by Felix Kalkowski, Customer Success Manager, Smart City System Parking Solutions GmbH, Germany
When organizing the team building event aka summer party for my company, Smart City System Parking Solutions GmbH, teamshufflr not just relieved me of a lot of preparation work, the cards also helped in making the whole event a success and fun for every participant.
Team Creation – the old way
In the last few events that we used a setup where different teams were needed, the group formation process was always a hassle. Either we just told the participants to “come together in groups of size X”. This usually led to a discussion about who was going to be in which team and in the end, the same people that usually work together were in the same team again – not the idea of a teambuilding event.
Or the organizer had to set up the groups in advance, which resulted in long spreadsheets (and long hours). This way took a lot of time, but at least the participants were more mixed than in the standard approach.
Better team creation with teamshufflr
Then I found teamshufflr online – a free app that claims: “Easily create and mix teams.” And it really works! The participants of the event were easily distributed into different teams. The random distribution of team members allowed people from different departments who usually do not get into contact with each other to work together on the different team building challenges. And everyone had a lot of fun, since the cards themselves were a topic of conversation!
Why teamshufflr works
In my opinion, there are four main reasons for why shuffling the teams with cards is such a great help.
- Ease of use
Using the tool as an event/workshop organizer is so easy, it is almost scary! You just need to put in the number of participants and the size of groups and voila: you got all the cards you need to make the event happen! But it’s also super easy for the participants. They only need to hold on to their cards and not remember which group they were in.
- A clear ruleset
The cards define a simple rule from the beginning of the event: Your card defines your team. Since this rule applies to everyone equally, regardless of rank or position, it is perceived as fair and accepted quickly. It also helps with the fast and easy integration of people who arrive later (“Glad you’re here, here is your card, go look for your team!”), as they directly belong to a part of the group.
- Suspense and mystery
For this event, I chose seven gimmicks for the cards while only needing two of them. For the whole evening, the people were discussing how the additional gimmicks would be used and what they were for. A little diversion like this can spark the imagination of the participants and keep them excited.
- An easy conversation starter
When different people come together, it can be harder for some to engage in conversation than others. “Do we have a gimmick in common?” is an easy and innocent conversation starter for every participant of a shufflr event.
And as a bonus, every participant has a memory of the event they can take home. I will definitely use teamshufflr in the future to spice up further events, social or professional.
