Any ideas for team building/fun games

[somri]

I own a home health agency. I can see job of clinicians are quite stressful and wanted to bring a little fun to our case conferences where clinicians get the opportunity to meet with everyone face to face. Any recommendations/ideas for team building games or even just for little fun that we can do after the conference is over?

[Libby1987]

I've been thinking about this since you posted it last night. One thing I knew from being a case manager myself and hearing the feedback from the other field staff is that anything that takes time from getting on with the day tends to add stress and can actually cause unintended resentment so keep it simple and non time consuming.

So before you add in activities, make sure your foundation is strong. ie your staff has definitive territories so the teams are naturally delineated, that you are demonstrating a roll up your sleeves effort, promoting longevity by being the place where people want to stay (once they start going through life's milestones together the team will grow stronger than you can imagine), demonstrate treating them as people who are working very hard and try never to miss an opportunity to acknowledge that, share all positive feedback from your customers and give them credit for being the ones face to face out there (as well as the office staff who interact on the phones and support the field staff), bake things yourself and bring to IDT.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

It is a nice thought, but I agree that fun can be time-consuming and add resentment and more stress to people who are already pushed hard.

[olbond87]

If I were you, I would address to the professional team building agency like proektainc.com or another one. They really know how to build an effective and procuctive team. I know from my own experience, that these guys apply very modern and unusual methods.

[elkpark]

Years ago, my employers on an inpatient psychiatric unit did a one-day (mandatory) conference for the staff to work on team-building and help morale, and they brought in a group that does this professionally. It was a really good experience. Yes, it was "fun," but there was also a larger purpose to all the activities. I have no idea how much it cost my employer to do that (but they were pretty cheap, so I'm guessing it wasn't too much! :)), but it was really worthwhile.

[caliotter3]

I have never participated in employer activities where free food was not well received, whether the meetings were mandatory or not. Always encourages compliments.