Large Team Building Activities
Team building with a large group can be difficult because you may not get everyone involved to the same degree. Some people may show interest in the activities and participate; others may use a large-group setting to shy away from being involved. Team building activities must first focus on team members getting acquainted. Their familiarity will facilitate the next step of building relationships, which leads to overall team strengthening as the members begin to understand each other's individual strength and weaknesses, according to the marketing experts at DECA, Inc.
Other People Are Reading
-
Machine Building
-
Teaching a group to work like a team means creating a machine with the team members. The group activity of "Machine Building" requires a sizable group of participants that can be broken into smaller groups. The idea is for the entire team to create one piece of working machinery made of different parts created by the smaller groups. For example, the team may decide to create an automobile as the piece of machinery. Break the team into groups and one group emulates the working of the engine, four smaller groups become the wheels and another group becomes the body of the car. This activity shows people how to work together as a large group to create one working entity. The creativity needed to work as machine parts strengthens the team's brainstorming abilities and helps the team to work more efficiently toward a unified solution.
Words
-
The team building activity known as "Words" works with the same idea as "Machine Building" but in a more straight-forward manner. Write down a series of words on individual pieces of paper and place them in a bucket. Someone chooses a word out of the bucket, and then the group must work together to form the letters and spell the word. You can have the members form the letters lying down or standing up. You must ensure that you have enough members to spell the entire word. It may help to put a time limit on each word to prevent the activity from going on too long.
-
Simon Sez
-
Sometimes a simple child's game can be an effective team building activity. The game of "Simon Sez" is best played with a large group that can be whittled down to a single winner. There is one game caller who gives out commands. Every command that starts with "Simon says" must be followed. The commands that do not start with that phrase cannot be followed. If you follow a command that is not prefaced by "Simon says," then you are out. The caller can be as tricky as he wants to be; it is up to the players to pay attention and follow commands. As a team building exercise, this is a way for the group to learn to listen to instructions and communicate more effectively.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Team work image by huaxiadragon from Fotolia.com
