“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” —Phil Jackson

Microsoft, Apple, Alibaba Co., JPMorgan Chase are companies everyone has famously heard of… They are known worldwide for their excellent services, products and customer satisfaction.

Always receiving awards for one or the other thing, always in the news for breaking top records, always being the new definition of success. It’s incredible how these companies, which once started with basically nothing but a small capital and a few trusted colleagues, are now some of the most successful and well earning businesses today.

Everyone sees it, the profits they make, the recognition they receive, the charts they top but does anyone really know what goes behind the back doors of these eminent firms?

Today, Shamir Kumar Nandy, a professional business Coach from Selangor, Malaysia who helps business firms reach business goals reveals the secret to success achieved by top companies: TEAM BUILDING!

Shamir Kumar Nandy

In this pandemic, not only is it difficult to run businesses but even more difficult to manage employees. Empathy, trust, loyalty and hard work is what a good team is compromised of. Here are a few points to keep in mind as a firm manager or owner.

Corporate Team Building Exercises For Your Dream Team

The Thorn In My Rose

This amazing game stimulates empathy towards your coworkers, something they will definitely need to act upon with, to be a part of a strong team. This activity will not only do so, but also will help you to know a bit about them, their thinking and mindset, likes and dislikes which will form a bond of intimacy and thus bring about a sense of trust and faith towards team members.

  • Time:  About 1 minute per person
  • How–to:
    • Ask everyone to share the thorn in their rose or something they love to do or that relaxes, encourages or satisfies them i.e. the rose, and then list the thorn in it or the thing that holds them back from achieving it. For example…
      • Work Related:
        • Rose:sending reports on time
        • Thorn:being tired
      • Non-Work Related:
        • Rose:spending time with family
        • Thorn:not having enough time

 Open Mic

This activity is a good way to help your employees to come out of their shell and loosen up with their coworkers. They will get to know each other’s way of thinking through the game and also crack a joke or two! Lots of dad jokes coming your way, make sure to have your awkward fake laugh ready, just in case!

  • How–to:

Ask the players or team members to share about themselves, tell a joke, a funny story about how their cat jumped off the roof, why they think the egg came before the chicken, play their flute. Honestly, anything they’d like to share.

‘Oh you think so’

This activity is actually lot more than just an icebreaker. Since your employees will be a team, it will include a lot of sharing views, accepting, exchanging and question opinions. You can test their analysis, communication skills, speech manner and courtesy in just a few minutes.  Basically, it’s like an important meeting or high school debate in a nutshell.

How–to:

Decide upon a topic or a latest bit of news, a controversial topic, a game of ‘situation or what would you do?’ 5 minutes into the virtual meeting, tell your employees the topic you settled or do it how we do, leave it as an open question. Ask them to present their opinions on the same, with facts and logic. Also save the last 10 minutes for open discussion and rebuttal

The physical distance of remote work will rapidly translate into an emotional distance, leading to alienation in turn.

And they would not be happy working with their fellow team mates while the staff feels alienated! This is why building a relaxed team atmosphere can be counted on by virtual employees is critical.  In order to add more human contact to    remote, team bonding projects consist of many strategically developed techniques, games and events. And thus, Mr. Shamir Kumar Nandy, the very man who has brought us these incredible yet fun ideas must be thanked!