Team building is important when a new employee joins the company but is also important for existing employees. Most people have been to an awkward induction day at some point in their careers: the icebreaker exercises are tired and overdone and most of the day is filled with paperwork. The key is to make sure the day isn’t all about business and policies; it’s also about team building, engagement and having fun. Make your orientation as innovative as your company is with customised, branded games. We have some suggestions below.
Using Branded Games to Communicate Company Values
Wouldn’t an induction day be more fun if new staff learned about the company by playing a unique game? During an induction, values can be difficult to communicate in a way that resonates or engages. By using a game format, you can present your company’s values as a fun exercise. Using a customised board game that is customised to your company’s reality is one fun and interesting way to help new and existing employees learn more about the company. You could also choose to completely customise the entire game experience. Having every aspect of the game reference the scenarios an employee may face in their workday. Making up a unique game with branded dice tokens and even customising the card’s shape could help employees to learn and remember important information this is called game-based learning. This is a very interactive and fun way to learn.
Gaming to learn is a captivating and interesting means to learn in a working environment, considering how employees get bored of the regular classroom training. To help new employees get to grips with a new company.
We worked with MSD Carlow to create a bespoke Induction Board Game.
Fully Customised Giant Board Game – Floor Snakes & Ladders
Wouldn’t an induction day be more fun if new staff learned about the company by playing a unique branded board game? Of course, it would, and we can make that happen by designing a custom board game that is specific to your company. Here is a giant board game we created for an MSD Carlow for use during induction days. The game was completely customised using the company’s brand colours, logo and bespoke illustrations. The playing cards all include information relevant to the company and the job the new employee would be doing. It is based on the well-known game snakes and ladders. The cards correlated to the usual rules of ladders leading up the board and snakes moving you back down the board. When the player landed on a snake a card with something negative that could lead to reduced productivity at work was readout. When the player landed on the ladder to climb up the board a positive card was read out that again was in relation to MSD.
The board itself featured custom illustrations, MSD Carlow wanted to promote their location and so we included bespoke illustrations of historic sites and interesting facts about Carlow such as the Dolmen and Carlow’s connection to Elvis. We also created illustrations that were relevant to the work the company does.
As well as the board, we created many bespoke elements for the game. One such element was spot prize cardholders, these were created as 3D replicas of the MSD logo. As shown below, the piece held an envelope with a spot prize card inside. The spot prize cards were designed to be fun, using bright colours from the MSD brand guideline along with elements from the giant snakes and ladders game.
We also created custom game instruction cards. Each card was branded with the MSD logo and colours. If a player landed on a certain space on the board a card would be readout. Two sets of cards were printed, one set for staff and the other set for the person running the induction day.
As a twist to the traditional Snakes and Ladders game with snakes in fixed locations on the board, MSD requested “surprise snakes”. The purpose of these snakes during the induction day was to point out how sometimes errors occur that are completely unpredictable. This keeps the players on their toes and reminds them not to be complacent in their roles in the company as at any moment something could go wrong that they would need to deal with. The person running the game could throw in a giant “surprise snake” at any point during the game which would result in a setback for the team. We designed the giant snakes to match the snakes printed on the board. We also ensured they were made to be durable and machine washable. They were branded with small tags which featured the MSD logo and care instructions.
Another element we produced was an interactive dice. This involved anne+co. creating graphics to be displayed on an iPad for use during the game.
The final design element used with the corporate board game was a PowerPoint presentation that would be displayed in the background. We created graphics to match the board so that all players could see the progress of the game on a large screen.
The feedback from our client was great. All of the new employees were happy to get involved with the game and found it very enjoyable. Bespoke corporate board games should be designed with maximum fun in mind and we certainly enjoyed this design project!
Although the end result is fun we ensure that we view each project here in anne+co. from a practical point of view. This means that we take the time to research different materials and production processes to ensure the end product looks great and is suitable for repeated use. Just some of the practical issues we considered during this project:
- Non-slip surface for board
- Ease of assembling of board
- Ease of storage of all elements
- Clear sealant over graphics on board
- Lamination on cards to minimise wear and tear
- Machine washable snakes
- Light team markers for easy movement
- Digital Dice to avoid the high production cost of large custom dice
During an induction, values can be difficult to communicate. By using a game format, you can present your company’s values as a fun exercise. Using a customised board game that is customised to your company’s reality is one fun and interesting way to help new and existing employees learn more about the company. You could also choose to completely customise the entire game experience. Having every aspect of the game reference the scenarios an employee may face in their workday. Making up a unique game with branded dice tokens and even customising the card’s shape could help employees to learn and remember important information this is called game-based learning. This is a very interactive and fun way to learn. Gaming to learn is a captivating and interesting means to learn in a working environment, considering how employees get bored of the regular classroom training. To help new employees get to grips with a new company, why not create a bespoke Induction Board Game. By creating a customised game your vision and values will be clear to all – communicating them in a creative and engaging manner helps everyone to remember them. This could be a giant-sized game as per the MSD game above or a standard-sized game to be played at a desk.
Induction Day Scavenger Hunt
One key part of induction is usually a tour of the building. Office tours can be pretty boring. Yes, it’s important to know where the printer, canteen and marketing department are. However, it could be engaging and fun. Why not add some fun to the experience by turning a tour into a scavenger hunt? Clues could be provided by current staff so it is a great way to encourage the new staff member to introduce themselves. To facilitate this idea, anne+co. would design and create a custom map of your company’s premises. In addition to the map design, we would design bespoke clue cards branded with your company’s corporate identity. The result would be a fun branded scavenger hunt for your company.
Branded Drafts / Checkers / Chess Game
If designing a new board game seems overwhelming why not keep it simple? Brand an existing game where only the board and team markers would be branded. We would use your company colours and logo on the board with an option of having the game pieces branded too. Below is an example of the game checkers branded in the company colours and using business-relevant game pieces.
By basing your game on a classic game like chess / drafts / checkers your employees will already be familiar with how to play the game. This speeds up the process and as they are familiar, they will be comfortable and jump straight in. This type of customisation would be quick to design and could be produced relatively quickly here in Carlow.
Customised Connect Four
Four in a row or Connect Four would be a great corporate branded team building game. The below example is made from wood which gives a very high-end look to allow for display in a reception area.
Bespoke Guess Who Game
Another classic game which would be perfect for a fun induction activity would be Guess Who. This classic game could be completely customised so that each character would represent a different role in the company. This would be a fun way for new employees to learn about the different activities and roles that people perform in the company. Below is an example of a giant guess who for SSE.
Team building is not just for new employees even the best teams can benefit from team-building exercises; they’re a great way of improving communication, morale, motivation, productivity, helping employees to get to know each other better, and learning about one’s strengths and weaknesses. Team building activities can be used by any business, large or small, to promote better teamwork in the workplace, and as most business owners and managers know, great teamwork is one of the key factors associated with a company’s success.
Team building/induction games can be customised however you would like in order to fit into your company’s ethos, and relate directly to the culture at your office. Depending on the nature of your company, different games may work for you better than others.
