Business meetings made playful

Team-building games are effective in business meetings as they enhance communication, build trust, and strengthen relationships among team members. Here are two simple yet effective team-building games suitable for a business meeting:

1. WALK - STOP - JUMP - CLAP

Exercise purpose: To warm up a group, help them get used to paying attention to instructions, and respond accordingly.

Description: Participants try to follow the facilitator's commands as closely as possible.

Duration: 5min.

Material: None

INSTRUCTIONS:

Setup - Procedure: Position the participants scattered in the space, stand among them, and explain that they need to follow your instructions closely.

Goal: Execute the commands quickly and correctly!

Process - Restrictions:

• For the command WALK, participants walk around the space; for the command STOP, they stop—repeat this 2-3 times.
• Reverse the commands: for WALK, they STOP; for STOP, they WALK!—repeat this 2-3 times.
• Continue by adding the command JUMP (they jump once—demonstrate!) and the command CLAP (they clap their hands once above their heads—demonstrate!).
• Reverse these commands as well—repeat this 2-3 times.
• Mix the commands freely...

Tips:

• Explain the commands while having the participants walk.
• Call out the commands quickly to create confusion.
• Remind them to move in different directions—not in circles!
• Clapping is essential!

Variation(s):

• To make the exercise more challenging, toward the end announce that anyone who performs the commands incorrectly is out of the game, and we’ll see who remains at the end.
• EXTENSION - Shout & Dance: Participants shout their names and perform a dance move!

2. PROUD OF

Exercise purpose: Trust, Respect, Empathy, Passion, Team Awareness.

Description: Ask participants to write down on paper 7 things they do that they are proud of and 3 things they are afraid of. Then, they get up and discuss with as many people as possible what they have written for 5 minutes. If they find any commonalities, they sign each other’s papers next to the shared statements. The “winner” is the one who collects the most signatures.

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Materials: 1 pencil and a notebook or paper per person.

Setup: Participants seated in any arrangement in the room.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Goal: Collect as many signatures as you can on your paper in 5 minutes

Process- Restrictions:

• Ask participants to write on a piece of paper at least 7 things they do/have done that make them feel proud (strictly actions, not characteristics), as well as 3 (strictly) things they are afraid of.
• Ask them to leave a line of space between their statements.
• Next, ask them to get up, find others, and read what they have written.
• They should try to find as many commonalities as possible with the other participants to collect as many signatures as they can next to the points they have in common.
• If they have common points, they sign each other’s paper next to the shared statement.
• At the end of the exercise, ask participants to position themselves according to the total number of signatures they have on their paper in the four corners of the room (e.g., up to 5 signatures in the lower corner, up to 10 signatures in the upper corner, etc.).

Tips: An excellent icebreaker to meet the team, especially for larger groups, with quick movement and substantial messages for individuals and the team!