What is team cohesion?
Team cohesion refers to the degree to which team members feel connected to and supportive of one another.
Teams with high cohesion tend to have strong bonds, share a common purpose, and work together effectively to achieve their goals. They are also more resilient, adaptable, and motivated, which leads to higher performance, productivity, and job satisfaction.
When team members don't feel connected or supported, it can lead to conflict, misunderstandings, and a lack of trust. Team cohesion is a critical factor for success in any team setting. Investing time and effort into building and maintaining strong relationships can pay off in the long run.
Cohesion can be built through team-building activities, clear communication, and a focus on building positive relationships.
With that being said, I like doing simple social bonding activities during the workday with the team to enhance their cohesion. I like exercises that do not require too much preparation or time.
Let me share a couple of them with you:
1. Virtual Coffee Breaks
You can organize a Friday happy hour at the end of every week to help build connections.
Have 30 minutes blocked for your daily standup: The first 15 minutes for the actual sprint info exchange, then whoever wants to stay for a water cooler talk about the day-to-day things that affect us as team members
Alternatively, you can have separate Slack or Zoom accounts, always open and available for random meet-ups whenever fresh air is needed.
2. "Two Truths and a Lie" Game
Here's a game that everyone loves!
You can play it while drinking coffee, as an icebreaker for meetings, or as an opener for retro.
Simply provide participants with designed cards and have them play three facts about themselves virtually. Two of these facts will be true, and the other one will be made up. The team will then have to guess which fact is the lie.
Before the game starts, have team members fill in the first of the bottom boxes, and the second after. Discuss various strategies, including body language and using prior knowledge.
After everyone takes their turn, discuss whose lie was the trickiest to guess and reflect on how tough the facts were to guess and why.
3. "3 Facts About Myself" Game
This game is perfect for new teams that need to know each other.
Ask team members to share one personal fact, one professional fact about themselves, and one value they can contribute to the team (what they are bringing to the table). You can change the third fact with anything you want, like "my biggest mistake," "what frustrates me most," or "what I value most is." Get creative!
You can do this as a go-around talking and listening, or ask team members to write those in a template you can create in any visual facilitation tool.
4. "Candy Love" Game
If you're meeting in-person, get a pack of M&M's, put them in a bowl, and ask everyone on the team to take one candy at a time and give an answer. Do a structured go-around. If you're meeting online, draw colorful circles randomly and do a structured go-around.
That’s it for today. Next time I will share more of these.
Hope you found it useful.:)
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