Why Leadership Activities Matter (and 6 That Actually Work)

Did you know that 82% of employees believe that poor leadership leads to disengagement? As a result, this makes them consider quitting their jobs. When you have high employee turnover rates, this can be costly for your business, so you need to take the right actions to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Luckily, there are leadership activities that can get your workplace involved and engaged. Not only are these fun, but they’re effective too.

Read on to see why leadership activities are important, how they affect leadership, and which ones can make a real difference at work.

Why Leadership Activities Are Important and How They Affect Leadership

Leadership may seem like it’s just about job titles and authority, but it’s so much more than that. At the core of it, it’s your ability to bring people together to work toward a common goal, so you must have good communication and solid influence, as these are qualities of a good leader.

Of course, it takes time and practice to develop these skills, which is why you should do leadership activities. They impact leadership development by:

• Strengthening communication skills
• Building confidence and decision-making abilities
• Encouraging team collaboration
• Fostering emotional intelligence (EQ)
• Creating a culture of trust and innovation

Now that you know the importance of leadership activities, let’s go over some key ones you should try.

1. The Leadership Compass

The point of this activity is to identify leadership styles and improve team awareness. Leaders can learn how to communicate with people who think differently, which can then lead to better workplace efficiency.

To do this activity, create four labeled areas in the room:

1. North (action-oriented)
2. South (empathetic)
3. East (visionary)
4. West (analytical)

Have each person stand in the area that best represents their leadership style. Then, each group’s members can discuss their strengths, challenges, and how they prefer to lead.

Now for the fun part: mixing things up! You should literally have the team members go to various corners and discuss with one another how different leadership types can work together effectively.

2. Blindfold Leadership Challenge

The blindfold leadership challenge is designed to strengthen communication and trust between leaders and their team members. It allows leaders to practice giving clear instructions, and followers learn to trust and listen carefully, too. These are both vital leadership skills, so everyone strengthens their leadership characteristics in this activity.

This activity requires everyone to break out into pairs, with one person blindfolded. Set up a simple obstacle course that has things like chairs, boxes, or office supplies that are a little tricky to navigate through.

The sighted partner in the pairs must help their blindfolded teammate navigate through the course, using only verbal cues and instructions. Once they’ve successfully made it through, switch roles so each person experiences both roles.

3. The Egg Drop Challenge

As far as leadership training activities go, this one’s excellent for not only teamwork and decision-making, but also creative problem-solving. It’s a hands-on challenge, and you must use quick thinking and collaboration to be successful.

The employees should be divided into small teams, and each gets materials like straws, tape, and paper. Using only these materials, the teams must design a device that protects an egg when it’s dropped from a certain height. The heat is on, as they must do so within 20 minutes!

Afterward, test each team’s devices to see which ones are effective.

4. Delegation Tower

As the name suggests, this leadership activity teaches effective delegation and team trust. Participants will definitely learn the importance of clear direction, trust, and empowering others to execute their ideas.

The workforce should divide themselves into groups of five. One person is the designated leader, and they’ll receive instructions to build a specific structure using blocks or cards. 

The caveat is that they can’t touch any materials! Instead, they have to delegate the tasks to their teammates, instructing them to carry out the actions on their behalf. 

After time’s up, the teams should compare their results and discuss what worked (and what didn’t).

5. Leadership Book Club or Film Discussion

Reading a book or watching a movie can already be fun, and it’s especially thrilling when you can discuss these things with other people. Luckily, book and film clubs can easily be converted into constructive leadership activities!

It’s simple: choose a leadership-focused book or movie, such as “Remember the Titans” or “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” Have everyone read or watch the chosen title before the meeting.

During the meeting, discuss the key lessons and how they can apply to real workplace leadership. This can encourage self-reflection and bring leadership concepts into real-world practice!

6. Survival Scenario

This activity exercises a leader’s ability to improvise and reason while being great at group decision-making. It pushes them to communicate persuasively and negotiate respectfully, as well as reach a consensus under pressure. As you can imagine, these are all invaluable skills in the real workplace.

In this activity, the teams will be presented with a scenario, such as: “You’re stranded in the desert after a plane crash. You only have 10 items.” The teams will then have to rank the items from most to least important for survival.

Once the rankings are finished, reveal the “expert” rankings from survival guides. The teams should then discuss the differences in rankings, why they came to these conclusions, and if they still make sense after seeing what the experts say.

Consider These 6 Leadership Activities to Boost Your Team!

Leadership activities may not sound very fun at first, but after reading this article, you should’ve realized by now that they can be action-packed and engaging! Most are easy to do in the office, too, so you don’t have to do anything complicated to get started.

But why don’t you consider a retreat out in Mexico? Not only does it reward your workforce with some time away, but it also physically takes you out of your normal environment, which can encourage fresh thinking. Not to mention, carrying out activities in the beautiful and sunny Mexican weather is a real treat!

Get your quote now if you’d like a bespoke events day with quality leadership team-building activities. Grupo Events has a bilingual team, and we’re excited to create a day that’s unique for your company.