts. Hard-working teams may have few opportunities to get to know one another on a personal level. Volunteer team-building activities can help put petty grievances into proper perspective. Further, the ability to solve problems for others may raise team morale by empowering members to tackle their own issues with greater empathy and compassion.

References

• Career Mag: Maintaining Team Morale and Enthusiasm in a Recession
• "Highlands Today"; Lack of Honest Communication Impacts Employee Morale the Most; Bill Rogers; December 2008
• CNN: The Benefits of Laughter