The Best 6 Time Management Activities for Team Engagement

Mastering time management doesn't have to be a mundane task.

Forget tedious lectures! This article unlocks a secret weapon for boosting your team's efficiency and morale: engaging time management games and activities.

These games aren't just fun and interactive, they're powerful tools for:

• sharpening individual skills
• building teamwork
• creating a positive work environment.

Interactive Time Management Games & Team Activities

Paper Boat Regatta

Collaboration Skills Training

This activity is a fantastic way to encourage teamwork, resource allocation, and meeting deadlines, all under the guise of a friendly competition!

Materials🔬

• Large sheets of construction paper (or newspaper)
• Masking tape
• Scissors (optional, for creative cutting)
• Pens, markers, or crayons (optional, for decoration)
• A large tub or basin filled with water
• Weights (such as nuts or small objects of similar weight)

Instructions📄

Divide the Team🚣‍ Split the participants into small groups of 3-5 people.

Set the Challenge🏆 Announce that each team will be building a paper boat that can hold the most weight within a time limit (e.g., 15 minutes).

Resource Allocation🔧 Provide each group with several sheets of construction paper, a roll of masking tape, and any other decorative materials you may have.

Building Phase🔩 Let the creativity flow! Teams can design and build their boats using only the provided materials. Encourage them to discuss strategies and delegate tasks effectively.

Decorate (Optional)🎉 If time allows, let the teams decorate their paper boats for extra fun and team spirit.

The Regatta!🌍 Once the time limit is up, gather around the tub or basin filled with water. Each team will carefully place their boat in the water and slowly start adding the weights (one at a time) until their boat sinks.

Declare the Winner! 👏The team whose boat holds the most weight before sinking is the champion of the Paper Boat Regatta!

Debrief (Optional)

After the competition, gather everyone together to discuss the activity. You can ask questions like:

• What challenges did your team face during the build?
• How did you communicate and distribute tasks within your team?
• What design choices do you think helped your boat hold the most weight?

Additional Tips

• You can impose a size restriction on the boats to make the challenge more interesting.
• If you have a large group, you can run multiple heats of the Regatta with different teams competing in each heat.
• For a more nautical theme, have the teams come up with creative names for their boats.

Kanbanize It: Work Process Board Challenge

Project Management Skills Training

Each team will compete to create the most optimized Kanban board for a specific work process scenario.

Materials🔬

• Whiteboard or large sheet of paper (Kanban canvas)
• Markers or pens
• Sticky notes (different colors for flair!)

Instructions📄

Kanban 101▶️ Start with a quick briefing on Kanban boards. These are visual tools that track tasks as they move through different stages, like "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done."

Team Up! 👯Form small teams of 3-5 players.

The Scenario ✍️Each team will receive a scenario outlining a work process with tasks at different stages. It can be related to your actual work or a fun example (think processing orders or designing a product).

Building Your Board 🎬On your whiteboard/paper, create your Kanban board with three columns: "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done."

Sticky Situation📎 Use your sticky notes! Write each task from the scenario on a separate note.

Workflow Simulation🏂 Place your tasks on the appropriate columns of your Kanban board. Consider factors like workload and dependencies between tasks.

Optimization Time!🕐Now, the real challenge begins. Brainstorm ways to improve your workflow! This could involve rearranging tasks, delegating work differently, identifying process bottlenecks for improvement

Revised Workflow💡: Reflect your optimized workflow on your Kanban board. Move sticky notes, add new ones, or create additional columns if needed.

Presenting Your Masterpiece✨ After a set time, gather all teams. Each team will showcase their Kanban board and explain the improvements they made.

Kanban Champions!🏆 The team with the most efficient and well-designed Kanban board, as judged by clarity, flow, and potential for improvement, will be crowned the Kanban Champions!

Time Perception Challenge

Training Time Allocation

This quick and thought-provoking icebreaker will get people thinking about the subjectivity of time perception.

Materials🔬

• None Required

Instructions📄

Set the Stage✅ Briefly introduce the activity, explaining that it's designed to explore our perception of time. Mention there won't be any right or wrong answers.

Minute of Silence⏰ Ask everyone to get comfortable and close their eyes. Instruct them to try not to peek or cheat by looking at clocks or watches.

Open Your Eyes👀 Announce, "Okay, open your eyes when you think a minute has passed." Don't give a specific time limit beforehand.

Time Discrepancies📈Once several people have opened their eyes, wait for a few more moments to allow everyone to participate. Then, ask:

• How long do you think it actually was?
• Were some people surprised by how long (or short) it felt?

Reveal the Actual Time and Start Discussion🔍 Facilitate a discussion about the differences in perception.

Here are some prompts.

1️⃣What factors might influence how long a minute feels? (e.g., anticipation, boredom, activity level)

2️⃣Have you ever experienced time seeming to slow down or speed up? When?

3️⃣How can understanding our perception of time be helpful in daily life?

Time Management Priority Blocks

Polishing Prioritization Skills

Materials🔬

• A hat or bowl
• Small slips of paper with pre-written project names relevant to your team's work
• Colored blocks or construction paper cut into squares (enough for multiple teams to build their priorities)
• Markers or pens
• Timer

Instructions📄

Project Draw🗳️Divide the participants into small groups of 3-5 people. Each team elects a captain who will explain their choices later. Place the project names (written on slips of paper) in a hat or bowl.

Project Selection⭐ Instruct each team to draw a project name from the hat. This will be the project they will prioritize using the colored blocks.

Priority Block Building (3 Minutes)⭐ Set a timer for 3 minutes. Distribute the colored blocks and markers to each team. Within the time limit, each team needs to work together to create a set of blocks representing the priority breakdown for the drawn project.

Color Legend🖍️ Before starting, establish a color legend together. For example:

1️⃣Red: High Priority Tasks (urgent and critical)

2️⃣Yellow: Medium Priority Tasks (important but not urgent)

3️⃣Green: Low Priority Tasks (less important or can be delegated)

Building the Blocks▶️ Teams should discuss the project and decide on the relative importance of different tasks within it. They will then use the colored blocks to represent these priorities. For example, they might use a large red block for a critical task and smaller yellow blocks for less urgent ones.

Captain's Explanation👨‍💼 Once the timer goes off, each team captain gets a chance to present their team's creation. They should explain the project they drew and the rationale behind their color choices for each block. Encourage them to discuss:

1️⃣Why certain tasks were prioritized as red (high) or yellow (medium).

2️⃣How they decided on the relative size and number of blocks for each color.

Debrief and Discussion💡 After all the presentations have a group discussion. Here are some prompts to get the conversation started:

1️⃣Were there any surprising choices made by other teams?

2️⃣Did any teams face challenges in defining priorities?

3️⃣How can this activity be applied to real-world project management?

Additional Tips

• You can adjust the time limit based on the complexity of the projects.
• For a larger group, have multiple rounds with different teams drawing projects.
• Consider adding a "bonus block" category (e.g., blue) representing unforeseen obstacles or interruptions. This can further emphasize the importance of flexibility in prioritizing tasks.

Time Bandit Busters

Identifying Time Wasters

This fast-paced activity will have your team working together to identify and eliminate time wasters specific to a chosen profession.

Materials🔬

• Whiteboard or online collaborative tool (e.g., Miro, MURAL)
• Markers or pens (if using a whiteboard)
• Sticky notes or virtual sticky notes (for remote teams)

Instructions📄

Profession in the Spotlight ⭐ Divide participants into small groups of 3-4 people. Announce that each round will focus on a specific profession you'll reveal shortly.

Simultaneous Brainstorm 🧠 Set a timer for 1 minute. Instruct all teams to brainstorm and list as many potential time wasters as possible specific to the announced profession. Encourage them to think creatively!

Focus on Uniqueness🤩 Emphasize that the goal is to identify unique time wasters that others might not have considered. The more specific and detailed their time wasters, the better.

Time Waster Showdown✍️ Once the timer goes off after 2 minutes, stop all brainstorming. This is the showdown round!

List Comparison📋 Instruct each team to compare their list of time wasters with the lists of other teams. Teams can walk around the room (if in person) or use the online collaborative tool to view each other's lists.

Highlighting Uniqueness🔍 Set another timer for 2 minutes. Each team will now review their own list and eliminate any time wasters already mentioned by other teams. The goal is to have the most unique time wasters remaining on their list. Encourage them to refine their list, adding specifics or merging similar ideas.

Showdown Presentations 📢(2 Minutes per Team): After the time limit, have a representative from each team present their final list of unique time wasters for the chosen profession.

The Time Waster Champions! 🏅Once all presentations are complete, discuss the time wasters as a team. Celebrate the team that identified the most unique and interesting time-wasters!

Debrief and Discussion (Optional)

• How did brainstorming simultaneously influence your approach?
• What surprised you about the common time wasters for graphic designers?
• How can your team apply the identified time wasters to their own work habits, even if not directly related to graphic design?

Additional Tips

• You can repeat this activity for multiple rounds, focusing on different professions each time.
• To add a visual element, have teams create mind maps or diagrams to categorize their time wasters.
• If working remotely, utilize online platforms with screen sharing capabilities for the list comparison round.

Speed Ship with TMetric Data

Ideal Time Management Activity for Retrospectives

This activity uses TMetric data to conduct a productive retrospective with a nautical twist!

We'll identify factors that help your team sail smoothly and those that create choppy waters.

Materials🔬

• Whiteboard or online board (e.g., Miro, Mural)
• Sticky notes
• Access to TMetric Reports

Instructions📄

Gather TMetric Data🔍📈Pull TMetric reports for team activity. Focus on reports showing time spent on projects, tasks, and applications.

Set Up the Board✅Divide the board into two sections: "Fair Winds" and "Rough Seas."

Introduce the Activity✨ Briefly explain that "Fair Winds" represent activities, tools, or processes that help the team work efficiently, while "Rough Seas" represent things that slow them down.

Individual Reflection🤔 Encourage each team member to consider for 5 minutes:

• Tasks that felt time-consuming.
• Tools or processes that helped them complete tasks quickly.
• Repeated roadblocks or delays.

Provide sticky notes and ask them to write down factors impacting their sailing (work experience). Remember:

• Fair Winds🪂 Things that make them work faster (e.g., efficient tools, clear communication).
• Rough Seas🌪️ Things that slow them down (e.g., context switching, unclear instructions).

Sharing and Grouping↗️ Have everyone take turns placing their sticky notes on the corresponding board sections ("Fair Winds" or "Rough Seas"). Group similar notes together to identify common themes.

Discussion💡Set the time limit of 20 minutes. Start with discussing the items listed under "Fair Winds." Brainstorm ways to leverage these factors to improve overall team efficiency. Discuss the items under "Rough Seas." Analyze the time tracking data (if available) to pinpoint areas where time is being wasted. Look for patterns in applications used, tasks taking longer than expected, or frequent project switching.

Charting a New Course🗺️ As a team, brainstorm solutions to address the "Rough Seas" items. Consider delegating tasks, automating repetitive processes, or improving communication channels.

Follow-up 📂Assign ownership and deadlines for implementing solutions. Schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss progress.

Remote Teams

• This activity works well for remote teams. Use a collaborative online whiteboard tool like Miro or Mural for brainstorming and grouping notes.
• If not using TMetric, encourage participants to rely on their own time management techniques (e.g., time logs) when reflecting on their work.

Additional Tips

• Encourage open and honest participation.
• Focus on solutions, not blame.
• Celebrate team wins and identify areas for continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Enhance team engagement through time management games and activities to:

• boost productivity
• elevate job satisfaction
• foster a more cohesive and positive work environment.

Incorporating fun and interactive time management exercises, such as time-blocking challenges, task prioritization games, and efficiency races, encourages team members to develop essential skills while enjoying the process.