Indoor Team Building Games

Indoor team building games are usually based on a more mental kind of activity. The rough and ready kind of game is usually retained for outdoors where the physical side of a team can be brought out. Indoors there is usually less room for physical moving around, which makes it an ideal setting for testing mental acuity.

Team training that is held indoors often makes use of modern computer technology. Games, puzzles and mental solving activities can be found in all kinds of specially written software designed to stretch a team's abilities to the limit. As with the physical hands on kind of games, there are problems to solve, often against the clock. The team usually have to work very closely together and interact at a fundamental level in order to succeed.

The types of tasks set for a team to solve are of two basic types: competitive and cooperative. Studies have shown that competitive tasks, contrary to how many people seem to think, do not have the same team building value that cooperative task do. The problem lies in the fact that in competition someone, or some team, has to lose; there can only be one real winner. When a team loses, morale is lost and the hoped for improvement in efficiency is placed in jeopardy.

Cooperation in a team works better. It builds feelings of being supported and helped. Individual team members know that so long as they give it their best shot they will be helped along when and if they need it. They know that they are an important part of the team and they understand their role within the team much better too.

A useful analogy has been made with a flock of geese flying in the classic "V" formation. When a goose flying in formation flaps its wings, the bird following it gains a significant degree of uplift from the flapping action. Overall, the flock can gain over 70% greater efficiency as a result. That is an excellent example of cooperation in nature.

The geese don't stop there though. They have ways to make the whole procedure even more efficient and fair for each and every goose. The geese in front get tired after a time and they are allowed to fall behind while the ones at the back move forward. In this way every goose takes its turn at being among the ones working hardest, and being among the ones having it easy.

The loud honking you can hear when a formation of geese flies overhead comes from the ones at the back "shouting" encouragement to the ones at the front. Any goose that is foolish enough to fall out of formation quickly gets back in line through choice; they realise that without the advantage of the lift that the formation provides, life is very hard indeed. It should be obvious that using indoor team building games to stimulate a team of workers to cooperate in a similar way means that everyone will benefit to a much greater degree.