Are you looking for a fun team building activity for your team retreat?  Check out “The Party” below.   It will definitely be a hit, even with members who you might think wouldn’t enjoy this game.

THE PARTY

CONCEPTS:

Recognizing individual strengths of group members, understanding others, and warm-up your team!

DESCRIPTION:
Have staff  write 3-5 strengths on small slips of paper, put them into balloons, and then blow up the balloons. One by one, pop each balloon to reveal what each person brings to the party. As the group learns about the unique talents each person has to offer, have a scribe write down this information onto a large white banner so people can see all of their strengths together.

The Party is a fun, low-risk fun team building icebreaker that helps set the tone for positive team dynamics. It’s also a good activity to use if a group has been working together for sometime and needs a refresher on what people can contribute and how the group can work well together. The simplicity of this activity allows it to be used with a wide range of ages.

GOALS:

1. To identify how a new or existing team can work together.

2. To learn how to recognize strengths in order to get the most from every member of

the group.

3, To learn how individual members view themselves as part of the group.

SUPPLIES:

1. Medium-sized balloons, 4-5 per person.

2. Toothpicks for popping balloons

3. Markers.

4. Masking tape.

5. Large banner paper

6. Pens for each person.

7.  Several slips of paper.

PREPARATION:

On the banner paper, draw several balloons. Hang the banner on the wall in a location where it can be seen by everyone.  Clear an area in the room where the group can sit in a circle with a space in the middle for a pile of balloons.

ACTIVITY:

Have staff  sit in a circle. Pass out paper, pens and balloons to each person. Set up a scenario, something like this:

“You’ve all been invited to a party. It’s going to be a pot luck.  Instead of bringing food to share with everyone, you’re bringing yourself and the strengths you believe you contribute to this team.

For example, you may be  organized, a good writer or able to keep others motivated on your team. On the slips of paper, write down the talents aand/or strengths that you bring to the party. Once you’ve written these down, carefully put them into your balloons, blow them up, tie them off, and put them in the circle.”

Allow 5-10 minutes for staff to complete this activity. When everyone is finished, designate one person to pick a balloon from the pile, pop it, and read the slip(s) inside.

After a slip has been read, ask the person who wrote it to step forward, share a little more, and then write his/her name and strength in a balloon on the banner paper. This person becomes the next to pop a balloon from the pile.

DISCUSSION:

Discuss how the group can use the information they’ve gained from hearing everyone share their strengths. Consider discussion questions such as:

1. Are there any people who you think overlooked one of their strengths? Who? What is the strength?

2. How can what you’ve learned from others be used in the future to improve the way this team works together?

3. How can you make the most of the strengths and talents of team members and still allow everyone a chance to try new things or use new talents?

4. Is the group missing any strengths? What are they and how can you build them? What if you can’t? How can you overcome not having certain strengths or prevent the

lack of them from becoming a group weakness?

5. Imagine the team was going to assign official jobs for each member. Based on the strengths people shared, what roles do you think people should have?

WRAP-UP:

If possible, keep the banner hanging in the room for further meetings. It can remind members of everyone’s strengths and guide them when trying to determine who is thebest person for a team task. If space doesn’t allow, ask someone to volunteer to type a summary sheet of the strengths people bring to the party and give everybody copies to keep.

If balloons are not possible at your retreat, you can still run this activity by having people put their strengths in a punch bowl.  The rest of the game will remain the same except for popping the balloons.

Have fun and please let me know how your fun team building game goes!