The most successful companies have several things in common, top among them being the ability to retain a sufficiently motivated workforce. These companies know that a happy employee almost always translates to a happy client, and in the end, improved organization performance. Keeping an employee delighted goes beyond a big pay slip. While a salary commensurate with the responsibilities each employee is assigned is imperative, numerous other things contribute to the level of motivation the labor force enjoys at any given time. Take team building for instance; companies have been using this tool to raise the morale of their workers.

Types of team building activities
There is a broad array of activities that employees can be made to engage in during team building . The good news is that they keep evolving, a growth that has been made possible by technological advancements. Let us evaluate some of the most recent activities.

1. Personality-Based Team Building The most common type of personality-based team building is the use of personality questionnaire that reveals the personality of an individual, and that of the other team members.

2. Problem-solving -based team building
It mostly takes place in outdoor settings, although it can also happen indoors. The participants receive several problems whose solutions they must find. Such activities demand that they work together excellently, to solve these problems. A perfect example of an indoor problem solving-based team building activity is the Houdini's Room Escape . The team members are expected to communicate, solve problems and cooperate fully to find a way out of the building within 60 minutes.

3. Activity-Based Team Building Team members are instructed to fulfill a wide array of challenging tasks. It is mostly done outdoors, and such activities include trekking, mountain climbing and so on. All the team members must participate to facilitate timely completion of the tasks. The employees then bring the lessons picked to the organization which further enhances the performance of the organization.

4. Skills-Based Team Building
The team members attend a workshop where they develop crucial skills such as how to respond positively to criticism, conflict management , and effective team meetings.

Effective team building promotes better communication between and among members of the organization, fosters trust, and also encourages team works which most of the time, promotes faster and better accomplishment of goals. It helps the workers to value the beauty that comes with working collaboratively towards a common goal. The company budget must come into play when choosing the different types of team building activities. A productive team building entails a combination of the above four types to develop an all-rounded employee. Nothing is capable of making an employee experience a sense of belonging than a well-organized team building retreat.

Author's Bio: 

Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. She went to college at The Ohio State University where she studied communications. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and long walks in the park with her 3-year-old husky Snowball.