Why Team Building Games Work (and When They Don't)
Team building games have a mixed reputation. Done well, they help people relax and get to know each other. Done badly, they are an awkward obligation that everyone quietly resents. So what is actually going on when a game helps a team, and how do you get the good version rather than the bad one?
This article looks at the research that is most relevant to team games, what it does and does not tell us, and how to apply it in practice.
The idea that matters most: psychological safety
The most useful concept here is psychological safety: a shared belief within a team that it is safe to take interpersonal risks, such as asking a "silly" question, admitting a mistake or suggesting an unusual idea.
The term was developed by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson. In Amy Edmondson's 1999 study of work teams, published in Administrative Science Quarterly, she examined 51 teams in a manufacturing company and found that teams with higher psychological safety showed more learning behaviour: asking for feedback, discussing errors and experimenting with new approaches.
The idea became much more widely known after Google studied what made some of its teams more effective than others. In Google's re:Work guide to team effectiveness, Google lists psychological safety first among five dynamics of effective teams, alongside dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact.
Where games fit in
It is important to be honest here: we are not aware of strong research showing that playing a particular online game directly causes a measurable jump in team performance. Anyone quoting precise percentages for that should be asked for their source.
What games can do is create conditions that make psychological safety easier to build:
- Low-stakes mistakes. In a drawing or quiz game, everyone gets things wrong in front of each other, and it is funny rather than embarrassing. That is a gentle rehearsal for being open about mistakes at work.
- Levelling the hierarchy. When a senior manager draws a terrible cat in Draw & Guess, the usual roles soften for a few minutes. People who rarely speak in meetings often speak up during games.
- Learning about each other. Games like Two Truths and a Lie surface hobbies, backgrounds and stories that would never come up in a project update. That makes it easier to see colleagues as whole people.
- Shared reference points. A memorable game round gives a team something to laugh about later. For remote teams who rarely meet in person, those shared moments are scarce.
When team building games backfire
Games are not automatically positive. They can make things worse when:
- They are compulsory. Forcing people to participate signals that the game matters more than how they feel, which undermines the very safety you are trying to build.
- They are too personal. Asking people to share personal struggles or private details in a work setting can feel intrusive, especially for new team members.
- They are highly competitive. Ranking individuals publicly can leave some people feeling exposed. Team-based scoring or no scoring at all is often better.
- They replace real fixes. A fun quiz will not fix unclear goals, an overloaded team or a manager who punishes mistakes. If those problems exist, people will see the game as a distraction from them.
Practical guidelines
- Keep games short and regular. Five minutes at the start of a weekly meeting does more over time than one long event a year.
- Choose low-pressure games for new teams. Quick quizzes, Emoji Guess and drawing games are easier than games that ask people to talk about themselves.
- Make watching acceptable. Some people prefer to observe at first. Let them.
- Let leaders go first. When a manager is visibly willing to look a bit silly, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.
- Ask the team. After a few sessions, ask whether people enjoy them and what they would change. Their answer is the best measure you have.
The bottom line
Team building games are not magic, and the research does not support exaggerated claims about them. But the research on psychological safety does suggest that teams benefit when people feel comfortable speaking up, making mistakes and being themselves. Short, voluntary, light-hearted games are one simple way to make that feel a little more normal.
If you would like to try one at your next meeting, our games page lists games you can run over a shared screen in a few minutes.
