HR MANAGEMENT - Team Building Exercises for a New Human Services Team

Team Building Exercises for a New Human Services Team

by Miki Markovich, Demand Media

A key to team building is to have members interact with each other.

Team building is essential for new human services teams to work together to achieve their important mission. When introducing a group of new team members, strive to evoke laughter to facilitate bonding. However, ensure this is group laughter, not jokes at the expense of an individual that would cause unnecessary isolation. Avoid teambuilding exercises that might make staff uncomfortable, such as activities requiring an inordinate amount of touching.

Lunch

Plan lunch. Encourage staff members to bond and visit over a satisfying meal. Also consider inviting key members of the organization so that new team members can begin to recognize upper management other departmental employees they may need to contact. To make it memorable, consider hosting lunch at an exotic locale. Counterintuity, a marketing and design firm, once hosted team activities at an upscale bowling alley, where team members mingled with local celebrities.

Hands On

Build strong teams while allowing human services workers a glimpse of their community impact. Create a team atmosphere by engaging in an activity that provides immediate, concrete results. Ensure your activity relates to your organization's mission. This may mean collecting donations for the homeless or assembling toys for children. Not only will this provide a shared bonding experience, it may also provide inspiration to get new employees through long stretches of deskwork or other tasks not directly conducted on the front lines. This may result in positive publicity as well, increasing awareness of your organization.

Two Truths, One Lie

A fun and informative icebreaker is “Two Truths, One Lie.” Begin by distributing paper and writing utensils. Provide team members with time to write down two true statements and a one false statement about themselves. Allow each group member to present these “facts” and have others figure out what is true and what is false. Another variation of this icebreaker is to have a facilitator take team members’ truths, written on individual strips of paper, and place them in a bag or hat. He then pulls the strips from the hat one at a time and reads them to the team members. The team then must figure out which fact belongs to which person.

I'm Who?

In the icebreaker “I'm Who?” the facilitator tapes the name of a celebrity or historical figure on the back of each team member. Strive to utilize people who complement your organization. For instance, those organizations focused on helping people overseas might choose Angelina Jolie as a celebrity name. Each team member’s goal is to ask “yes” or “no” questions until she correctly guesses the identity of the mystery person marked on her back. When she receives a “no” answer, she must then move on to another team member. This allows new staff to mingle in a lighthearted atmosphere. Once a team member has correctly guessed who she is, she should remove the label from her back, write her name on it and wear it on the front of her shirt. She is then free to assist others in their “self discovery.”