A workplace that does the same repetitive tasks every day can become dull. Employees won’t look forward to coming to work, and there’s no sense of satisfaction if there are no goals to achieve. That’s why it’s essential to give your staff interesting challenges that push them out of their comfort zones, providing opportunities for growth.
In this article, we’ll look at what it takes to make a challenging environment, why it’s essential for employee satisfaction, and how it can boost productivity. We’ll also show you how online team building virtual escape rooms can help.
What is a challenging environment?
When we talk about a challenging environment, we don’t mean making it so hard for your team to perform work that they want to run for the hills. Instead, we’re referring to providing goals and activities that push them towards working with the tools, knowledge and skills they have at hand. It teaches them more about their capabilities, inspiring them to aim for more.
Why is it important to create a challenging workspace for your employees?
Employees feel a sense of satisfaction when they complete a challenging task. They solved problems to overcome obstacles, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. In a way, online team building games like Virtual Amazing Race do the same thing, setting them off to uncover clues and completing seemingly difficult assignments.
Challenging workspaces also make employees feel more committed and engaged with assignments, especially where they’re working remotely from home. When they are involved, there’s a sense that they are valued by the employer. It increases happiness and productivity, which increases the bottom line as an end result.
How can you create a challenging workspace for your employees?
With a better idea of what a challenging workspace involves, here’s how you can create one for your employees.
1. Create more opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration
When employees work with the same colleagues every day, they develop a comfort zone that’s hard to break out of. The same ideas circulate for all projects, and there’s no fresh perspective. It’s time for you to mix up your teams, showing them new faces and voices in your company from other departments.
It may seem challenging for them at first to share their thoughts with new people, but they get to show off their skills. Also, they may find it difficult to communicate effectively with unknown colleagues. One way you can encourage cross-departmental collaboration is with a virtual escape room, where they’ll need to work together to solve puzzles and find the way out.
2. Understand their strengths and weaknesses
The only way you can create an effective challenging work environment is by understanding the employees’ strengths and weaknesses. You need to know what they struggle and excel with so that you can assign the appropriate tasks.
When they overcome obstacles with their skills, it leaves them with a sense of achievement. With this knowledge in hand, you can construct an online team building game like Zombie Escape Room with customised settings where you assign specific tasks to individuals based on their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Organise non-work-related games
Sometimes, it helps to take the employees’ minds off work for a while. If they’re struggling with a project, it may assist to give them a different perspective to find the answer. Non-work related games are also entertaining, bringing some joy to office and remote workers.
They also help to make them feel closer. One example you can try is the Pirate Virtual Escape Room which is bound to bring a smile to everyone’s faces when they work together to win the game.
Challenge your team with Making Teams
Having happy and productive employees in your company means they’ll enjoy completing projects. To boost their morale and make them aim higher, you can create a more challenging work environment, even if they work from home. Online team building is the ultimate way to bring them together and test their skills.
Please contact us for more information or book a demo for any of our virtual escape rooms. We’ll be able to customise them to suit your needs.
