Getting together to have fun builds stronger teams that trust each other, communicate better, perform better, foster innovation, do a better job of embracing and leveraging diversity and have higher job satisfaction.
Trust is a basic element of a productive team. In general, building trust is a gradual process, but it can be accelerated with out-of-office activities. For employees to trust each other they needs personal knowledge of each other and regular face-to-face interaction.
Higher levels of trust lead to higher-performing teams. Trust makes employees more proactive with their ideas, ready to listen to each other, ready to take risks, and they achieve consensus more quickly.
Team-building activities have been linked to increased depth and frequency of team communications. This increase in information exchange helps employees to access expertise, make better decisions, engage critical thinking and stay in alignment with strategic goals.
Team performance depends on the skillful and innovative combination of information and expertise from all team members. Research has linked informal team-building activities to higher work performance. Teams that engage in out-of-work activities tend to have higher greater cohesion and higher goal commitment.
Creative ideas often occur in new or different settings. Psychologists have found that being open to experiencing new things is directly associated with creative thinking and output.
Out-of-office, informal gatherings help diverse teams build trust, collaborate and cooperate, discover and value each other's strengths, and overcome communication barriers.