When almost a third of employees hate office team building games, it’s time to find a new paradigm.

Not to worry: here’s what you can do.

Good thing there are lots of better choices out there when it comes to building team skills.  Rather than approach team building as a game, try this on for size: combine skills development, group bonding, and charity work into one event that everyone can get behind.

What’s the problem with the old familiar office team building games?

When you hear groans or see eyes rolling in response to a team building activity, you know something’s up.  But that’s just what happens in office all over the country when managers announce the next team building workshop.
Subjected to embarrassing silly games or useless activities that have no connection to the real world, employees have come to really dislike office team building games.
A 2012 survey conducted by Wakefield Research and commissioned by Citrix revealed this sad state of affairs in numbers: 31% of employees secretly disliked “team-building” activities.  While it’s generally agreed that workplace bonding is a good thing, the way some offices go about it is just all wrong.

Having fun together isn’t enough to build a real team.

You’ve heard of trust falls and human pyramids- or how about TMI games that put colleagues in the uncomfortable position of revealing too much personal information for no good reason?  Too much sharing, not enough team building is what all these eye-rollers have in common.
Plus, while some office workers relish in these types of team builders, others cringe through them all.  And you may not even know about it, since many of them are cringing on the inside, secretly hating every minute!
The key to success in team building is to keep your goals in mind.  If an activity is fun but has no real practical application or underlying message then what’s the point?

Charity team building: the done-for-you solution.

When you take the focus off individual team players and redirect it towards a charitable mission, you’ve instantaneously solved the “alienation” problem so common in traditional team building games.
Data tells us that company employees like it when they feel they’re contributing to something positive in the community.  When you put your team together in a room and their goal is to assemble bicycles for local kids who need them, there’s a sense of purpose for everyone (and of course everyone can get behind the mission!).
Then add to that some teamwork challenges involving important skills like communication and big picture thinking, you’ve got all the element for office team building game that truly get the job done.