You've probably heard the term “team building” and rolled your eyes at the thought of doing another “ice breaker” game. Believe it or not, there are so many fun team-building activities! Team-building activities promote an open, collaborative, and comfortable work environment.

Participating and being attentive during team-building exercises is essential to gain personal and work bonds between you and your coworkers. If you're struggling with thinking of ideas for you and your coworkers, you're in luck! We've put together a list of four of the best team-building activities for small groups. Keep reading to discover different ideas to build work bonds. 

Host Brainstorming Sessions

Brainstorming sessions are the perfect way to team build. These sessions can be fun and exciting, but make sure every participant speaks up and stays on task. The key to brainstorming sessions is to make these sessions about the end goal.

Focus less on the regular day-to-day plans and encourage your group to think about long-term goals. By doing brainstorming sessions, you're inviting everyone to respectfully share their goals for the work environment and allow you to see what could use improvement in your workplace!

Create a Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts can be an enjoyable activity for your small group! By hosting a scavenger hunt, you're allowing new employees to learn about the work environment and their team members. When creating the scavenger hunt, require the players to find specific things around the office and have your experienced employee prompt questions to your new hires. Require that all participants wear adhesive name tags so that everyone can learn each other's names! 

Try a Compliment Circle

Compliment circles are self-explanatory and promote a positive environment. To create a compliment circle, you start by sitting everyone in a circle for about five minutes and have each person compliment another.

You can start the process off by complimenting the person next to you and saying, “Hey, shout-out to Chris for buying the office pizza on Wednesday,” or “Big ups to Lisa for meeting the deadline for our big client!” The compliment circle will help people feel appreciated for the hard work they do or the positive atmosphere they create around the office. 

Play Picture Pieces Game

Playing problem-solving games is an excellent way to team build. You and your team must arrange a pile of “puzzle pieces” to make the original big picture. To play picture pieces, the leader will choose a well-known picture filled with detail. Then, the leader will cut the image into as many pieces as there are participants.

This activity will teach the participants how to work together and help them understand that contributing your part will contribute to the entire group's result. All in all, your contribution never goes unnoticed and unappreciated because your work contributes to the big picture. 

Team building helps employees learn about each other's strengths and weaknesses and how they can help each other achieve their goals. Teams are more efficient and collaborative when they get to know each other. By following these team-building activities for small groups, you and your team will be prepared for great success.