Company Team Building Activities in Three Easy Steps

Finding good people to work for your startup can be difficult.First, like relationships, “the good people” seem to already be taken by big companies with big budgets and big name recognition. Second, it can be challenging finding someone with the drive and ability you need to help build your company. And finally, finding good employees is a bit like a fishing game, in that you can post job applications but that doesn’t guarantee the right person will see it and follow up.Even if you do successfully find great people, hiring and retaining them becomes the next challenge. While big companies such as Google and Facebook are top employers, with perks like unlimited organic salads, sleep pods, and dry cleaning, smaller companies can't offer such amenities. These companies have a near unlimited budget, but more importantly a great reputation that is hard to compete with.However, there is one way to level the playing field that works every time -- investing in team building activities. At Museum Hack, team building has been the #1 investment that helped us reach 40+ employees and $1.2 million in sales in two years. That’s not to brag, but rather to emphasize how important team building is and to demonstrate that the ROI is real.Try out these team building exercises, and you will instantly see improvement in employee morale, loyalty and productivity.In the Beginning...When you first start with team building activities we recommend choosing something low-key and low friction. Integrating these exercises in a way that is sustainable is just like building a muscle or a habit -- you start small and keep up the practice to improve over time.Start with icebreakers.An icebreaker is a softball question at the beginning of a meeting or party that let’s all attendees share a little bit about themselves. We prefer questions that evoke answers that wouldn’t usually come up at work. E.g., “Are you planning anything for 2016 that you’ve never done before?” or “What is the earliest birthday gift you remember?” You’ve probably seen icebreakers in action at places like schools, camps and conferences. Personally I’ve never seen one at a hackathon, and why not? It’s a great way to get to know each other and start a little team bonding -- at zero cost and near zero preparation.Then go 50/50 with trainages.Once you see the benefits of team building with icebreakers, the next step is to dedicate some meaningful time and effort to bonding activities. One option is internal hackathons where your team collaborates on mini-projects with a tight deadline, an activity that promotes thick presence. Another option that we prefer at Museum Hack is company trainages. Once per month we get our NYC team together to have fun and learn a new skill. Trainage sessions are two hours and we hire an outside consultant to teach us something new. Examples from past trainages include improv training to help us think better on our feet, and healthy voice projection to help our guides protect their voices on tours. With the size of our team, the cost of each trainage can be $1000+ when you include wages, the consultant’s fee, snacks, etc., but this is easily one of the best investments we make. We recommend making this paid time for your people to increase attendance, but you could decrease costs by having a team member teach a skill they have to other employees.Finally go all-in with a team building event.Icebreakers are a quick and easy thing to include in meetings, and even trainages have an obvious business benefit besides the team building, i.e., upgrading employee skills and productivity. The next level investment in team building is activities dedicated solely to bonding, improving communication and collaboration. There are dozens of activities available in large cities, including scavenger hunts and cooking classes. Hardcore teams may want to do a themed run together or another high-energy event. At Museum Hack, we offer company team building tours at top museums in NYC, DC and SF.Ready to get started with team building? Start with an icebreaker at your next company meeting and you will instantly see the benefits as your people get to know each other on a more personal level. Team building quickly becomes “friend building” and these relationships help you retain great people longer.Museum Hack does Renegade Museum Tours at the best museums in NYC, DC and SF. Every tour is unique and customized on the fly, including sassy stories, activities in the galleries, fun photos and occasionally wine. We have public tours (fun activity with friends), VIP Night tours (unique date option) and Company Team Building tours that are optimized for building a great company culture.