A cohesive, efficient, and creative team accomplishes unthinkable success. But, it’s difficult to grow these kinds of teams without consistent recognition, celebration, and comradery. Additionally, studies show that time away from the daily grind of work can create the spark that ignites creativity.
It’s critical to celebrate teams and their accomplishments. Team unity fosters an environment where individuals can thrive and engagement increases. When recognizing teams, your team in reminiscing about what successes they felt were important. This will both reinforce the accomplishments of the last year with them and remind you of accomplishments you may have missed or not known about. Encourage team members to recognize and celebrate each other’s accomplishments through peer recognition. If you don’t have a peer-recognition program already, set one up immediately. If you do, and you want to improve it, check out how you can increase peer recognition and engagement.
In 2020, teams that failed to recognize and celebrate success saw a significant decrease in employee engagement (OC Tanner Research). The upcoming Employee Appreciation Day provides managers with a reminder to stop the busy hustle of projects to celebrate last year’s successes. Let’s talk about 18 ways teams can celebrate success and build greater unity.
Create a Team Documentary
Have your team create a team documentary. Give them time on the clock to document all the inside jokes, behind the scenes, and anything else they want to document. Team Members will learn about each other, disc over talents and interests in themselves and colleagues, and bond over the process.
After your teams have produced their documentaries, you can share them on Announcement and link to the video. Intra-team bonding can occur as employees learn more about each team and the people that make it tick!
Remote teams: Have each team member create a 30-90 second video and send it in. Merge videos together for a longer video that will really help remote teams get to know each other.
Learn a Skill Together
When people learn a new skill or develop a new talent, energy and excitement go up. New friendships are built. Take advantage of the positive and endorphin-producing feelings by having your team learn a new skill. For the best team-building the skill should be stress-free and without work-related pressure.
New skills can include something obsolete such as knitting, sword fighting, or rope tying. You could host a cooking class for an ethnic dish, an art class, computer skills class or anything else your team is interested in learning. Take photos or videos of the class or event, depending on your team’s comfort level at being photographed. Share photos on Thanks feature.
Remote Teams: Virtual learning makes it possible for your whole team to participate in a skills class together. If the class requires equipment or supplies, arrange to have them delivered to your team members before the class starts. You can consider purchasing kits on a one-time or subscription basis and that will be automatically delivered to each person’s home.
Have Team Members Teach And Share About A Unique Skill
Have team members take turns teaching a unique skill they know to the rest of the team. To get an idea of what kinds of things your employees know how to do, ask them about their spare time and hobbies they have. Where do they spend an extra 5 minutes, an extra 30 minutes, and extra half day off? Even colleagues that go hiking can teach a class on the best local trails and show off their photos.
As team members have a chance to share a skill or something they know, the rest of the team learns and gets to know them better and can find common interests and new hobbies.
Remote Teams: This can be done through video conferencing or by allowing team members to pre-record a class (allowing for editing) and then for the whole team to watch the class together during a team meeting or event.
Team Board Game Night
Get your team together for a game night, which can be held during office hours, lunch, or in the last hour of the day. Board and card games are fun because teams can play and talk in a low-stress environment.
There are a wide variety of bigger, group games that can be played, but don’t shy away from games that require 4-8 players, even if you have to split up your teams into multiple groups.
In a casual setting, most people can’t really get to know more than a handful of people at a time and splitting the team into smaller groups allows for a deeper bonding experience. And, don’t be afraid to change the groups in future activities, or with each round, so team members can get to know others on the team.
Games that have quick rounds of about 10 minutes include Exactica, SkyJo, Pandemic, Bohnanza, Skull King and many more. Larger group games include Codenames, Pictonary, most trivia games, Murderer in the Dark, Never have I Ever and more. To find out what games were a hit with your team for future events, use Poll.
Remote Teams: Many of these games can be played virtually, often without additional cost.
Take Your Team To A Sporting Event
Create a little casual fun by taking your team to a sporting event. There are a variety of ways to have fun with this. If you live in an area with a pro sports team, buy tickets to the big event, or take your team to a practice game. Or, buy tickets and go watch a highschool, little league, or club game.
Even, and possibly especially, if the game is played by amateurs and youngsters, your team members can have a lot of fun choosing and cheering for one of the previously unknown teams. Fun rivalries can form, and your team members can have a contest for who is the most loyal and cheers the best for their chosen team.
Sporting events can range from small-ticket casual affairs to big-ticket games with private booths.
Remote Teams: Consider live-streaming a game. If you are choosing a local game, allow your employees to vote on what game or to nominate their own local leagues to watch.
Form Workplace Clubs
Use Thanks Quizzes to find out what kinds of clubs your employees would be interested in creating. Clubs can include common ideas or unique ideas. Popular ideas usually involve athletic and sports-related clubs, cooking clubs, quilting clubs, art, and a variety of other clubs.
But, you may also find unique interests such as interest in gaming clubs, comic-con related clubs, and other interests that reflect the individual interests of your team.
Provide a budget for clubs to use on events, refreshments, or team gear. If needed, encourage clubs to choose a leader and create a schedule of how often they will meet.
Clubs allow members from various teams and departments to get to know each other and build new friendships on shared interests.
Remote Teams: Virtual clubs make it possible for distance teams to develop deeper ties and cohesiveness.
Movie Day At The Office
You could recognize an employee and let them choose the movie or go with the popular vote after sending out a Poll on Thanks.
Remote Teams: Simply stream a movie on one of the many platforms that will allow team watching and comments so your team can chat while watching the movie. Meet afterwards to share laughs and to comment on the movie.
Host After Hours Happy Hour
Encourage team friendships by hosting a happy hour after work, alcohol not required. Create fun juice drinks, bring in a variety of healthy snacks, or hire a company to bring in the food and drinks.
There is something that encourages people to get to know eachother better over shared food and refreshments outside working hours that can really build your teams.
A word of caution, make sure to poll your team and know if there are any religious or health restrictions that could single out employees and make them feel excluded from the team event.
Remote Teams: Arrange to have treats or drinks delivered to your remote employees so they can share in the experience over a virtual meeting.
Team Escape Room Activity
Escape rooms have risen in popularity over the last few years and that’s because they challenge teams to think, work together, and grow. Escape rooms are available in most cities and many towns. Or, you can host your own escape room with a purchased kit.
Escape rooms help to build problem-solving skills while encouraging creativity and team-building.
Remote Teams: Virtual escape rooms create a fun experience for teams located across a wide geographical distance.
Go on An Adventure Together
Few things build team spirit as much as an adventure. An adventure could be hiking a summit, getting mud baths, or a ropes course. It could be acting like a tourist in your city and seeing the things your employees may have never seen, even if they’ve lived there their whole lives. It could be scuba diving, riding in a helicopter, or rafting. You could take your team ziplining, rock climbing or kayaking.
The options are endless and dependant only on your location and the interests of your team.
Remote Teams: Have team members share photos or tell a story from a personal adventure to the entire team.
Spend the Day Volunteering
Increase team bonds and reward them for an accomplishment by taking your team to volunteer in the community. Service has a tendency to bring about positive feelings and colleagues can see each other in different capacities as they work together helping a nonprofit. Let employees have a paid day while serving. It will be a new opportunity for some of your employees.
If a whole day isn’t possible, consider taking the afternoon to serve at a soup kitchen, pick up trash, or assemble care kits. Taking your team out of the office for even a few hours of service can give a sense of reward that non-altruistic celebrations fail to capture.
If you are looking for other altruistic ways to reward your employees, check out the link to the article name.
Remote Teams: Encourage remote employees to leave the office as well and to serve in their area. Poll your team to find out how the activity went. Have each volunteer group take photos and share them in a video conference where team members can recap their experiences.
Have a Nerf Gun War After the Doors Close
Bring your team together for a unique and exciting game of competitive war games. Hand out nerf guns, turn off half the lights, and let employees battle it out after hours. Or, have a marshmallow war or dart war with PVC pipes. Even a game of dodgeball at a local gymnasium will create fun, friendly competition, and team commodore.
These games will allow employees to show their inner stealth as they hide and seek to get out the other team’s members. It’s sure to bring a bit of the kid in everyone and end up in loads of laughter and shared recountings of it in the weeks to come.
Remote Teams: Host a virtual video game night where employees can team up and work together to conquer a goal or overcome a challenge.
Go to a Cultural Event
Take your team to a cultural event and enjoy a different pace and rich entertainment outside the workplace. Buy group tickets for a ballet, guest comedian, or theater production. Think about festivals, art shows, and dance exhibits.
No matter what city or town your company is located in, there are likely many cultural events throughout the year where you can take your team and enjoy a new experience.
Remote Teams: Enjoy a cultural event remotely. With the advent of Covid, many productions have started providing a way for remote watching and, as a result, the opportunities are much more numerous than in years past.
Go On A Field Trip
Take your team on a field trip. Field trips can be for a few hours or an entire day. You can host a field trip after work or let employees off a couple of hours early for a couple games of laser tag, bowling, or hoops. Enjoy karaoke, roller skating, or any other activity your team wants to participate in.
Remote Teams: Go on a virtual field trip together by creating a “trip” that the entire team can go on together. Make sure to enable chat or conversation throughout the event so your team can talk and bond during the event.
Enjoy a Team Walk
Take advantage of great weather by taking your team on a daily walk for a few minutes. A team walk allows staff to have time to relax while getting in some physical activity. It also helps to support a healthy life-style of your employees.
Team walks have lots of benefits including decreased stress when employees return to work. Sunshine provides Vitamin D, and physical exercise sends employees back to work more alert and awake. Plus the endorphins will be flowing as employees return to work. Colleagues can walk and have non-work conversations, allowing a mental break, and form deeper connections with each other. Anothervariation is to take a team hike together.
Remote Teams: You can still encourage individuals to go out on a team-walk together and chat while walking or connect for a few minutes for casual conversation when they get back. Remind remote employees to be aware of their surroundings and safe if they are unable to meet in groups to walk together.
Host a Party
Nothing says “Great Job!” like a party for your team. Turn on the music, bring in food, play games, decorate, and have a good old-fashioned celebration. Parties have endured because they are so classic and everyone loves a party. Have the party during office hours, or invite your team to bring their family and loved ones to celebrate.
Spruce it up with a theme, or just close down the office for an extra hour during the day to celebrate. Give out company SWAG and awards. The options are endless! Chances are, you even have a party planner or socialite on your team that would love to plan the next celebration and will bring amazing experiences to your next party!
Remote Teams: Virtual parties provide a way to reinforce remote recognition. Check out this article on recognizing teams remotely for party ideas.
Team Talent Show
Bond as a team by throwing a team talent show. Let your team showcase their amazing and unusual, or just plain odd, talents for the rest of the crew. You’ll learn a lot about each employee and they will build bonds with each other.
Consider having nominations of the best talent and other awards such as “Best talent for survival on a desert island” or “Best talent to introduce humans to an alien race.” Give out awards for each prize. If your team is small, have enough awards for everyone to win so you don’t end up with one or two people being left out.
Remote Teams: Host a virtual talent show and allow each team to submit videos of themselves showcasing their talents. Put the videos together and watch virtually as a team. Then use Polls to nominate the winners.
Enjoy a Food Tour
For a different type of a celebration, take your team on a food tour. Celebrate the unique flavors of your city while the team builds greater friendships. Food tours can range from cultural experiences, a dessert tour, various tastes of the neighborhood restaurants near your office, or artisan samples.
Food tours often include walking between the various stops and can be a great way to combine a new experience with a team walk.
Remote teams: Consider having members of your team share unique foods, along with the recipes and showcasing them for the rest of the team.
Conclusion
However you celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with your team, don’t forget to stop and recognize wins throughout the year. Celebrate individual and team accomplishments and encourage peer-to-peer recognition so that colleagues can recognize the work eachother accomplish.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.