How sport can be used for team building

Exercise makes people happy, team sports strengthen the cohesion and trust of a group. You can take advantage of all this by integrating sporting activities into your company’s daily routine. Because sport not only promotes employee health in general, but also acts as a valuable team-building measure.

Want a little help getting started? This blog will give you a head start in strengthening your team muscles and breaking records in the working atmosphere.

Improve the working atmosphere with exercise

The atmosphere and cohesion in the team are decisive factors for employee retention. Only those who enjoy working with their colleagues and feel strengthened and supported by them will develop an emotional bond with the workplace – including all the positive side effects such as productivity, motivation and low staff turnover. Integrating regular team-building measures into the daily work routine therefore not only improves the working atmosphere, but also the company’s success in the long term.

And how can sport contribute to this? When we exercise, it is not only good for our stamina and muscles, it also reduces stress and releases serotonin, dopamine and endorphins – feelings of happiness. If we move together with others, we motivate each other and share the joy of sport – this promotes cohesion and is therefore a powerful tool for team building in the company.

The important thing is that every team member feels good during the joint training and can keep up with the intensity – regardless of whether you do a lot of sport in your private life or only rarely find time for a workout. The focus is on the shared fun of exercise and the collective sense of achievement afterwards.

So when choosing the right sport for your teambuilding, keep that in mind. Apart from that, the possibilities are almost limitless.

Sporty ideas for your team

Perhaps there is already a strong interest in a specific sport among your staff, or a particular discipline lends itself particularly well due to the location or the circumstances of everyday working life. In any case, here are some sporting ideas to get you started:

• Desk Fitness:
  Even a short desk workout together can have a big impact. With little effort, loosening exercises for hands and neck as well as light stretching in the office chair can provide a joint sporting break and counteract the health risks associated with one-sided stress and too much sitting.

 

• After Work Yoga:
  Yoga is versatile and can range from gentle stretching exercises to a sweaty workout. The focus is on breathing and conscious movements, so an after-work yoga session – or early in the morning – is ideal for relieving stress, boosting concentration and mindfully mobilising muscles and joints.

 

• Sporty Team Day:
  Enabling the staff to go on an outing together several times a year is particularly appreciated and worth its weight in gold in terms of team building. If you also combine the team day with sports, the positive effects are multiplied. There are no limits to the imagination: Kayaking, archery, hiking or laser tag will strengthen team spirit as if by magic.

 

• Running group:
  Endurance sports like running are an excellent way to clear your head and be active at the same time. Running in a group is also much more fun. As an employer, you can create additional incentives by hiring a professional coach for a running technique workshop or enabling the team to participate in a regional running event.

Sporty team building at Rejlek

At Rejlek, we also use sport as a team-building measure time and again. Currently, the focus is on running. Running together as a company team in an event is a great way to train for a common cause and take the feeling of togetherness to a new level. We are currently working on building an enthusiastic running team and plan to participate in events like the Vienna Business Run in 2024.

 

 

Conclusion: Step by step to more success

Whether in sport or at work, a team needs trust, cohesion and mutual motivation. To promote these qualities, joint sports activities initiated by the employer are ideally suited. If you run kilometres together, have fun playing volleyball or pull together in a kayak, you can transfer these experiences from sport to your everyday working life – team building at its best.

We hope this blog helps you to create sporting incentives in your company. If you also want to know what exciting teambuilding events Rejlek will be doing next, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.