Barter Puzzle
Objective: Practice and improve your teamwork, negotiation and problem-solving skills.
How to Play: Separate people into groups with each group receiving different puzzles with the same level of difficulty. The catch? Puzzle pieces are mixed with other groups’ puzzle. This is where negotiation skills come into play. To get the correct pieces for their puzzle, each group has to think about how to get the pieces back with negotiating, trading, etc. But remember… it’s a group decision.
Blind Drawing
Objective: Encourage communication and active listening.
How to Play: It’s similar to Taboo but with pictures. Two players sit back to back. The describer is given an object or word to describe, while the other player uses a pen and paper to draw the object based on the description and communication. It will be amusing to see the outcome and how effective the communication was.
Culture of Common Book
Objective: Learn about your team.
How to Play: It’s not technically a game, it's more of a bonding experience and can be done year-round. Leave a blank notebook in the common area or break room. On the pages, leave a prompt or ask a question each day. You can also encourage your team to leave notes or recommendations for movies, shows or books.
Flip It Over
Objective: Practice communication and creative problem-solving skills.
How to Play: Think outside the box—or rather, tarp—for this game. Gather six to eight people on a tarp or blanket; leave a quarter of it empty. Challenge the group to flip the blanket/tarp over to the other side without getting off the material or touching the ground outside the sheet. This is where problem-solving skills come into play. It will force the group to think creatively to reach a common goal.
PowerPoint Karaoke
Objective: Improve creative thinking, public speaking and the ability to think quickly on your feet.
How to Play: Presenting can be a nightmare, but you can overcome fear of public speaking with PowerPoint Karaoke. Break into two groups; each group is given a set of slides they haven’t seen before. The kicker? Each group must give a presentation of the slide deck, thinking quickly on their feet with a short amount of time. The number of slides and time limit is determined by the groups.
Winner/Loser
Objective: Taking negative situations and turning them into learning experiences.
How to Play: This game is all about honesty. Team members will get into pairs, ideally someone with which they regularly work. Partner A shares something negative that happened in their professional life with Partner B. Then Partner A shares the same experience again but focusing on the positive. Partner B explores the silver lining of the experience, then they switch roles.
