What team building activities would you suggest for teenagers? I work for the YMCA and am going to pitch a class on Team Building for teenagers. Any suggestions?
The Team Doc Says…
Today’s teens have been raised in a team building environment. From preschool on, they were taught to work together and collaborate to get the best outcome.
Rather than focusing on activities, how about pitching a program?
I don’t think today’s young people understand how team building skills would transfer to the workplace. You could help them make that transition by focusing on the key elements of a team — goals, accountability, communication, diverse skills — around a business scenario.
Make a game out of establishing a business environment and having them create and manage the business using team skills. I’m thinking along the lines of what Junior Achievement does. These skills would be very valuable for them to grow into the future.
More info on this topic at:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing that is often missed is how every member of the team has a value and that other team members need to encourage input from everyone else to get the best outcome.
In my experience at Dynamix, running teambuilding workshops for kids & teens, I absolutely agree that the challenge isn’t with the “teambuilding activities”, but rather with successfully transferring the skills into their real world.
So the teambuilding activities you choose can be almost anything… Fun team challenges to mirror their real world, Charitable activities (like shovelling snow off the walkways for seniors), Running a reading/literacy program for younger children, and so on and so on… The challenge for you will be to give them the opportunity to properly reflect on the experience (through discussion, journals, pictures, video, etc.) so that the transference truly does occur.
I think the Team Doc makes a good point highlighting the importance of “goals, accountability, communication, diverse skills”, but from what I’ve seen a very important area to focus on with teens is: Decision making and Planning skills. We often see that this is where their projects in their real world breakdown.
Good luck!
-Mitch
@Martin — Very key point. Thank you for contributing.
@Mitch — You’re right. I missed the boat on those skills. Appreciate you adding them.
Thank you for contributing.
You’re right.
I think that teens should learn how to be more productive under pressure. They should participate in team building activities that can help them easily adapt to a new environment and at the same time teach them the true meaning and importance of teamwork. Their team building activities should be fun and at the same time can be applied to real life.
The most crucial part of team building activities is the transition of applying the newly acquired skills and knowledge to the workplace and to the world. Team building should help teens to improve or straighten their skill sets.
I agree. Teens are remarkably unproductive when they get into internships and the like. Really surprisingly so. They need to be in the context of a team in order to understand the consequences of their actions (on non-actions.) Paradoxically this is a good opportunity for them to get feedback on their individual skills: time management and the like.