SHOULD YOU GIVE AWAY VALUABLE PRIZES IN TEAM BUILDING GAMES?

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First and foremost, no.

Picture this you come along to a team building activity your Boss has organised, you are ready to get involved, it has been the office chat for the whole day and your team is getting nicely competitive. You come into the meeting room where it’s starting, and your Boss announces that the winning team will each receive an iPad or a trip to Paris or a £1,000 each! Now at first you are shocked and so excited with the opportunity to win such an amazing prize, but then they nerves kick in and from what was going to be a fun day out 5 minutes ago, is now an intense competition where you MUST win. The idea of losing is not an option, the arguments have already started, and you are generally getting annoyed at that fellow team member that just can’t keep up. WHAT HAS HAPPENED?!

This is why we don’t give away valuable prizes. It creates tension and it might be all well and good for the winning team, but it singles them out and every other employee becomes annoyed at them. So, you haven’t built your team for the better you have in fact broken them down and damaged relationships. The higher the stakes the more problems that will arise from what is meant to be a fun game, activity or day out. We want to create a healthy competition with each scavenger hunt we do, as this has been proven to lead to increased productivity within employees. However, if big prizes are added to the mix then an unhealthy competition can arise and ruin the environment, no one wants that now do they?

Getting rid of extreme and luxurious prizes in team building games allows everyone involved to just focus on having fun. When you have fun with other people you;  

·      Build relationships

·      Enjoy work

·      Become more productive

·      Communication improves

This is what we at the Big Smoke Events encourage and what we bring to each scavenger hunt we organise.  

Don’t get me wrong we do acknowledge the winners and prizes are giving out, but they are moderate. Allowing everyone to leave in high spirts and to look back on the day and enjoy it. 

About the Author: Francesca Hubbard

Founder, creative force, and the heart behind our people-first culture. Fran built Big Smoke from a weekend hobby into 2,000+ events through warmth, detail, and genuine fun.