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Keeping your team close and on friendly terms has some major advantages. For example, if a team member feels valued and has strong relationships with other members of her team, she is less likely to leave for a new position at a competing company.
How would it affect your business if you could lower your turnover, and improve the quality of employees you attract? Both of those are results of building a strong team.
Convinced? Well here are some ideas to get you started.
Cooking party - The team needs to eat anyways so why not make lunch together. It’s fun and there is nothing like eating a delicious healthy meal you helped create.
Have a motivational speaker come in for a quick humorous talk - They say there is no medicine like laughter. Well maybe it has the same effect on team moral. Many large companies have brought in famous comedians for lunch performances. Not ready to drop a million bucks to have an A-List comedian? Check out your local comedy club.
Put posters and supplies at each lunch table to make silly posters as a group - This one sounds silly at first but each table can form its own team and rally around the creation of their team banner. Use themes like Harry Potter or Star Wars to get them in the spirit.
Themed pot luck lunch - People love to eat. Why not use it as a fun way to let each employee show off their favorite dish? To add some more team bonding have everyone bring in the dish that best represents them and explain why.
Yoga/aerobics time - Set aside time for a Yoga session or an aerobics session. Let your team lunch become an opportunity to support healthier living.
Board games at lunch room tables - The fastest way to get your team interacting with each other at the lunch table is to put some old fashioned board games on each table. Let their competitive side come out in a friendly game of Monopoly, or their goofy nature in a silly game of twister. Note we don’t recommend setting twister up on the lunch table. Maybe put that one next to the table.
Lego counter - Who doesn’t love LEGOS. Set up LEGO play stations at each table. Make it a game by having each table compete in building the coolest creation based on a theme. Hint, have each team use the banners they created in a previous lunch activity to increase team spirit.
Make a game to play to decide where to eat lunch together - Do your employees leave the office for lunch? Have you ever been in the “where should we go for lunch?” time trap? Why not create an office game to decide? Not only do you end the age old problem of having to decide where to eat every day, you also get added team spirit.
As you can see there are lots of ways to easily bring your team together around the lunch table. Now you just need to pick one or two of these ideas and give them a try. Remember these are just ideas. Not rules. Be flexible with what works best for your team.