The impact of team building events on the workplace. Black Cat rounds up recent research.

The impact of team building events on the workplace. Black Cat rounds up recent research.

Posted on: 16/01/2023

Team building treasure hunts are one of Black Cat Treasure Hunts favourite types of events. Getting people active in teams having some creative fun, whilst exploring and discovering new things about their chosen environment is hard to beat. I recently investigated research on team building and associated statistics, and it turns out that it is way more important than most people might imagine.
Here is a selection of the areas where team building can impact positively on a workplace and underneath how a Black Cat treasure hunt can actively contribute to those:

*Team performance is best among teams that communicate in informal situations.

Team building.com reports that socialising between team members improves communication patterns by more than 50%.
There is no doubt that a Black Cat treasure hunt encourages a relaxed atmosphere in which teams can freely communicate without thinking about any type of hierarchy. The emphasis is on working together to answer questions and complete challenges to achieve your best score. 

*Camaraderie promotes group loyalty and dedication to work.

According to Gallup, engaged teams received a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales. When employees feel their opinion counts there is a benefit in higher retention rates, a lower number of safety incidents and increase in productivity.
The format and style of a Black Cat treasure hunt is such that all members of a team will be able to contribute. Some of the questions sound cryptic, but when you are in the right place are easy to answer (such as the significance of this view in Lewes) and increases the feel-good factor in the team. The challenges and questions can also be personalised to the people taking part and this adds to the sense of engagement.

*Team building creates a culture of psychological safety.

This relates to the bringing out of individual and team strengths and giving employees a chance to interact regularly. There is a recognition of qualities and emotions.
Interpreting questions, looking out for clues, being creative in challenges, keeping a control on timings, discussing tactics, involving the public, reading out questions and directions clearly are all diverse skills within a Black Cat treasure hunt and will give the team re-assurance that they can cope with all sorts of situations and demands.

*Team Morale

55% of leaders feel team culture would improve if their company invested more in team building.

Further statistics showed: 44% of leaders cited retention as a challenge. 31% of teams do not invest in team building activities, 80% of teams do not team build at least once a month.
Higher workplace wellbeing, resulting from team building, rises by up to 80% with a subsequent 20% productivity boost.

Although my own observations are qualitative rather than quantative, I do feel that the best events I have attended with companies are the ones where there has clearly been regular investment in team building activities and attempts to improve day to day working conditions/mental wellbeing. I can always sense when teams are eager for the event to start as opposed to ones where a bit of gentle humour and encouragement will be needed from the outset.

*Most successful workplace teams are between 4 and 9.

I had not really thought about this statistic before (and it relates to teams within a firm not the overall number of employees). It has also been discovered that diverse teams outperform homogenous ones.

These findings are quite important when a treasure hunt day is being put together. The `dream team` number is apparently 4-6 and that is the number I would usually suggest to my liaison at a company. It is up to the company to decide who goes in which team, but maybe splitting up groups to encourage communication is worth thinking about.
Sometimes with a big number of attendees to a treasure hunt, I have needed to suggest teams up to 9 or 10 to fit in with time limitations. This is of course on the outer limits of what is considered the best for a successful workplace team. In these instances, I aim to provide a more flexible treasure hunt where the town/city etc is zoned and teams can choose to go to various places in any order. This places emphasis on more immediate communication within the team as to how they are going to approach the event tactically.

Summary
There is a far greater acceptance of the benefits and worth of team building activities than there used to be. Sensitively handled and with advance preparation, a treasure hunt is the perfect vehicle to encompass the benefits outlined above.

Do you have your own workplace statistics you would like to share about team building? Are you ready to unleash a Black Cat treasure hunt for your next team building event?
Either way, I would love to hear from you. Contact me (Tim) on info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk or call me on (01323) 655346 to start a booking or to discuss your team building requirements.
Black Cat Treasure Hunts specialise in Sussex treasure hunts (particularly Brighton treasure hunts) with a small, but perfectly formed array of London team building treasure hunts too!








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