“How long is this going to take?” Unless you have something really fun ($$$) planned, some employees inevitably feel like team-building cuts into time they need for other tasks. This hurts participation and engagement as much as it does strong team development.
Then leadership and HR have to deal with their own constraints. Team-building needs to be consistent, but we only have so much time and budget to dedicate.
If you’re truly passionate about seeing team-building results, none of this should be an issue. Effective team-building takes mere minutes and costs next to nothing. Today, HeyTaco is sharing 5-minute team-building activities for the workplace, indoors, and never cutting into anyone’s coffee break.
When to add 5-minute team-building activities
Do you just pull these out at random? It’ll seem like it. In reality, you’ll work them regularly and intentionally into a few of these brief time slots.
As part of your regular meetings
Open and/or close weekly meetings with some ideas we’re sharing today. Opening with a fun activity loosens everyone up, while closing with thoughtful questions or special recognition caps things off positively.
When there’s a new team member
Introducing someone new is one of the best times to break out fun get-to-know-you questions and activities that reflect your company culture. It helps new talent settle in faster and makes it clear from the jump that recognition and team participation are part of the environment.
Before or after lunch
Transition from one phase of the day to another with quick team-building checkups. Pre-lunch communication activities can help employees maintain camaraderie and rapport throughout lunch.
A quick brain teaser afterward can put everyone back into work mode.
As a break from the grind
It’s going to be a long afternoon. Use team-building activities to help everyone get through it together by breaking up arduous tasks and grueling sessions. Just five minutes can help reignite creativity and motivation.
To start retreats and workshops
Kick off company retreats, workshops, conventions, and other off-site engagements with a quick team-building exercise. It gets everyone in the team spirit, helping them represent the organization in the best light.
When things slow down
Many of the 5-minute team-building activities we’re sharing today can reset things when productivity slows or the mood drops. They’re also a useful way to fill any gaps in the workday.
Waiting for the go-ahead to move to the next step? Do some team-building. Did a big task take way less time than anticipated? Team-building time.
Before sharing something important
If you have big news, not-so-great news, or a complex concept to break down, preface it with a short team-building exercise. Taking a beat for something lighthearted or to reinforce everyone’s sense of community makes everything easier to get through.
13 easy, effective 5-minute team-building activities
Some of these may require prep or supply gathering beforehand. That includes employees being familiar with how to carry out the activity. But if everyone’s on the same page, employee engagement and workplace happiness can rise in just a few minutes.
1. In so many words
If everyone’s inboxes are stuffed with meandering explanations or the point keeps getting lost, try an exercise that fosters clear, concise communication.
“In so many words” asks the team to spend a few minutes writing instructions for something, such as making a taco dinner. Then have them edit it to be half as short, highlighting the importance of brevity. Ask what is truly missing without the extra words.
2. Human bingo
Acknowledge team members or get to know them better with a game of human bingo. A human bingo card will have a series of team members’ attributes. Players mark off the relevant boxes as you call out each person’s name. The first one to get bingo wins.
3. Would you rather?
A work-related “would you rather” session can highlight individual preferences and reveal shared struggles or opinions. “Would you rather use Slack or Microsoft for the team chat?” “Would you rather work four 10-hour workdays or five eight-hour days?”
4. Icebreakers
Sharing strengthens teams. What better way to get someone to open up than an interesting question?
For team-building, questions such as “If you had to make one coworker CEO, who would it be?” can spark an interesting convo. If you don’t like that one, we have 40 more icebreaker questions for you.
5. Spot the difference
A desk askew, a picture moved to another wall. A new rug, or a potted plant moved to a different window. Make slight changes to a common area and give the team five minutes to identify them all. The most observant team member can give the others hints to draw it out.
6. Create a personal shield
Recognizing oneself is underrated in workplace culture. The personal shield gives everyone a chance to do just that. Each team member gets a sheet of paper with a shield or coat of arms divided into four sections. They have a few minutes to add their four best qualities, boost confidence, and highlight their strengths to others.
7. Telephone
This middle school throwback is still a strong activity for teams working on communication. Take a complex phrase and whisper it to one team member. Everyone goes down the line, relaying the message as they understand it. Compare it to the original message, and have them discuss what changed and why.
8. Check-in questions
Check-in questions are a great engagement exercise, but they also provide support. For example, a team asking one another what the most important part of their role is, and what it takes to accomplish that, is a way to appreciate their effort.
See our post with 50 check-in questions for more inspiration.
9. Emoji decoder
🌽 🥬 🥩🍅 🧀 🌶️ 🥑
Create emoji codes or puzzles and have the team solve them. If they do it super-fast, challenge the winner to create their own. All of the emojis above are the raw ingredients for a taco. You can make these as literal or vague as you like. For instance, this would be salsa: 💃
10. Show and tell
It takes no more than five minutes to learn something cool about a teammate or hear them out as they explain their hobbies, experiences, or collections. A weekly show and tell can cap off team meetings by helping people get to know one another and showing interest in what they love.
11. The one-word story
Get teams used to this, and they can create wild tales in five minutes flat. A team member starts with a single word. Teammates take turns building on it with one word of their own. The key is to go quickly and not overthink the word choice.
12. Birth map
This is one of the best (and simplest) 5-minute team-building exercises for virtual teams. Have everyone add a dot or pin to the location where they were born to a world map. Larger or more geographically dispersed teams can better visualize and appreciate their global community, strengthening virtual bonds.
13. Taco shower
This one works for remote teams too, but we recommend everyone try it. Dedicate five minutes in the team chat for gratitude. As everyone thanks those who did their best and explains why, teammates can shower them with virtual tacos of recognition.
This team-building ritual has seen a lot of success at Australian tech company Liven. Every two weeks, they host Taco Love in their Slack chat. They present their projects as their teammates take turns dropping 🌮’s to recognize their impact.
HeyTaco is for teams
Small habits build into impactful rituals that shape our workplace experience. From quick questions to virtual tacos, these become part of everyday team interactions, imbuing our roles with positivity and recognition.
In the time it took to read this blog, you could have carried out a team-building exercise. So what are you waiting for? Get a month of HeyTaco on us, and you have 5-minute team-building activities on deck.
