Activities for Leadership Skill Development and Team Building
The training session will include a total of three activities for the purpose of leadership skill development and team building. The first activity that has been primarily planned for leadership skill-building and enhancement includes the scavenger hunt activity comprising of five teams in total. Each of the teams will choose its own leader. The teams will be given a unique list of small activities to complete and the team who will be able to tick off all the activities will win. All activity completion proof is necessary. The small activities are;
- Bilingual ensemble: Learning and singing a song of a different language in teams.
- Who’s who? – Team members will trade identities and clothing and impersonate each other in conversations.
- How’d they do that? – People do something unique like magic and attract unusual reactions.
- Portrait sitting – Constructing a one-minute portrait of team members.
The second activity is a blind obstacle course for the purpose of trust and communication building among team members. The team member who will be blindfolded will be guided by other members to avoid obstacles and reach the finish line. The third and final activity will be charades or Pictionary for promoting team bonding. Charades include acting out the word, movie, phrase, or thing that has been given to them as a challenge. Pictionary is similar and involves drawing the given item to explain it to other members. The team that reaches 5 points first will be the winner.
The total time for the session is 30 minutes and 8 minutes will be allotted for each of the activities.
The first activity will include dividing the group into 5 teams with individual leaders. These teams will be provided with a list of games or activities to perform with proof of completion. The first team that is able to complete all the games will be declared the winner. The second activity will involve blindfolding individuals and steering them from a field of obstacles to the finish line with clear instructions. The blindfolded member needs to completely trust their team members for winning this (Baesu, 2019). The third activity will involve the game of Pictionary or charades between team groups for the purpose of team bonding which is essential for collaborative working. Individual members from teams will be provided the name of an object or something else which they have to either draw or act out to explain to their team members.
The materials that may be required for the first activity are pen and paper, phones for recording, clothes, and drawing papers. For the second activity the required materials are masking tape (cones); obstacle items like chairs, desks, and cones; and blindfolds. For the third activity, the required materials are a drawing stand and paper, pens, and pencils.
The trainer will first conduct a 5 minutes information and education session for the purpose of introducing the training session and activities along with the scope. Here, the trainer also needs to create a positive environment for the employees as not everybody talks to every other person (Griffin, 2021). Employees need to maintain an open mind. The trainer also needs to create awareness of the various ethical standards and considerations that are essential for any training program.
The session is mainly being conducted so as to educate the employees about the necessity of strong leadership skills and the need for team bond-building for collaborative and smoother working. Leadership skill development is necessary as good leaders are not always born but are made with efforts (Almatrooshi, Singh & Farouk, 2016). Leaders are responsible for a lot of things in the workplace such as proper delegation of work, management of work and employees, conflict resolution, sharing feedback, providing support, and so on. Good leadership would most definitely result in the team meeting their goals and individual targets, and more importantly a satisfied and motivated team that excels in production and performance (Stouten, Rousseau & De Cremer, 2018). Another dimension of this training session is building the team bond through relationship, communication, and trust development. Good communication and trust are two crucial factors based upon which successful teams function (Pfeffer, 2017). Smooth collaboration results from good leadership skills and good team bonding and relationships (Goleman, 2018). Thus, the primary aim or scope of this training session is to develop leadership skills and build team bonds. The specific learning objectives mostly include;
- Be able to lead diverse teams with different roles and responsibilities accordingly.
- The ability to delegate the right roles and responsibilities.
- The ability to recognize skills and talents.
- The ability to motivate and encourage team members.
- Being able to trust team members completely.
- Being able to communicate with all team members without any language issues and communication problems.
- Being able to work in collaboration with other members.
- Being able to empathize and understand the situations of other members.
- Providing feedback on requests and when needed to improve overall team functions and activities.
- Able to resolve conflicts and issues fast and enhance flexible working.
- Do you think the first activity has enhanced your knowledge about leadership and the related skills and competencies?
- Do you think after performing the activity you will be better able to apply the learned leadership skills and competencies in your work and team management in the future?
- Do you think the chosen activity has been helpful in enhancing your leadership skills?
- Do you think a blind obstacle course is a good activity for building trust and communication?
- Did your trust and communication skills improve after attending the training session?
- Do you understand the significance of team bonding in the workplace?
- Why do you think team bonding is necessary?
- Do you think the chosen activity for team bonding can help to promote relationships and bonds?
- Do you feel there are any issues with the training process?
- Do you think there are a few things that can be added or subtracted from the session?
Materials Required for Activities
The primary purpose of doing the activities is to enhance the skills and competencies of the employees and team members by employing a number of games or activities. The training is constructed in such a way that enables the trainer to develop the skills and talents of the team members through fun activities and games (Fernandez & Rainey, 2017). Leadership skills and competencies are necessary for every organization and workplace as it helps to enhance overall performance and achievement of goals and company objectives (Schoemaker, Heaton & Teece, 2018). Good leadership skills can effectively increase team activities and production by guiding and managing the members efficiently. Leadership skills are also necessary as effective leaders build the ability to motivate and encourage their team, enhance communication and understanding, delegate team responsibilities and handling of diverse roles, listen to feedback and provide feedback when required, having proper flexibility to solve the problems effectively in the diverse and rapidly changing workplace (Griffin, Phillips & Gully, 2016). The scope of leadership training will include the development of several skills and talents such as communication (which further includes the skills of articulating, active listening, business storytelling, clarity, correspondence, concision, editing, expression and explaining, facilitating conversations in groups, effective verbal and non-verbal communication, and so on); how to motivate employees and team members (mentoring and convincing, allowing autonomy for employees, listening to employee concerns, rewards and recognitions, team-building, and developing effective goals); delegating roles and responsibilities (time management and teamwork, prioritizing tasks, setting expectations); keeping positive at all times (diplomacy, caring, conflict management, empathetic, humor, social respect, and interactions); trustworthiness and integrity; innovation and creativity; feedbacks; responsibility; and commitment.
The training also aims to develop team relationships and bonding by enhancing overall team working skills such as trust and collaborative working abilities. The games or activities that have been purposedly designed include a scavenger hunt for leadership skill-building, a blind obstacle course for trust and communication building, and Pictionary or charades for enhancing or developing team relationships and bonds through collaborative working. The training session has been designed to be fun as well as educating (Karagianni & Jude Montgomery, 2018). All participating members are expected to keep an open mind and embrace the communication and participation of other members accordingly. Ethical considerations may include creating awareness and educating the participants on the purpose and necessity of the training and making sure that no one contributes to discrimination or inequality in the workplace (Schwatka et al., 2019). As this is a diverse workplace with several types of individuals belonging to different cultures and from different regions, the trainer needs to ensure that interaction and communication are conducted on an equal basis between every member. Ethical considerations will also include defining the appropriate boundaries of attitudes and behavior for all members of the organization (Fernandez et al., 2016). Resource distribution and allocation must also be conducted by considering the ethical boundaries. All participants must be dealt with respectfully and in a manner that instills value within them.
Reference List
Almatrooshi, B., Singh, S. K., & Farouk, S. (2016). Determinants of organizational performance: a proposed framework. International Journal of productivity and performance management.
Baesu, C. (2019). Leadership based on emotional intelligence in modern organizations. The USV annals of economics and public administration, 18(2 (28)), 73-78.
Fernandez, C. S., Noble, C. C., Jensen, E. T., & Chapin, J. (2016). Improving leadership skills in physicians: A 6?month retrospective study. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(4), 6-19.
Fernandez, S., & Rainey, H. G. (2017). Managing successful organizational change in the public sector. In Debating public administration (pp. 7-26). Routledge.
Goleman, D. (2018). What makes a leader? (pp. 39-52). Routledge.
Griffin, R. W. (2021). Management. Cengage Learning.
Griffin, R. W., Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2016). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations. Cengage Learning.
Karagianni, D., & Jude Montgomery, A. (2018). Developing leadership skills among adolescents and young adults: a review of leadership programmes. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 23(1), 86-98.
Pfeffer, J. (2017). The Ambiguity of Leadership 1. In Leadership Perspectives (pp. 333-341). Routledge.
Schoemaker, P. J., Heaton, S., & Teece, D. (2018). Innovation, dynamic capabilities, and leadership. California Management Review, 61(1), 15-42.
Schwatka, N. V., Goldenhar, L. M., Johnson, S. K., Beldon, M. A., Tessler, J., Dennerlein, J. T., … & Trieu, H. (2019). A training intervention to improve frontline construction leaders’ safety leadership practices and overall jobsite safety climate. Journal of safety research, 70, 253-262.
Stouten, J., Rousseau, D. M., & De Cremer, D. (2018). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788.