Games to Play at Staff Retreats
It's staff retreat time again, and you have been assigned the task of planning all the staff retreat games. This may seem like a juvenile and pointless way to spend time with your coworkers, but games can help create camaraderie and a sense of togetherness, help strengthen teamwork and leadership skills, and increase trust among coworkers. These are all important steps to building a cohesive team, and it can be surprising how close coworkers can become through team building exercises.
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Rock, Paper, Scissors
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This icebreaker helps coworkers learn names and build team spirit while allowing everyone to become more comfortable with one another. The rules are simple. Everyone selects someone to challenge. Challengers introduce themselves to one another and then engage in a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors." The loser then becomes a cheerleader for the winner, and chants the winner's name as he moves on to challenge another winner who is also being followed by cheerleaders. The game continues until everyone in the room is chanting for one of two finalists. There should be a reward for the winner.
The Knot
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This game builds teamwork and communication skills. Break the group up into sets of five and have each group stand in a circle. Have each person hold his arms out in front of him and cross them right over left. Each person should then take the hand of one coworker with their right hand, and the hand of a different coworker with their left hand, so that in the end everyone is touching two different people and their arms are all crisscrossed in a tangled knot formation. Now have them try to "untie the knot" and return to a circle formation without unlocking arms. Any team that unlocks arms is disqualified. Some people may wind up with their backs to the inside of the circle depending on how they locked arms, but this is acceptable. Award the winning team a prize.
Falling
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This game may sound dated, but it builds trust among coworkers. Have everyone in the group pick a partner of equal size, as they will be supporting one another's weight. Each team picks who will be Person A and who will be Person B. For round one, Person A stands just six inches in front of Person B. On the count of three, Person A closes her eyes, leans back and person B catches her by her upper arms. Repeat these steps three or four times, each time increasing the distance between the participants. Afterward, Person A and Person B switch places and the game continues. This game can be repeated each day of the retreat with new partners to increase trust among all members of the group.
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