More teams than ever before are remote or hybrid, and even teams that are back in the office together may have spent months to a year apart. No matter how your team is organized, it’s important to spend time developing your team dynamic and forming relationships. How do you develop a team? There are thousands of team building activities, both in-person and virtual, designed to help teams bond, build camaraderie, and create a strong company culture.
The goal of team building activities is to create a more cohesive team that is on the same page. Through these activities, your team will increase communication among team members, showcase strengths and identify weaknesses in your team, improve motivation, increase trust, and practice collaborating. There are also financial reasons to invest in team building. For example, there are high costs associated with employee turnover and bonded teams have stronger employee retention.
It’s important to remember that the goal of team building is collaboration. Some team building activities, such as scavenger hunts, sports, and game shows, have an aspect of competition. However, in these situations, people are still playing on teams and bonding with the people on their teams. Keep the stakes low so things don’t get out of control and winning does not shadow the real goal—to learn to work better together.
Get out of the office. And if you’re thinking of just heading to the bar, keep reading. After-work happy hours are a fun way to get to know your team, but there are more unique (and intentional) ways to get to know each other.
Planning a team building event is a great opportunity to mix things up. Doing something outside of the workplace provides a new setting to practice these skills. A change of scenery is more likely to excite attendees who might be more stoked about going to a ropes course than heading to the board room. (And you don’t want people to skip out on your event or they’ll miss out on all the benefits, and fun.) A new location breaks the routine and can also disrupt the usual workplace hierarchy. Instead of being intimidated by the CEO, you may now be working alongside him to build a bridge faster than the other teams.
It’s important to set a time for teams to put down their emails and to-do lists, and instead focus on team building. For your best return on investment, schedule regular team building events and even team building days. What is a team building day? It’s an entire day where everyone spends time together. (We see the panic in your eyes. The postponed work will get done and spending the time bonding your team is as important as getting through your daily tasks.)
Though you might have done team building at summer camp or in school, you might be stuck wondering, what are fun activities for adults? We’ve got your back. Get started with these unique team building activities.
While you probably won’t learn to make your giant to-do list disappear in this class, your team can learn magic tricks from a real magician, virtually. Classes can host up to 500 people and some include all materials for the close-up magic tricks. (As far as we know, no rabbits or hats are provided, sorry!) Learning a new skill together is a great opportunity for team building. And now you’ll all have new tricks for the next company talent show.
Sharing a meal together is a great way to get to know someone, and food tours turn the bonding and exploration up a notch. During your culinary experience, your team will have one course at a few different restaurants. At, and between, each restaurant, your guide will share history about different foods and the neighborhood. Seating arrangements and mixed up at each spot so different people can get to know each other. Guides are also available to facilitate team building activities during the event. We bet your colleagues will have a hard time finding an issue with an afternoon spent eating, drinking, and bonding.
Spend time cheering on another team. Get together and go to a local sporting event. If tickets to your major league match are too expensive, score cheap tickets to a minor league game. (Remember, though, there are usually group discounts if you buy a block of tickets.) Even if no one on your team is a big sports fan, there’s a lot of opportunity to bond over cheering for the same team.
Many museums around the world host nights at the museum, where only adults are allowed to visit after hours. Though that’s a great after work hangout, you can get even more team building opportunities out of a museum visit. Go on a guided tour of a museum that includes storytelling workshops, team building activities, scavenger hunts, and fun guides.
Remember splitting up into teams and competing in silly games for elementary school field day? Companies like The Go Game can help you recreate that fun. Get out of the office and get playing with a day of lawn games and friendly competition. Let your colleagues know their teams in advance so they can coordinate and wear team colors. Award prizes to the office three-legged race winners or cookie face champion. The Go Game also runs indoor game shows, outdoor scavenger hunts, and more.
Even if you can’t head to the woods together, you can still have a team campfire, remotely. All the supplies, including a campfire-candle, wood matches, and s’more ingredients will be sent and a facilitator/camp counselor will lead rounds of icebreakers, ghost stories, and games. (And yes, of course everyone will get to make a s’more or more!)
If your virtual team can’t get together for a night of pub trivia, you can still get together for a virtual game show. Our hilarious expert hosts who will run a 60 minute game show filled with timely trivia, artistic challenges, music competitions, rapid-fire buzz-in rounds, and more. Each game is designed to appeal to all personality types including introverts, extroverts, analytical thinkers, and pop culture know-it-alls.
Here’s a way to learn a skill that transfers into the workplace. Improvisation is used every day during presentations, sales pitches, phone calls, and more. Why not book an improv class for your team to practice those skills and also spend some time being silly together? Improv theatres teach both in-person and virtual classes. Even skeptics will be laughing and loosened up by the end of the class, and your team will leave with a stronger sense of group think.
Get together and go axe throwing. (Don’t worry, all of the axes are being thrown away from your team members.) Axe throwing is similar to darts-everyone is aiming at a bull’s eye. Indoor venues complete with food and drinks have popped up across the country. Everyone will get trained before starting (safety first!) so they’ll get to learn a new skill together. It’s a fun, friendly competition and even a stress reliever if your company is going through some difficult times. You can also book archery ranges for something similar.
Calling all circus lovers: fly through the air with the greatest of ease after your team building trapeze class. It’s unlikely that most (or any) people on your team are trapeze experts, so this is a great way to create a level playing field for learning a new skill. Plus, trapeze necessitates teamwork; someone has to reach out and grab your hand! Because heights can be scary for some people, check in on peoples comfort level before booking or find another role someone can take a part in from the ground-like being a supportive, cheering section.
No, you’re not going shark diving...unless your whole team wants to interact with some big fish. For this team building activity, you’re mimicking the reality show Shark Tank. Give everyone a week or so to create their own business pitch or a pitch for a new product, service, or improvement to your company. Have some executives or people outside of the company serve as judges. This is a great way for people to share their creativity, passions, and ideas and to appreciate those things in their teammates. Remember to award a prize!
Find your inner artist with a paint night that can be done virtually or in person. Either way, your team will get to show off their creative skills and learn some new technical skills. Head to a venue where all the supplies, and drinks, are provided or book an online event where supplies can be mailed to your team.
It’s fun to share a meal together, but cooking a meal together is an even better way to practice teamwork. If your team is remote, that’s okay! Cooking classes can be done in-person or virtually, with mailed ingredient kits. Your teammates will get a chance to show off their skills and learn new ones while creating something delicious.
How do you bond a team together? Play together. Use these ideas to create a stronger team and build your company culture.
Book your next team building event for in-person or remote teams from our experience library now.