Booking the perfect team building exercise is never easy. The perfect activity manages to get the team incredibly motivated and helps them learn to work together as a unit, whilst also delivering more fun than they would have on the usual day in the office. Before I became a manager at this company, I was an employee at various other companies where the training days were cringe worthy. As soon as I became a manager here, I wanted to make sure that I never organised a training day like anything I’ve ever had to sit through before.
For my first training day as a new manager, I had arranged for the staff to take part in a paintball day out. Everybody loves paintball; it is fast paced, messy and lots of fun to take part in. Most importantly, it builds team work skills, as well as strategy, leadership and plenty of other important things that are vital for the success of the company. The staff probably wouldn’t realise when they were battling it out, but taking part in a paintball game together would help us grow stronger as a company.
At the end of the corporate meeting before we left to go paintballing, the staff had no idea where we about to go. When I told them we were about to play paintball, they couldn’t believe it- they turned into big kids as soon as they found out! An hour after leaving the office, we were in the trenches ready to take part in a paintball battle of our own. The Splat Paintball team at the site knew we were playing as part of a corporate event and went out of their way to accommodate our needs. They didn’t even need to do anything- the experience was perfect even without their help.
To make sure the team building ran smoothly, the staff were randomly split into two teams, to work with people they don’t normally work with during office hours or socialise with afterwards. This worked like a dream, as before the games began everybody was talking strategy, as well as getting to know each other better and having a great laugh. It didn’t feel like a team building exercise, as it was the most fun we’d had in ages!
Some of the team had been paintballing before and some hadn’t, but by working together, they managed to have a great time on the battlefield. By getting to know each other better we’ve managed to boost team morale; many team members want to get back out on the battlefield as soon as possible, which means this day was a success.
