How many of you have had real luck with team-building activities? What about them had an impact? Trying to work something out for my team but can't seem to figure out what the most effective way to do it would be.

What are your goals with team building? How old is your team? Remote vs in person?

We’ve run team building which everyone generally thinks is dorky but it gets people talking and they ask for it again and again in the post-training surveys. We’ve had luck with external companies and our own team planning it (less physical activity like an obstacle course, more doing a project together, scavenger hunt, building something, painting something, etc.). We intentionally put people in groups across offices / levels / tenures to try to get people talking to people they don’t know well. Big learnings - senior team has to be involved and setting example, people get competitive and love a fun prize, consider setting / attire / what you’re “keeping” them from (eg drinks / free time)

I ask Chat GPT for ideas and they are usually good. But, the activity depends on the group function and composition, and the outcome you’re looking for.

I think they do work. I worked for a company many years and at least once a year we would have fun team building activities that consisted of a few days at a “resort” of sorts. Then several times a year we would have them built around other local (in person) meetings. We did everything from Myers Briggs to building boats to cross a small body of water, to building towers with spaghetti, to scavenger hunts, to decoding a mystery at the art museum. Most were run by outside consultants, some by internal by HR folks, and a few by managers. I think the company pulled them off fairly well and it was endorsed as a whole by the company (most teams did some sort of team building on a regular basis).
I do think it’s important to take the group into consideration, if they are difficult folks or a new team, and decide before your goal.

Keep it simple, and have the output be something useful. Like an understanding of how each person works and likes to engage.

Some of the things SM2 said are great like building things, simple projects, and scavenger hunt.

Humans tend to bond though spending a decent amount of time together overcoming challenges and experiencing things together, both of which create shared memories.

For instance I went on a group tour for 6 weeks between jobs, and had to travel long distances on buses, explore cities, and navigate airports and boarder controls with a group of like minded strangers. We shared rooms and the guide swapped room companions at each new hotel.
I am still friends with some of them 8 years on and have gone traveling again with them since.

Doing some sort of non work related activity has always worked best in my experience. Sometimes charity work, one manager brought everyone together one day a year to bake cookies together around the holiday… that was the best!

Most team building exercises are not natural and force an already disgruntled teams hand. Try starting with real dialog about proactive changes that can help them or small actions you can all participate in to bring force change.

I hate forced team building; however, I have found nothing builds relationships like traveling together, especially internationally. You really get to know people when you're in that environment. I have been fortunate to do this with many colleagues over the years (several of whom have become clients).