In this article, 1st Formations, who are top of the table regarding UK company formation, look at the different benefits of organising sporting activities in your business – whether it’s a 5-aside football team, running club, or chess society (yes, chess is considered a sport!).
Let’s kick off…
Boost to company culture
As you strive to build a team that can help your business succeed, you’ll no doubt be looking for different ways to foster a positive company culture. Generous pay, great benefits, and plenty of time off will undoubtedly make your people happier, but they don’t encourage your team to get on and work together in a collaborative environment.
This is where things such as regular team lunches, social Fridays, parties, and, yes, sporting activities come in. By organising different events that focus on sports, your team can work together (and against each other) in a way that is entirely separate from their normal tasks.
Company culture is integral to keeping your best people and attracting new top talent. When an individual looks at your business and considers whether or not they should join you, they will look at everything you have to offer – not just salary and holiday entitlement.
A great company culture, aided by regular sporting activities, can be a significant tool in your arsenal that can make the difference between someone snubbing or joining you.
A chance for new interactions
As a business owner, you will deal with some employees more often than you deal with others—especially if your business is large. This will generally be the case for all of your employees; there will be people with whom they interact regularly and others with whom they hardly speak.
By arranging a sporting activity, such as a table tennis or pool tournament, you will allow employees to interact with colleagues with whom they wouldn’t normally interact. Again, this is great for company culture as your team will be more of a whole rather than a group of disparate departments that rarely deal with each other.
Furthermore, if you also take part in the activities (which you should), then the sport will act as a leveller. Rather than being viewed solely as ‘the boss’, you become simply another participant equal to everyone else taking part. This will enable you to connect with employees in a completely different way and help you build up trust.
Physical and mental wellbeing
Taking part in sports is a great way to stay physically fit. By arranging activities for your team, you are demonstrating that you care about their physical well-being and are enabling them to get active… perhaps even during work time (a tactic that will certainly encourage participation).
In addition to the physical benefits of exercise, your employees will also experience a positive impact on their mental health. This is because endorphins and serotonin (‘feel-good chemicals’ that are released by the brain during and after exercise) make you feel better, lifting your mood. This can be a fantastic release for anyone who is feeling stressed out.
This will all help you build a fitter, happier workforce—and yes, one that takes less sick leave. Find out more about the physical and mental benefits of staying active.
New people can shine
Sport is a brilliant way to showcase skills that are not immediately obvious but can still be relevant to a business.
For example, you may have a typically understated employee who becomes more vocal when partaking in sports, demonstrating leadership skills that you weren’t previously aware of. Someone may showcase an eye for details and tactics you’d never seen before. Or an employee was simply proactive in getting the event itself organised.
In all of these instances, you could explore adapting roles to take advantage of these transferable skills. Even the simple act of scoring a goal or winning a sprint can elevate a previously quiet employee into a position of standing, giving them a well-needed confidence boost and sense of belonging that they didn’t previously have.
Something to shout about
In this age of social media, businesses are always looking for different ways to humanise their brand and connect with customers and other potential business contacts.
By arranging sporting activities, you are giving the content creators within your business fresh material to work with that can be shared with an appropriate audience. In turn, you might then receive some solid engagement.
This tactic will also be useful in attracting new people to your business, as you can highlight just how vibrant your workplace is and how happy your staff are. Something as small as a netball team could make all the difference between someone choosing to join you over a competitor.
Partner opportunities
Affiliating with other businesses is a brilliant way to build your business. The right partnerships can help you improve your offering and potentially introduce you to a world of new customers.
Once you have found a possible partner, there will be several things you need to do to solidify your relationship. Of course, you’ll need formal meetings to discuss the terms of the partnership and hold regular catch-ups to discuss progress, but it’s also useful to have an outlet for getting to know the partners more personally.
Sports can provide this opportunity. Sure, you can pursue the more tried-and-tested formula of wining and dining; however, you should also explore adding a sporting angle.
Perhaps you could hold a golf tournament whereby you invite partners along, or if that sounds too stuffy, how about a summer sports day followed by a picnic and drinks? Such activities can be particularly enriching if you have a charity partner as they can easily be converted into fundraising events.
It beats the alternatives
Office culture in the UK tends to revolve around alcohol. Summer and Christmas parties are usually boozy affairs that often result in bad dance moves, sore heads, and, simply put, regret.
Sporting activities can be an antidote to this old-fashioned way of socialising. Rather than spending a huge amount of money on booking a restaurant and then a pub for afterwards, why not make these occasions a tad more wholesome and inclusive by booking a bowling alley or a space dedicated to darts, mini-golf, or even cricket?
These are a great chance to add a sporting element to social occasions at the same time catering for people who would like to drink alcohol and those who want to avoid it.
So there you have it
That was why sporting activities and your business could be the perfect matchup.
Of course, there are some considerations that you need to be aware of when organising and running the events:
- Ensure that they’re inclusive regardless of ability
- Arrange multiple activities focusing on different sports, not everyone likes football)
- Always take the necessary health and safety precautions
- Don’t force people to take part. Instead, look at alternative ways they can get involved
- Act quickly if conflict does arise because of an activity. If it becomes a regular occurrence, you might need to cancel the activity in question
Keep these in mind at all times to ensure everyone gets the most from the activity. We hope you found this article useful.
Do you need to register a UK limited company? Whether it’s a private company limited by shares, a limited by guarantee or a limited liability partnership, 1st Formations can help. As the UK’s premier company formation service, they represent the perfect starting point for any business. Take a look at their company formation packages now.