Team building is the process of turning a group of individual contributing employees or students into a cohesive team—a group of people organized to work together to meet the needs of their customers and/or accomplish their learning goals

From the employer-employee perspective, team building builds:

• Better communication
• Increased productivity
• Improved morale
• Increase in motivation
• Leadership qualities
• Creativity
• Increase in confidence levels
• Improved mental health
• Improved physical health
• Responsibility
• Trust
• Respect

From a student perspective, team building:

• Provides a common experience among peers
• Allows students to feel more comfortable in group settings
• Requires students to develop communication skills through conversations
• Encourages students to learn academic content with and from one another

From the classroom perspective, team building:

• Establishes a community atmosphere for the classroom
• Teaches intra-personal skills organically
• Sets expectations of respect and shared learning
• Allows for academic learning and review in a more engaging manner

This week I am sharing a second fun, low-cost activity that will help build a great collaborative team in both a classroom and business setting. Here is the second activity:

Activity #2- Idea Building Blocks

For Virtual Instruction Using Jamboard

1. Divide your group into Zoom/Google Meet breakout rooms with 4 members on each team.
2. Present them with a relevant problem (this can be related to course material or a business issue) using a Jamboard slide for each group.
   • An example of a business-related issue: How can we effectively decrease the amount of lost inventory as a result of customer theft?
   • An example of a STEM-related issue: What social media ads could we use to build citizen confidence in Covid-19 vaccinations?
3. ROUND 1: The first team member creates a sticky note with his/her solution to the problem. The second team member adds his/her sticky note with a solution that builds on the previously submitted sticky note, followed by the third and fourth members of the team.
4. ROUNDS 2 & 3: The team members continue to take turns add sticky notes onto the Jamboard, until each team member has contributed three times to solving the original problem.
5. When their allocated time is up, bring all participants back into the general session.
6. Ask a breakout room spokesperson presents their final solution to the entire class/team.
7. Pose the following two discussion questions:
   • How effectively did each member contribute to the overall solution to the group problem?
   • What skills did each member use to solve the group problem?

For Face-to-Face Instruction

1. Divide your group into teams and present them with a relevant problem
   • Examples of business-related issue:
   • Examples of STEM-related course material:
2. One team member writes down a solution and passes the piece of paper along to the next team member, who builds upon that idea.
3. The paper is passed around until each team member has added onto the original solution.
4. When their time is up, a spokesperson can present their final solution to the rest of the group.
5. Pose the following two discussion questions:
   • How effectively did each member contribute to the overall solution to the group problem?
   • What skills did each member use to solve the group problem?

Enjoy this second team-building activity. Stay healthy and safe.

Dean