How to make team bonding fun from the comfort of your office!
Team building and bonding between staff is one of the most important investments you can make for your company. It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration.
Historically, ‘team bonding’ labelled activities tend to cause more embarrassment than enthusiasm, with a reluctance from team members to actually participate. Typically, team bonding takes the form of an annual away day to some team bonding focussed activity centre, the annual Christmas party and potentially a few other scheduled events in between. As a result of one-off or infrequent activities, the bonding momentum created from these events does not translate back to the working environment and can quickly be forgotten. As a result, it is reported 34% of employees feel that they don’t have enough interaction with their colleagues.
So, why not try re-define team bonding within your team, and tailor activities to your team that they will actually enjoy and willingly participate. In addition, the key to successful team bonding is to carry out frequent events, large or small, for a longer-term benefit. All of which, go hand in hand with the current trendy topic of boosting ‘Staff Wellbeing’.
This approach has been adapted at SHB Real Estate. We are a collaborative and growing team, and as a result, we spend a lot of time together!! Whether that time is spent in our Soho office, out and about around London meeting clients and viewing properties, constantly WhatsApping and on the phone to one another, or enjoying a well-deserved drink in the pub on a Friday night — a strong team is imperative to our success and a forefront priority of our growth. Without sounding too cheesy, we love to build strong relationships with our clients, and the success of this fundamentally comes from the strong and trusting relationships we build with each other as a team.
We love a party and a big celebration as it is equally important to us to have ongoing, low-key fun and organic team bonding treats throughout each month. We understand this to be a similar ethos and objective for the majority of our clients, whether they have a headcount of 5 or 500. For us, we make sure to celebrate and welcome new starters from Day 1, reward team successes and spend quality time together with no computers or phones. This is clearly stated in the A snapshot of what SHB got up to in 2019…
Below are a few team bonding activities that go a long way. These are simple yet effective, require minimal planning, appeal to all team members, can be done from the comfort of your office and don’t require hours away from your desk. We like to practice what we preach, so some of the suggestions have been tried and tested by SHB Real Estate ourselves so we can personally recommend (…..or this is a massive hint that we would love to try them!!!);
Paws in Work
Possibly the cutest initiative ever taking the London corporate world by storm!
Just like magic, a litter of puppies will be delivered to your office for endless cuddles and affection. Some of Paws in Work satisfied clients include Google, Coco-Cola, eBay, Pret a Manger, Tik Tok, MTV and many more.
Paws in Work offers a specialist puppy therapy service for companies looking to improve their staff well-being, combat stress and encourage team bonding. This bespoke service is guaranteed to leave staff feeling refreshed, re-focused and re-energised, ready to return and execute their best work.
Bookings can be made through this website.
Dr Judith Mohring
Judith carried out an 8 week wellbeing programme tailored to the SHB Real Estate team at the end of last year. We enjoyed monthly sessions over an hour-long breakfast covering the power of exercise, sleep, nutrition, stress, alcohol, mindfulness, and methods to disconnect.
Each session was so engaging and extremely informative, with every member of the team taking something away from it. Judith sets an environment that stimulates open conversation amongst the team. We couldn’t recommend Judith enough, and we look forward to welcoming her back later this year for a second programme.
Deliveroo Lunch
Studies have proven that taking a lunch break allows your mind to rest, recharge and refocus, which can directly improve your productivity for the rest of the day. The reality is lunchtime is often a rushed sandwich or bowl of soup at your desk while working at the same time.
By ordering food to the office for the team, it encourages staff to take the time to step away from their computers, eat away from their desk, chat with their colleagues and take this vital break. Deliveroo offers a range of deals, or group sharing platters for large orders. An easy solution delivered to your door with minimal clear up. We are regular at this at SHB — with Pizza Pilgrims being the all-round favourite choice!
Work Out at Work
From lunch deliveries to working it off…..(good to keep it balanced!)
Depending on your team and their athletic talents, there is a range of personal trainers and group exercise classes you can welcome into your office to provide Yoga, Pilates or HIIT classes as an example.
At SHB, we have our very own Mr. Motivator in the name of COACH HASSAN who is currently planning a gruelling training programme to prepare the team for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. This 5km run is no joke to Hassan, so watch out for us running laps of Hyde Park from now till July!
Alternatively, why not combine work out with a new skill that may appeal to both males and females with ‘Knock Out’ performance — self-defence work out.
Rav Gill offers a high energy mix of rounds on the bags, pads, mixed with body conditioning and ab work to improve stamina, speed endurance, and power while sculpting and toning the entire body. There will also be an emphasis on technique, ensuring your footwork is correct to ensure optimum power and balance when throwing a punch. Sessions will also include work on defence, how to evade and block a punch and how to counter a punch.
The Bigger Bash
However, if you are looking for a phenomenal, extra special summer team day out — please do join us for our annual cricket event, The Bigger Bash 27th August 2020 in the aid of charity. Check out last year's Bigger Bash highlights below or follow us on Instagram to receive the updates for this year's event.
For further information on the event, please email Holly! hsherwood@shbre.co.uk
