There are many teams and groups that occasionally, or even regularly, get to dine together, and it is on these occasions that some excellent team building ideas can be used to help your team bond and become a stronger team.
Now, before we go any further we appreciate that not every team leader is in a position where they dine with their team, with the obvious example being a sales manager with a team of salespeople spread out across the nation. Another could be a manager within a business that operates solely online and thus has employees who operate remotely.
What we suggest for these people is to look for virtual team building activities and rest assured there are loads of excellent team building ideas that can take place online via the likes of Zoom and Skype.
Coming back to those team leaders who do have a local team, and specifically those who may not have ever dined with their team, what we would say is, if you arrange an evening where your team dine together and with a view to making that team stronger, then they should all be looking forward to it positively.
First, they are getting a free meal (we all love that), secondly, most people love feeling that they are part of a team, and finally, the activity will be happening away from their normal surroundings so there should really be too much resistance from those that you ask to attend.
For those who are lucky to dine with their team on regular basis, arranging this should be even easier as all you need to tell them is that the meal is going to be a little bit different from the norm. As for specific team building ideas for when you are dining with your team, here are some to get you started.
A Music Themed Meal:
The idea here is that either between courses or once dessert is over, the group split into pairs or smaller teams and have the task of writing either new lyrics to one of their favourite songs, or a song which best represents the company, team, or organisation they belong to. Better still is if you can arrange for someone who can play the piano or guitar to accompany them when teams perform their songs.
Highs And Lows
Over dinner, each member of the group has the chance to talk about their best moment of the month, and their worst moment. The group can then chip in with ideas, suggestions, and of course, jokes, given that this is meant to be a light-hearted exercise.
Story Tellers
You give each member of the group a subject or theme and then they have to tell a story about that subject which can either be true or one they have made up. The rest of the group can ask questions and ultimately have to agree whether the story they have just heard is the truth or a lie.
Come Dine With Me
If you have a really close group that you can trust, why not invite them to your home and split them into teams who each have to create and cook the starter, the main course, and the dessert, respectively. It is a fun way to build teamwork and also a chance for everyone to get to know each other better.