Does anyone actually like team building exercises?

It’s been over two years since the UK found out that washing their hands while singing Happy Birthday to you wasn’t going to be enough to protect us from Covid19 and we were all asked to ‘work from home for a few weeks, until this all blows over’.

Almost overnight, offices went remote. Water cooler chats were replaced with Zoom meetings, complete with pet cameos and family members wandering in and out of frame and everyone forgetting to come off mute. Ergonomic desks and spinny chairs became kitchen tables and hastily-constructed flat-pack desks.

People are now - somewhat reluctantly - starting to trickle back into offices after two years of separation and are undergoing the strange task of rebuilding their team camaraderie in the real world.

Could team-building exercises be the answer? Perhaps not, according to a new YouGov study.

Do team building exercises even work?

The results show that participants are divided on whether team-building exercises help teams work together better. Of those who have ever been on a team-building exercise, 44 per cent thought the exercise improved teamwork - but 50 per cent disagreed.

Team building exercises didn’t even prove a change of pace from the office, with 54 per cent saying they preferred their usual working day to team-building.

In fact, most Britons - 60 per cent - who have been subject to a workplace team-building exercise say they found the experience “embarrassing or cringe-worthy”. Women are more likely to say so than men, although majorities of both still feel this way (64 per cent vs 56 per cent).

The prospect of a team-building exercise is most likely to fill Britons with a sense of dread

In fact, before you book that team-building course, it’s worth knowing that they strike fear into the heart of many workers - when asked what emotions they associate with the prospect of going on a team building exercise, the most common answer is “dread”, at 40% of Britons. Women in particular are more likely to dread team building days than men (48% vs 31%).

The second most common reaction is “annoyance” at 28%, followed by “indifference” at 22%, which is a more male response than female (29% vs 17%).

Only – 13% feel a sense of approval, while 12% express excitement.

How about something a little different?

If this article has convinced you that boat-building, blindfolded Conga lines or awkwardly falling backwards into the arms of an awkward colleague are going to irritate your team more than motivating them, perhaps it’s time to think outside the box.

Let’s game

If you’re all in the same area, find your local game cafe and drop in for a boardgame or two. If you’re remote, set up your party, host a LAN event, or use a digital version of a classic board game like Trivial Pursuit, Cards Against Humanity (…maybe…),  Monopoly, or Cluedo.

Read a book

If you’re a team of bookworms, why not get together and hold a weekly or monthly book club? It gives everyone the chance to participate in a regularly held event to chat about books and recommend reads for the group.