Now that you’ve recruited some great people for your company, what’s the next step? Turning those individuals into a team. This is easier said than done, especially today when the maxim ”a job for life” is no longer relevant.
Today’s generation of workers, whether they come under the millennial or gen z umbrella, don’t have the same sense of job loyalty as previous generations. Instead they make career choices based on opportunities for growth, work/life balance, positive work culture, etc. It is an individualistic mindset that can feed into their habits and attitudes at work making teamwork problematic. So how do you make a team when you’ve hired lone wolves??
Team building in Dublin (don’t groan!)
Not another corporate event! Team building activities get a bad rap. Why? Often it has very little to do with the activity itself and a lot more to do with them being handled terribly. Team building activities are not about micromanagement. They are not an assessment. They are definitely not about ordering people to have fun (or else!).
Instead, if done right, team building activities are a shared experience that allow for barriers to be broken down and workplace morale to get a healthy boost. When people feel good and are comfortable around their peers they will collaborate more, communicate effectively, be more productive and want to stay with the company. It’s not rocket science.
With that in mind, check out these great team building opportunities that Dublin has to offer.
1) Put them under pressure in an escape room
How do you feel about being locked in a room with your team solving a series of cryptic clues to escape? Basically, just another boardroom meeting, right? Jokes aside, escape rooms really get to the crux of what team work is all about.
The rooms are designed so that everyone is needed to solve the puzzles and, with just one hour on the clock, clear communication is vital under pressure! There are a number of companies in Dublin that host this great team building activity. You’ll find that each one has their own themes for their escape rooms, from mission impossible scenarios to more fantastical setups. If your group is large, most companies will give you the opportunity to be divided up into two escape rooms and after the hour is up the teams can swap rooms and compare scores.
2) Ziplining to get the adrenaline pumping
Every group has a show-off, just like every group has a scaredy-cat. The playing field tends to even out when you’re 20 feet off the ground!
Ziplining is a craze taking over the world. Now you can zipline through downtown Las Vegas, Dubai Marina and, for a record breaking three minutes, you can zipline down the Middle East’s highest mountain peak. Or…you can take a quick drive to County Dublin and navigate the forest there via ziplines, cargo nets, rope bridges and swinging logs!
At Zipit there are five different circuits of varying degrees of difficulty and your team has 4 hours to try them out. With no experience required there really is no excuse not to give it a go.
3) Up for some wakeboarding on your lunchbreak?
The first great thing about WakeDock is that they are located bang in the middle of Dublin city centre at Grand Canal Dock. The second great thing is that if ziplining in a forest sounded a bit too run-of-the-mill for your team (the most innovative, dynamic, trailblazing team in Dublin!) then why not take the zipline to the water?
Wakeboarding, if you didn’t already know, is usually practiced by a person holding onto a cable connected to a speedboat so that they can perform tricks. The clever people at WakeDock have removed the speedboat and instead installed a cable zipline. With four obstacles, a rooftop rail, a small and big kicker and a slider, this Wake Park is perfect for the experienced as well as for beginners.
4) Bear Grylls Survival Academy
Does your team have what it takes to survive in the wilderness? Yes, chances are they will never need to put these skills into practice, but the Bear Grylls Survival Academy is a great way to get your team collaborating and thinking differently. If the office has become a bit stuffy and new ideas are hard to come by, this is the perfect opportunity to shake things up.
Get competitive or get collaborative – the Bear Grylls Academy offers fully customisable packages for corporate events with tailormade itineraries. These survival courses are not just about testing your team’s limits; the goal is to come away feeling empowered. So, will your team answer the call of the wild?
5) If all that sounded a bit crazy…
Go to a gig! According to O2 research into the effects live music has on people’s wellbeing, the results showed that feelings of self-worth went up by 25%, closeness to others went up by 25% and mental stimulation rocketed up by 75%. That sounds like an evening very well spent to us!
Team bonding is not just about having fun, although that is a significant part of it. It is an investment into the lifeblood of your company. By bringing your lone wolves closer together you can boost not only their productivity but also their workplace wellbeing and loyalty. Go team!
