Which games are best suited for strengthening team cohesion in companies? A team at Fachhochschule Dortmund is now researching this. After all, the need is great—and so is the potential.
When the pandemic brought Germany to a standstill, hundreds of thousands of people suddenly found themselves working alone from home. The pandemic eventually ended, but the trend toward remote work did not.
And while working from home has its advantages, many companies are realizing that physical separation can also drive people apart socially. Even the smoothest video connection doesn’t help—teams start to fall apart. Tensions rise. The word “together” loses its meaning.
Problem-solving coaching sessions? Oh, no. Classic team-building activities like escape rooms, cooking classes, and painting workshops? Yawn.
Games? Games!
In that case, let’s go with games. That’s the research approach taken by Prof. Dr. Jennifer Tiede and her colleagues Nina Kiel and Nicolas Hoberg. Games, they argue, offer a safe space free from performance pressures. At the same time, there are many parallels to work where one can develop in a positive way. Winning and losing, for example, foster a healthy culture of learning from mistakes.
Plus, games are—you guessed it—fun. Team building isn’t limited to working on problems, says Prof. Dr. Tiede, but benefits from having a good time together and experiencing success as a team. Board games, by the way, are just as suitable for this as digital games. Promising candidates include, for example, “PICO PARK” (PC, Switch, PlayStation), “Top Ten Adventures” (board game), and “Minecraft” (PC, consoles, mobile).
The research begins
The research project has been underway since January 2026. In the first step, Prof. Dr. Tiede and her team select games based on organizational criteria: low hardware requirements, minimal preparation, low barriers to entry, accessibility, high replay value, data protection, and much more are important so that companies can use them successfully and for all employees.
The games are then examined based on personal criteria: What skills are required and potentially fostered? Are there cultural nuances that could create barriers? And are the games truly appealing to (almost) everyone, or only to a specific age group?
Database with App
In addition, eight or more people should be able to play at the same time, so as to do more than just strengthen cohesion within small groups. “We’re focusing on fully cooperative games for now,” explains Prof. Tiede. That means everyone is on the same team. Because that’s what it’s all about. In the next step, the scientifically selected games will undergo practical testing at two project partners’ sites.
The goal is to create a database of games, each of which is uniquely suited to bringing colleagues closer together. Using a free tool, companies could search for games that match their individual needs and requirements—alongside other measures that will be developed over the three-year project period by the scientific project partners at TU Dortmund University and the University Medical Center Rostock.
The "KoSpirit" Project
The name stands for “Cooperative Games and Work Designs That Foster Connection for Resilient and Innovative Teams.” In addition to their scientific research, Prof. Dr. Jennifer Tiede, Nina Kiel, and Nicolas Hoberg are contributing to the design of the evaluation, the collection and analysis of data, and the development of supporting materials.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). It is part of the funding initiative “Work Practices for Creativity, Innovation, and Resilient Value Creation” (AKIRes) within the “Future of Value Creation” funding program and will run through December 31, 2028.
Partners: TU Dortmund, Rostock University Medical Center, PAG – Perspektive Arbeit & Gesundheit, Clausohm-Software GmbH, rku.it GmbH.