Team building refers to various activities and events aimed at improving teamwork, communication, trust, problem-solving, and interpersonal relationships among employees. It’s an important investment for companies as strong team dynamics lead to higher engagement, productivity, and retention.
Research shows that team building activities can boost collaboration by up to 50% while also enhancing job satisfaction and work relationships. That’s why over 80% of organizations make team building a priority.
This article will provide an overview of 37 exciting corporate team building events ranging from simple icebreakers to elaborate full-day events. There are engaging options for all group sizes, settings, and budgets.
The activities below are designed to bring employees together through fun challenges and experiences. They tap into creativity, strategy, and teamwork. Participants will bond while problem-solving, collaborating, and strategizing.
Many of these team building activities lead to friendly competition that encourages camaraderie and motivates teams. Shared memorable experiences help break down barriers between colleagues and departments.
Icebreaker Games and Activities
Icebreaker games and activities are a great way to have team members get to know each other in a fun and casual setting. These quick introductions help break the ice and set the tone for team bonding. Here are some ideas:
The Name Game
Have everyone stand in a circle. The first person says their name and an adjective that starts with the same letter. For example “Silly Sarah”. The next person repeats the first person’s name and adjective, then adds their own. “Silly Sarah, Jumping James”. Go around the circle until everyone has said their name. The last person has to repeat everyone’s!
Two Truths and a Lie
Have each person secretly write down two true facts about themselves and one lie. Take turns reading the three statements and have the group guess which one is the lie. This helps team members learn interesting facts about each other.
Find Someone Who
Create a bingo-style grid with facts like “has run a marathon”, “plays an instrument”, “has visited Asia”. Team members mingle, asking each other questions to find someone who fits each box. First to complete their grid wins!
The Ball Toss Name Game
Stand in a circle and randomly toss a ball to each other, calling out the catcher’s name before throwing it. See how long you can go without dropping the ball or repeating a name. This fast-paced game energizes people and puts names to faces.
These quick, interactive games are a great way to break the ice. They get conversations started, reveal shared interests, and help team members make connections.
Outdoor Team Building Events
Outdoor events are an excellent way to get your team out of the office and work together in a new environment. Consider organizing a scavenger hunt, obstacle course, outdoor games day, or nature walk.
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a fun way to explore a new area while working together to solve clues and complete challenges. Split your team into small groups and give each a list of items or tasks to photograph or complete. The team that finishes first wins! You can make the hunt as simple or complex as you like.
Obstacle Courses
Obstacle courses encourage teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. Set up a course in a park or field using objects like hula hoops, balance beams, tunnels, and monkey bars. Time each team as they work together to complete the course. Getting everyone across the finish line is more important than speed!
Outdoor Games
From ultimate frisbee to touch football, outdoor games bring out everyone’s competitive side while emphasizing collaboration. Set up a round-robin tournament and have teams face off in contests like tug of war, potato sack races, or water balloon tosses. Award fun prizes to the winning team.
Nature Walks
Nature walks are a relaxing way to get outside and connect as a team. Find a scenic hiking trail or walking path and take your team on a guided hike, pointing out interesting sights and facts. Stop along the way for photo challenges, scavenger hunts, or team building exercises. End with a scenic picnic lunch or campfire.
Getting your team outside provides a refreshing change of pace. Outdoor activities emphasize communication, problem-solving, and teamwork in a fun, active environment.
Indoor Escape Rooms
Escape rooms have become a popular team building activity in recent years. They require colleagues to work together to solve puzzles, find clues, and accomplish tasks in order to “escape” the room within a set time limit.
Escape rooms encourage teamwork, problem-solving, and communication in a fun and engaging way. You can find specialized escape room companies that will come to your office and set up a customized room with puzzles tailored to your industry or company culture.
Some ideas for escape room challenges include:
Finding hidden objects or clues that require searching the entirety of the room. This promotes communication as team members must describe what they are seeing to others.
Solving puzzles like codes, ciphers, riddles, or logic problems. This activates critical thinking as the team must analyze clues and think creatively.
Assembling pieces into a larger puzzle or contraption. This requires collaboration and task delegation as they determine how pieces fit together.
Opening locks or compartments by finding keys, entering number codes, or manipulating mechanisms. This involves persistence and problem-solving skills.
Completing challenges against a ticking clock. The time pressure adds excitement and energizes the team to work quickly.
Escape rooms allow colleagues to see each other’s strengths, such as attention to detail, making intuitive leaps, or keeping the team on track. Co-workers bond while collectively achieving the goal of escaping the room through teamwork.
Volunteering Events
Volunteering events are a great way to bring your team together for a meaningful purpose outside of the office. Giving back to the community can really strengthen bonds within your team and provide a sense of fulfillment.
Some ideas for charity events include:
Volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen. This allows the team to work together in an assembly line to help prepare and package meals for those in need. It’s a hands-on activity that lets everyone contribute.
Organize a park or beach cleanup. Get your team outside together while tidying up public spaces and improving the environment. Make it fun by breaking into small teams and making it a competition to collect the most trash.
Build homes for Habitat for Humanity. Construction projects allow for different roles like painting, roofing, and more. It’s very collaborative and you get to see the tangible impact at the end.
Work at an animal shelter. Have team members socialize the animals, walk dogs, clean facilities, etc. Caring for the furry friends will melt everyone’s hearts!
Volunteer at a children’s hospital. Your team could read books to kids, make arts and crafts projects, or help with events and activities. Boosting the spirits of sick children is incredibly rewarding.
The key is choosing a cause or organization that resonates with your team. Make sure to plan time for reflection afterward to discuss the experience and its impact. Volunteering together forges strong bonds and memories that will unite your team.
Cooking Competitions
Cooking competitions are a fun way to get your team bonding and working together in the kitchen. Set up a friendly competition by dividing employees into small teams and giving them a food challenge. You could have them come up with their best chili recipe, make pizzas from scratch, or have a cupcake-baking battle.
The key is keeping it light-hearted and giving them enough time and resources to get creative with recipes. You’ll spark their competitive side while also encouraging collaboration within each team. As they strategize, share tasks, and present their final product, it strengthens relationships and communication.
Tasting each other’s creations is a great way to wrap up the activity. Have judges score based on presentation, taste, and originality to crown a winner. Consider awarding fun prizes like personalized aprons. Most importantly, designate some time for people to provide peer feedback and recognize the strengths of their fellow team members.
Cooking activities check off a lot of boxes when it comes to effective team building. They utilize problem-solving skills, get people working together, and provide a well-deserved break from desks and devices. The kitchen is an ideal setting for laughter, learning, and lasting memories.
Office Games
Office games are a fun and easy way to boost morale and bring your team together in the workplace. Setting aside time for some friendly competition with trivia, board games, video games, or office mini-golf allows employees to bond and take a break from their usual work.
Trivia
Hosting a trivia game is an engaging team building activity, especially if you theme it around your company or industry. You can split people into small teams and have them compete to answer pop culture, sports, history, or other trivia questions. Offer small prizes for the winning team to up the incentive. Get creative with your questions to make it specific to your office – ask things like “In what year was our company founded?” or “How many branches do we have nationwide?”.
Board Games
Pull out some classic board games like Jenga, Scrabble, Monopoly, or Chess, and let your team bond over some friendly competition. Board games encourage collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and relationship building. Let employees play in pairs or small groups and switch up the teams each round. You can keep score and award prizes to the winning team. Make sure to have a mix of skill-based and luck-based games.
Video Games
For a modern take, set up a video game tournament using multi-player games on game consoles or computers. Games like Mario Kart, Just Dance, Super Smash Bros, and Overcooked are energetic, silly, and bring out people’s competitive sides. Video games help foster camaraderie, teamwork, and stress relief. Set ground rules about keeping things fun and friendly. Have employees sign up in teams of 2-4 people and compete in brackets for bragging rights.
Office Mini Golf
Turn your office into a mini golf course for the day! Set up putt-putt holes around the office using items like cardboard boxes, cups, hoops, and office chairs as obstacles. Employees can play in groups and rotate through the holes. This gets people moving around, working together, and laughing. You can tally final scores and recognize the top “golfers”. Mini golf is an interactive way to transform your office into something new and fun.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts activities are a great way to tap into your team’s creative side. Consider holding an art contest where team members submit paintings, drawings, or other artistic creations based on a theme. You can display the artwork in the office and have employees vote on their favorites.
Another idea is to break your team into small groups and give each a DIY challenge using random craft supplies like pipe cleaners, pom poms, googly eyes, etc. See who can create the most innovative sculpture or structure in a set timeframe. The silliness and laughter from this activity bring out everyone’s inner child.
You could also have everyone decorate t-shirts with fabric paints and other embellishments. Then wear the customized shirts at your next team event. Creative projects like these allow your team to collaborate, think outside the box, and express themselves in new ways outside of their normal work. The end results become fun mementos of your time together.
Talent Shows
Talent shows are a fun way to get team members involved in a creative activity outside their normal job duties. Consider hosting a talent show event where team members can showcase their singing, dancing, comedy, or other talents.
Karaoke
Karaoke is an interactive and entertaining activity for a talent show. Set up a karaoke machine and have team members sign up for slots to get on stage and sing their favorite tunes. Make sure to have a good selection of songs to appeal to diverse musical tastes. Award prizes for the top karaoke performers.
Improv / Skits
Encourage team members to tap into their improv skills by putting on skits or improv shows. Form teams and give them time to prepare a short comedic skit or improv scene to perform in front of the group. Improv helps build confidence and quick thinking skills in a fun setting.
Talent Contests
Host a team talent show where individuals or groups can perform any talent of their choosing–singing, dancing, magic tricks, playing an instrument, comedy routines, etc. Let team members vote on the top talents. Hand out fun prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Talent shows allow team members to showcase their skills outside of work.
Reflection and Key Takeaways
Team building activities provide an excellent opportunity for team members to get to know each other better in a fun and engaging environment outside of their regular work. The activities help break down barriers between team members, improve communication, and build trust.
After participating in team building activities, it’s important to have a reflection session. This allows the team to discuss what they learned and how the activities impacted group dynamics. The facilitator should ask reflective questions like:
- What was your favorite activity and why?
- What did you learn about your teammates through these activities?
- How did the activities help us work better as a team?
- What can we do moving forward to keep improving our teamwork?
Some key benefits of team building activities include:
Improved communication – Activities encourage teammates to interact in new ways, practice active listening, and get comfortable expressing themselves. This builds stronger relationships.
Problem-solving – Many activities present challenges that the team must work together to overcome. This promotes creativity, critical thinking, and cooperation.
Trust – Fun bonding experiences help team members open up and show vulnerability. Knowing each other on a personal level increases trust.
Conflict resolution – Healthy competition and challenges allow teammates to experience disagreements and work through them productively. This strengthens the team.
Appreciation – Participating in activities provides insight into teammates’ strengths, talents, and personality types. This builds mutual understanding and appreciation.
In summary, thoughtfully planned and facilitated team building activities offer tremendous benefits for bringing teams closer together, fostering collaboration, and enabling continuous improvement. The shared experiences and lessons learned help to build a cohesive, supportive team.
