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Team building activities are instrumental in enhancing teamwork and cohesion among employees from different departments. They create a conducive work environment for individuals to thrive, build relationships, and have fun. An office scavenger hunt is a perfect activity to encourage productive work environments through fun. The activity is easy to plan and set up and allows you to use simple materials creatively.
8 Tips on What to Know When Creating an Office Scavenger Hunt
1. Use Locations Away from the Workplace
When organizing a scavenger hunt, choosing a locale away from the office is a good idea. Changing environments allows the teams to interact with each other and strangers away from the typical work atmosphere. The new location increases the challenge of solving puzzles while encouraging teamwork.
2. Aim at Obtaining an Optimal Number of Challenges
When creating the scavenger hunt, have between 21-40 items on your list of challenges. These items make sure the participants are engaged and do not get overwhelmed or idle. Since the challenges may not be the same regarding the difficulty levels, make sure to mix them up. Based on the time needed to carry out each activity, have specific levels ranging from easy to medium to difficult.
It is advisable to schedule the overall time duration for the entire challenge. A time period of between 2- 4 hours should be enough for team members to go through the activities. This will help prevent time for participants to get bored or look for other things to do.
3. Design the Clues to Allow Personal Interactions
The main motivation behind team-building activities is to increase employee interactions and relationships. Including activities that allow teams to break the ice and learn the personal traits of their counterparts is key. Create activities that allow the employee teams to try new skills and overcome challenges. Every clue provided should aim at increasing proper communication and collaboration between the teams.
4. Showcase Each Employee’s Unique Talents
Planning for the scavenger hunt should include activities, allowing separate teams to showcase their unique abilities and talents. Most employees tend to thrive in situations where their natural talents can be utilized. You can build a strong workforce that pushes the organization to succeed by allowing employees to be true to themselves.
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5. Create Mission Submissions with Incentives
Incentives encourage and motivate members to work harder at resolving challenges and overcoming obstacles for their teams. The strategy will encourage the teams to make mission submissions that exceed expectations. Creating missions that offer creative opportunities will help your teammates feel more comfortable. It’s a good idea to record the different stages of the activities to make sure you capture praiseworthy submissions.
6. Rules Are Beneficial
Rules help define the scope of the scavenger hunt and make sure the teams play by a specific code. Clarify the game rules before the activities begin and before setting out to retrieve hidden items. Clear guidelines help eliminate conflict over decisions that one may deem unfair and help complete the challenges as per schedule.
Note that rules may vary based on the scavenger hunt activity the team is participating in. Aspects like the event’s location and the number of participants can influence the rules you choose. Include rules that define the time limits, boundaries, clear definition of the end goal, and order of completing the requirements.
7. Use a Scavenger Hunt App
It may be difficult to plan a scavenger hunt manually. Using an app to deploy and plan this process can provide an efficient way to create the office scavenger hunt. The app allows you to keep records, conduct distribution processes and allow technological integrations into the planning. Any employee with a smartphone can access the data needed to participate. This can help you save costs on materials.
8. Engaging Team Building Experts Enhances Effectiveness
While a scavenger hunt may be simple to plan, its effectiveness is the key aspect of its creation. The activity should be able to tackle issues such as the promotion of tolerance and leadership among the teams. It should encourage the employees to bond and work together as a team.
The organizers should make sure they engage team-building experts with experience in conducting activities. Make sure you engage those experts who have products exclusively designed for corporate clients. Their involvement enables the integration of tasks to help achieve the goal.
Final Word
An office scavenger hunt is effective in helping employees boost interpersonal relationships, exercise their creative skills, relax and have fun. Creating an office scavenger hunt is instrumental in building employees’ problem-solving skills. It helps them get out of their comfort zones, gain leadership skills, think outside the box, and bond effectively. Remember to plan effectively when creating an office scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunt apps can help you plan everything to get the smoothest experience for your team.