What Activities are Good for Team Building?
Working together to solve intricate problems allows us to communicate - and ultimately operate - more effectively and efficiently as an organization. Activities centered around team building give us the space to work cohesively to make decisions or create something as a unit, which often can be the guiding force to strengthen skills and build relationships. Cultivating intimate settings to help bond employees – such as team building cooking classes – can break down barriers and eliminate walls between hierarchies in the workplace. It can serve as a form of evolution that turns strangers into teammates and lifelong friends.
But why should this matter to businesses? For one, developing camaraderie–one of many byproducts of team bonding experiences–can affect employee commitment to their organization. When you build trust within your workplace, employees feel more at liberty to speak up and more inclined to be themselves. Building a relationship as friends and family–not solely as business cordial–creates a safer, more comfortable workplace for all–especially those who might feel disconnected from their work peers or are too introverted to interact daily.
Feeling supported in the workplace is crucial for employees to feel confident enough to try and fail or try at all. Having assurance that colleagues can open up to their peers about internal issues or suggestions is a powerful way for teams to enhance workflows, streamline internal communication, and review progress. This sense of support will also release tension and alleviate the stress that can come with perfectionism or the need to impress. Shared experiences like our corporate team building cooking courses can flip a corporation right side up, especially when things begin to feel stagnant or outdated.
Whether you are searching Google for "Team building activities Boston" or "Team building activities New York," we've got you covered. We have two locations with commercial kitchens where we host cooking team building experiences. If you feel your corporate outings need a little flare, let our group cooking classes serve as the social glue to let your employees' freak flags fly. They’ll come back to the office feeling recharged and ready to take on any task.
Fun Group Activity Ideas
So what activities are suitable for team building? While we are biased toward group cooking classes, other ways to inject playfulness into the mundane at your next corporate gathering could be participating in an escape room or a murder mystery party. Other ideas include game night, trivia, or relay races. All of these share a common value: bringing people together to problem-solve and using brain power to find a solution. Team building activities should encourage growth and experimentation, and exploration, and can ignite the desire for both the individual and the team to actively seek out improvements in the day-to-day.
Not only is the act of cooking and problem-solving an opportunity to bond and collaborate, but after your creations are finished, you can share the meal as one big happy family–an intimate act in and of itself. Mealtimes are an excellent chance to build your personal network, relationships and create lasting memories. According to Forbes, a research study at Cornell demonstrated that “employees that eat meals together have significantly better performance at work than their peers who preferred to eat alone.” Cooking and sharing the meal together? Game-changer!
Team Building Cooking Classes
Hoping to encourage more participation among your employees? Among the fun activities for teams, you must try culinary team building. Pizza making team building cooking classes are just one of our many offerings here at Selfup. The hands-on nature of our cooking courses helps teammates engage, enabling them to practice communicating in new ways. Through this exercise, you might be able to identify natural-born leaders within your organization, as well as help employees discover their strengths and weaknesses. Shaping pasta together or prepping a homemade sauce can help team members work cross-functionally to balance out their strong suits. Whether your employees are a loud bunch or tend to be more introverted, team building cooking courses offer a more personable way to help your employees gain more confidence in themselves, their team, your company values and mission, and their overarching goals.
Another rewarding aspect of team building cooking courses is that they serve as their own reward. Not only are you rewarding your employees for their hard work and effort, but you are gifting them a rewarding experience where they can relish their personal achievements and teamwork over an intimate shared meal. This recognition subtly encourages employees to become more open in the workplace–ultimately enabling them to share their burdens, struggles, and strife and ask for help when needed–instead of closing off when they are having a hard time.
If you're ready to take ordinary challenges and turn them into something delicious, we've got the low down for the best cooking team building classes. Pizza making classes are great for team building as it requires many different layers, just as an organization does. Our Mexican fiesta cooking course, our Italian cooking course, and our French Bistro course are also fabulous choices where you’ll learn multiple courses with a dessert finale. If you really want to put your employees to the test and help them practice patience, our Japanese sushi making is another phenomenal option.
As you can see, team-building activities are a great way to foster new or deeper connections within your place of work, or in any relationship, really. Give your employees the gift of absorbing, observing, and developing useful skills required to collaborate, work cross-functionally, and take challenges head-on as a team. When you involve everyone in the process of creating a successful foundation–whether it be food or a business–new ideas can flourish and something magical can form.
If you have any other ideas for fun group activities or suggestions on what group cooking classes you'd like to see in the future at Selfup, please let us know, we love to hear your feedback!
Ready to kick things up a notch in the workplace?
Send us an inquiry and find out our upcoming team building cooking activities in Boston or New York.