10 Team Building Games and Activities for Teams with Alignment Issues

There are multiple instances in a workplace that leaders can fail to communicate the organization’s goal to their members due to alignment issues and gets frustrated when they are unable to meet any of these targets. There are even leaders who fail to see that the problem is not on the skills of his members but because these people are not aligned with the goals that he has. Chances are, these people were unable to get the understanding of the goals, they do know it but their level of understanding are far different from each other and their leaders.

The team may know the organization’s goals and objective but it’s not all the time that they have the full understanding of these objectives which greatly affects their efficiency on their job. There is a clear indication of an alignment issue within the team. Leaders should take time to reach out to the team and make sure that they have reached an agreement of understanding of the goals that need to be attained by the team.

These goals should also be realistic on the given time. There are times when goals are not set on a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound manner thus making it impossible to meet it and cause great alignment issue within the team and affects the organization in particular. Leaders should also give time to evaluate whether the team actually understands how these goals are attained and adjust to their learning pace. The method of learning of one another may be greatly different from his co-workers that’s why he cannot find the means to align himself with the goal and plans.

These are few of the activities that the team can do to address and prevent alignment issues in the team.

1. Brainstorming Session with the Team

During a brainstorming session, have the team list their priorities, the way they see the teams’ priorities are in the job, the goals as well as the plans they have as to how to reach it. Allow everyone to share their ideas and come up with an agreement what are the things that need to be prioritized by the team to meet a realistic goal. Compare notes with each other and identify why they have chosen these tasks as their priorities in the job. During brainstorming sessions, have each member share their best practices and what led them to consider these priorities relevant to how they do their respective tasks. In this way, members will be able to take perspective from one another and align their way of thinking and approach to their job. This can also be a healthy way to get a common understanding of the team’s objectives and goals. After the brainstorming process, layout a conclusion of the discussed plans on how the targets can be achieved both individually and as a group.

2. Goal Setting

Once the goal is set as a team, take time to talk to each of your members one by one and take an in-depth conversation on how they can reach the goal. Set a specific time frame for them to meet the goal and the specific measures they need to take. This is best done at the start of the month especially when the scores are measured on a monthly and quarterly basis. During goal setting session, allow your member to speak on how they plan to tackle the goal. In this way, you will be able to correct and offer ideas that are aligned with the organization’s process. This is also the chance that you can identify the level of alignment issues of each team members and drive the change after identifying the specifics why they are not aligned with each other, the process and the goals that need to be attained.

3. Hot-lap Sessions

Hot-lap sessions are what you call as doing a touch base with the team. It could be a daily or on a weekly basis where the leader needs to get in touch with the team as a whole to check progress and meet members on one for their personal goals progress. That way, real-time intervention may happen to ensure that everyone is aligned with how the goal will be attained. Do this either pre-shift or post-shift to make sure that you are able to talk to your members in their available time. Make sure to do a performance coaching regularly and identify their areas of improvement. Let them share how they see these issues influence how they do work and take it from there to lead and guide them on the actual process and align them with the goals. Hot-lap sessions can also cover the possibilities and chances that the time gets misaligned with the goal and process of the team.

4. Have the team take personality assessments

The team will have a diversity of personalities and learning paces. Have the team take personality test so that you will be able to effectively communicate with them and make sure that they have the full understanding of the goal plan. There are multiple personality tests that are being used by organizations and consider it as their standard of approaches for coaching sessions to members. Take DISC exam for an example, this is a behavioural assessment usually done for dealing issues on leadership skills, there’s also the DOPE Bird test that classifies the personality of an individual and the preferred styles of learning. From the results of these test, you will be able to match skills and adjust the learning pace of each team members and come up with a common ground of learning to make sure that they are able to stay aligned with the goals and with each other.

5. Role-playing sessions

Role-playing sessions allows the team member to wear anyone’s shoes. In this way, a leader can gauge his member’s understanding of the goals and take it from there on how to make the plan work for the team. Try having two of the team members during the regular coaching sessions. To make this activity fun, have each of them assume the role of the leader and the member. You will be there to observe how they play the role, and they can switch places afterwards. From this activity, you will be able to gauge the level of understanding if each team member and they both could get an idea from each other about business processes. This a healthy way of maintaining team alignment since all input sources will not be limited from you. Apart from that, the sync and level of bond between your team members will be greatly developed and thus resolving any alignment issues in the team.

6. Get out with the team

Find time to know the team on a personal level to have an idea of how to tackle issues with their alignment to the teams’ goals. One way of getting the right communication style to talk to your team is by spending time with them after work hours. A person is usually able to communicate comfortably when they are outside company premises. This is also a good way to know what are the challenges that they are experiencing as to why they are unable to be aligned with the team and the process. Spend at least an hour or two with your team members to know them better and make necessary changes in your approach to addressing alignment issues of the team.

7. Shark Tank

This is a good chance for the team to indulge in each one’s business understanding and perspective. Shark Tank is a great activity for the team to have. Members will split into micro teams and present business strategies to win investors or called “sharks”. Give them enough time to prepare for the activity and construct the best business plan they have. They each will present their business plans and attempt to get the investors to invest in their proposed projects. Make sure to get everyone on each group to involve themselves in the activity. Have any from the upper management act as the sharks so that there will be no biases in the results. From this activity, you will be able to gauge their understanding and take on the organizations goal and at the same time showcasing their leadership skills as a group which you may be able to rely on to maintain alignment within the team.

8. Back to Back Drawing Activity

This is a great starting point to gauge their understanding of how organizational goals differ from one another. Split the team into two groups and have each participant sit back to back. Have they draw something together usually business-related ideas. Each of the team participants will take a turn on the drawing seat. Whoever gets the best drawing for the object wins the game. After the activity, huddle up the team and discuss why the activity was conducted. Each member should now have a fairly good idea of their team’s perspective on goals and process. Apart from aligning the team, this activity is a great means to improve communication skills within the team. The better the communication the team has the lower the chances that they get misaligned on their goals and objectives.

9. Show and Tell

The team can have a show and tell session related to their work life. This is also an opportunity to measure how their work perspectives differ from one another and whether they are aligned with the teams’ goal or not. Give your members enough time to prepare for the activity. Each of them should be able to describe their role and impact on the company ladder. They should also be able to discuss their priorities and personal goals. Furthermore, allow the team to tell the group their tips and best practices as to why they were able to hit target per target. This is a great way to reinforce the correct practices, processes they follow and improve communication and bond in the team.

10. Office Trivia

Conducting office trivia will also help leaders understand the possible cause of the teams’ alignment issue. The trivia should be related to the goal, metrics, process, and objectives of the team. Gather the team and split them into two groups. Whoever guesses most of the trivia wins. Make sure that each group participants contribute to the answers. After the activity, present a conclusion of ideas to the team and make sure that they all have the same understanding to the business processes, goal plan and the specific targets they will need to meet personally and as a group. You can do this activity every now and then to make sure that everyone is on the right track.