The Best Team Contests to Boost Productivity in 2024

So you may be wondering, how can team contests help break the monotony of everyday work and motivate employees to think creatively, solve problems, and collaborate? Let us explain.

While it’s natural for even high-performing teams to experience periods of low energy, successful managers understand how to inspire fresh enthusiasm and drive business success through contests.

In this article, we’re going to answer a few questions and share the best team contests to keep your employees engaged and winning.

What Are Team Contests?

Team contests are friendly activities where coworkers in an organization compete for a prize or recognition. These coworkers could be in the same or different departments, and the contests might be among individuals or teams. 

No matter how you structure your team contest, it's always a good idea to define your goal(s) and create a theme that your employees can rally around.

For example, if you're looking to ramp up team bonding and collaboration, consider contests that are separate from work activities and involve team efforts. However, if business success is your primary goal, you might engage your employees with activities that gamify work processes like sales, customer support, and quality assurance.

What Makes Up a Healthy Team Contest?

Taking time to set a goal for your team contest is only one part of the story. The other part involves introducing elements that do the heavy lifting for you. The heavy lifting, in this case, is aligning your contests towards your set goals, whether it's improving team morale and bonding or increasing business success.

Here are three main ways to keep your team contests healthy:

1. Start With a Communications Plan: Before your employees raise their hands to participate, they want to understand the contest's goal and what to expect. A communications plan is where your teams first meet the contest, so it's important to highlight all they might need to know. If it’s an out-of-office team bonding activity, use that to increase participation. Don't forget to be clear on the timelines and the rules of play, if any. If a contest runs for an extended period, communicating the results at regular intervals is also a good way to keep your teams engaged. Another great way to build early excitement for your team contest is to incorporate Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions into your communications plan. This way, even shy employees can anonymously ask questions, provide feedback, and start participating before the contest starts!
2. Organize Activities Around Teams Rather Than Individuals: Create an environment where collaboration can thrive by designing contests for groups rather than individuals. A healthy game comprised of a mixed team of individuals. For example, create a team of employees from your sales, marketing, and product departments. It becomes easier for the members of this competing team to meaningfully connect and learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
3. Gather Input From Employees: The best team contest ideas might be lurking around in the minds of some of your employees. No matter their level in your organization, allowing employees to own and make important decisions builds trust and a healthier team. Plus, having employees talk about the contest and their contributions to it encourages participation from their peers.

What Are the Benefits of a Healthy Team Contest?

The most obvious benefit of healthy team contests is your employees are more motivated to drive your organization towards your goals. Other benefits are:

• It promotes innovation. Team contests are popular for leaving organizations better off. They challenge employees to solve a pressing problem, streamline a process, enhance an experience, or create new ideas. Framing it as a “fun team activity,” employees are more motivated to improve the organization.
• It allows for better communication. A healthy team contest brings together employees from different departments. These employees form meaningful connections, which translates to better cross-communication in your organization.
• Your company grows faster. Nothing illustrates this point better than combining the first two benefits above. Increased innovation + excellent communication = Fast growth.
• Your employees learn new skills. During a team contest, your employees might find themselves out of their comfort zones when solving a problem or making something fun. This situation presents a perfect chance for them to learn a new skill that could boost their productivity.
• It encourages a “we” mindset at work. Sitting together to compete and win as a team keeps everyone focused on the shared goal of winning as individuals and as an organization.
• Your employees are better recognized. There’s a familiar story of new hires joining an organization with high spirits and energy only to have that motivation inevitably depleted over time. However, recognizing and rewarding your employees can prevent this. That’s why contests and rewards are a great way to keep your employees valued and connected to their work.

How Does Competition Improve Productivity?

Competition can improve productivity at work through several mechanisms:

• Goal Setting: Competition can lead to clearer goal setting. When targets are set, employees have a benchmark to strive for. These goals can be tied to individual, team, or company performance, leading to a more directed and purposeful approach to work.
• Accountability: Competition can increase accountability among employees. When everyone’s performance is visible, and there are rewards for high performance, individuals are more likely to take responsibility for their work and strive to meet or exceed expectations.
• Performance Tracking: Organizations that foster competition often implement performance-tracking systems. These systems can highlight areas where employees excel or need improvement, allowing for targeted interventions to boost productivity.
• Reward Systems: Competitive workplaces often have reward systems in place, such as bonuses, promotions, or other incentives for top performers. These rewards can boost morale and incentivize employees to work harder and more efficiently.
• Healthy Peer Pressure: Observing colleagues performing well can create a positive peer pressure effect, motivating others to improve their performance to keep up with or surpass their peers.
• Resource Allocation: Competition can lead to better allocation of resources, as companies might direct more support and resources towards high-performing employees or teams, further boosting their productivity.

While competition can have these positive effects, it's important to manage it carefully to ensure it remains healthy and constructive. Overly intense competition can lead to stress, burnout, and a toxic work environment, which can ultimately harm productivity. Therefore, balancing competitive elements with collaboration, support, and a positive workplace culture is key to maximizing productivity benefits.

So, you’ve decided a team contest would be a fun way to fire up your employees and get those problem-solving juices flowing. But what sort of contests are appropriate? What if you’re the leader of a remote team? How do you get your employees to participate? 

Here are the ten best team contests for a more engaged workforce: