Want to spark better working relationships in your finance and accounting teams? Curious about how to break down barriers and help your accountants relate to one another on a more personal level? You need these team building exercises in your organisation.
Team building can help to onboard new hires, improve communication, boost morale and facilitate better problem solving between your team members. It’s also an ideal opportunity for management to unlock hidden skills and identify management potential within the team.
One of the biggest challenges for creating team building activities for finance and accounting teams is the nature of these individuals. They are often incredibly busy and recognise that time is the only resource they can’t buy more of. With this in mind, you need to make your team building exercises quick and time-restricted so they can appreciate that you respect their time.
Trivia night
Sure, they might be good with numbers, but how is their general knowledge? A timed trivia night is a great way to get those cogs spinning and encourage your accountants to work together. They will learn a lot about one another by simply working together to figure out the correct answers. Include a number round so they all have a chance to shine.
Building challenge
Those who are good with numbers are often effective with engineering challenges. Give them some everyday items and challenge them to work together in teams to build a structure. Popular structures include a tall structure, a long structure, or a structure that will keep a delicate item safe when falling from height.
Charity bike ride
If you want to get outside and get active, a charity bike ride could be the ideal solution to help bring your teams together. Rather than competing with one another, the challenge is to make sure everyone makes it over the finish line. This is an ideal choice for those who enjoy a physical challenge, and those who want to get to know their colleagues outside of the office. Your employees will need to train for the event in their own time, and it’s also a great way to encourage everyone to cycle to work.
Escape room
An escape room is a great way to get everyone to think outside of the box to help them get outside of the box. They will need to work together to solve puzzles, and this isn’t an activity where anyone can power ahead and work alone – even if this might be their instinct. The emphasis will be on team work. This is a great activity to help new hires to get to know the team and remove any barriers to working together effectively.
Networking picnic
If your company has multiple offices, consider bringing everyone together for a company picnic. This is also a great idea if you’ve switched to hybrid working and your teams aren’t always in the office together. Organise some food and refreshments and then consider adding some large scale lawn games like Jenga and chess to help spark conversations and connections. You could also use a coloured cup system to let everyone choose what they would like to talk about. For example, choosing a green cup means you want to talk about strategy, while a red cup means you want to talk about trends in AI.
Final thoughts
You don’t have to stick to the same networking idea every time. And bear in mind that not every idea will click with every worker. This is why being open to new ideas and exploring different types of team building activities will help to ensure everyone gets to try something new.
