The Ultimate Team Building Activity Guide

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What is team building

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If you thought building a team meant hiring the right people for the right jobs and getting them to communicate appropriately to achieve productivity, think again. 

First, you gather your team; then you build it.

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Traditionally, team building involves getting your team together for activities that are not related to their usual tasks and agenda. These activities are usually outdoor activities, games, workshops, and brainstorming sessions designed to foster connections and collaboration between people in new ways. Team building can be done at the office or, most usually, at a dedicated venue for one to several days. 

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Team building has evolved dramatically over the years from after-work drinks on Friday and foosball table competitions to body jumping and going to Burning Man, to give extreme examples. 

It is not just us saying this; some people have actually researched the history of team building. In the early 1900s, people started to put together that the environment (hot, cold, humid, drafty) and the company around you could impact productivity. It is only in the 80s and 90s that team building, as we might recognise it, emerges. Finally, in the 2000s, Google and its likes made going to work “cool” by throwing in foosball tables, beanbag chairs, and colourful designs, calling the office “campus,” and using fancy personalised team-building tactics.
At this time, though, most of the connections/get-togethers are on-site or near the office. 

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2020 and the global pandemic are the next significant shifts, forcing companies to think outside the box to get their teams together online and, post-pandemic, to keep nurturing a team spirit despite the increasing number of distributed teams. 

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It is important to note that while these activities are often focused on fun and “out-of-the-day activities,” team-building sessions can also address more serious matters with a twist, such as goal-setting discussions through play, leadership training through dance or career visualisation through painting. 

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How does it differ from team bonding? 

Team bonding and building are often used in the same context to describe any kind of team gathering that breaks the usual 9-5 work schedule.

However, bonding and building are two different words for a reason. They have different meanings. To oversimplify it, team bonding is about having fun together, and team building is about learning together. It is more complex than that; we wrote a dedicated piece on the topic if you are curious.

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Why does it matter

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In a nutshell, what those 1900s researchers came to realise is that it positively impacts productivity.
At first, they thought it was all about dimming the light, and then they realised what truly mattered was that employees felt that the manager cared about the conditions they were working in. That became known as the Hawthorne Effect after the researcher who conducted the light experiment. 

This came to show (among many other things) that while the environment does matter, the fact that people felt acknowledged and considered had a more significant impact on their productivity. 

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Almost a century of research later, we now understand even more about productivity. 

Here are 11 of the most essential strategies to put in place to boost your team.

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• Have clear communication
• Setting clear goals
• Delegate and empower
• Provide the right tools
• Encourage  collaboration
• Ask for and give regular feedback and recognition
• Share time management techniques
• Prioritise
• Promote work-life balance
• Offer continuous learning and Development opportunities
• Lead by example
  

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Interestingly, research shows (and we also noticed it) that team-building activities, such as play, workshops, and brainstorming sessions that do not resemble work, help in overlapping areas. 

To focus on only the main ones, team building activities are known to:  

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Improve Communication

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To keep it very simple, team-building activities, good ones, often lead to a greater sense of camaraderie, which, in turn, makes communication easier. 

When we dive a bit deeper, we can see that many communication layers can be addressed with simple enough activities such as blindfolded games that encourage clear verbal communication, storytelling that promotes active listening, or even something as “basic” as Charades works on non-verbal communication. 

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Enhance Collaboration

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Some people are great at communicating, that is, exchanging information timely and clearly, but they are unable to collaborate efficiently with others. 

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A fun way to put it to the test is to watch your team try to figure out a riddle or build a Leonardo Bridge. The Human knot is another interesting one. It forces individuals to listen to each other while being joined by hands, sometimes in slightly uncomfortable positions, preventing body language from supporting their communication. 

Potential leaders can reveal themselves during such exercises, which are opportunities for people to show new facets and talents not seen in their professional environment. 

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Increase Motivation

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Motivated people are often characterised as purpose-driven and goal-oriented (among other things). Many activities that touch upon goal setting or engaging employees in a brainstorming workshop for the company's future, for example, are perfect examples of team-building sessions that will enhance motivation among team members.

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Improve Problem-Solving

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In the same way, team-building activities of all sorts can encourage collaboration and communication; they often call upon people’s problem-solving skills, whether it is to untangle themselves from a human knot, find a “treasure,” or escape from a room. 

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Strengthen Relationships

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As we have seen, people who play together tend to communicate, collaborate, and solve problems better. This strengthens their relationships as they trust each other more and know they can rely on each other. 

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Understanding the power of these simple, often prop-free, activities can definitely bring your corporate team retreat to the next level. 

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How often should you host team-building activities?

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While many people seem to enjoy the work-life balance remote work tends to offer, in a 2023 study by FlexJobs, 96% of respondents shared that a remote or hybrid working arrangement would best support their mental health; many mention the loss of social interaction as one of the downsides. It is easy to understand that what people miss the most are informal chats and water cooler moments. Those moments build relationships beyond work tasks.

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As with everything else in life, we advise favouring quality over quantity.
However, it should never be a one-off occurrence. Like Rome, relationships are not built in a day and demand attention regularly. There needs to be more than one successful event to foster a long-lasting team culture, especially for employees who rarely see each other off Zoom.

That is why more than any other setup for distributed teams, it is essential to make time for regular team-building activities. How often, however, truly depends on the size of the team, the situation (fully remote, hybrid, across continents..), and of course, the budget. 

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Where is it best to host team building activities?

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There is a tendency to say it is all about the people you are with. While we agree, the environment does play a part. 

That is why Google offices look like the inside of a gumball machine: colourful, fluff and toys everywhere. As fun as this looks, science shows that nature is the way to go when it comes to building teams. 

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The spaces we are in nudge us. They impact our mood, our creativity, and our willingness to collaborate. We have already written about the power of retreats in nature and how they differ from get-togethers in the city. 

As we zoom out of team retreats in general and into team-building activities, we observe that nature also plays a great role. 

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To keep it simple, it has all the benefits of team-building activities in urban settings (the office, a restaurant, or a bar…) with the added benefits of being in Nature. 

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Beyond the research that has been done on the impact of nature on our well-being and mental health, stress levels, and focus,  being outside often implies real-life challenge activities and more physical tasks that create strong shared memories and a greater sense of belonging and accomplishment. Being outdoors brings a sense of adventure and encourages people to break down barriers (between departments and hierarchies), as they are more relaxed when surrounded by nature. 

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That being said, it does not necessarily mean that you have to go on a team retreat abroad to do team building. We do not want to be blowing our own horn here. Corporate retreats demand time and budget, and while we believe they are essential regularly, alternatives exist, such as local parks, rooftops, rivers, and seasides, or even the back garden of a teammate can work for more regular and shorter activities in between larger get-togethers. 

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Face-to-face team building vs. remote

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It is no surprise that we believe face-to-face team-building exercises are the most powerful ones. We can all understand that electronic communication tools reduce social cues such as body language, that we need to build strong relationships, that time is always counted during online meetings, and that it is more challenging to create an online space for casual interactions and bonding… 

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That being said,  we love the idea of a hybrid approach. Hosting online team-building sessions weekly or monthly, leading to one or two face-to-face team retreats a year, could be the perfect balance. 

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Dos and don'ts of team building

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Can you guess the top 3 adjectives associated with the prospect of team-building exercises from a survey done on UK employees by YouGov in 2021?

'Dread,' 'annoyance,' and 'indifference.' 

Let's be honest. We have all been there. Aren't we all a bit sceptical when urged to play those "games" that are supposed to bring us closer together and create an atmosphere conducive to more collaborations? It could be because we feel like we have tried them all. Or it could be that they actually very often stay on the surface. Here are some essential Dos and Don'ts when it comes to organising your team-building activities: 

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• Have clear goals: always maintain sight of what you are trying to achieve through such or such activity. 
• Be consistent: One-off activities might create a “buzz,” but the impact will only last if the team-building happens regularly and consistently with several dedicated events and gatherings throughout the year. 
• Manage expectations: team building activities can be scary or stressful for some. Make people comfortable by being transparent and managing expectations around what activities will happen so people can prepare for them. Remind the team why you are doing this. 
• Tailor to Team Size: Consider which activity best suits your team size and what is most needed for this specific group. 
• Invest Adequately: Make sure to allocate sufficient resources to make activities impactful.
• Be inclusive: Only some people love (or can do) a hard-core workout or a two hours hike uphill. These activities should be fun and "out of the ordinary" ways for colleagues to bond, not yet another way for the most competitive individuals to show off and "perform".
• Follow up: The work does not end when the event does. Back home and at the office, make sure to follow up with your team, the venue and the provider, as well as with your participants, to learn what can be improved and what worked very well. 

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Don'ts

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• Avoid Generic "Catch-All" activities that do not contribute much to the team just so you can say you did something “fun.” 
• Remember to underestimate the role meals play - these are not downtime but full team-building sessions as people who eat together, trust each other more and do more together - leave enough time for meals and conversations, encouraging the team to eat together. 
• Don’t force it

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We’ve addressed why some employees might not want to join the “fun” in one of our pieces already. The key learning is to accept that not everyone will always want to join all activities, and that is ok.  You will achieve greater trust by respecting people’s social boundaries. 

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• Don't wait for the next retreat.
  As we saw earlier, there are many other occasions to organize team-building sessions throughout the year between retreats. 

Check out our piece about dreadful team-building activities to learn more. 

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At the end of the day, the important thing to remember is the goal, which, more often than not,  is to foster connections between people. To minimise feelings of awkwardness, disconnections, and non-inclusions, ask for employees' feedback on the different activities beforehand, remind everyone that those games are optional, and adapt to different levels of abilities.

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Cost of team building activities vs ROI

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Measuring the ROI of team building activities is similar to calculating the ROI of a team retreat.
There is the emotional part, the subtle changes (louder laughter, meals drag on to chat longer, spontaneous games and plans for the evening together…)  that, in the long run, improve trust or mental health but are challenging to put into data or even monetary terms. Then, the outcomes of these “emotions” can be measured, such as increased productivity or decreased turnover. 

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Different researchers have investigated the impact of team-building activities and found that they can improve team performance by up to 25% and increase job satisfaction and motivation, which in turn positively impacts turnover and innovation. 

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Of course, how often and how much you invest in team-building activities will also impact the outcome. 

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How do you measure your team building ROI? 

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• Start by setting realistic and measurable goals. 
• If you need help with how to do that, work with your retreat manager to help you organise the most relevant program for your needs.
• Plan for immediate and post-activity feedback and surveys and make sure to track KPIs-related 
• related to teamwork and conflict frequency.

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Getting people excited about team building

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Some people are reluctant to relax among colleagues, and playing games can feel quite stressful. 

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• Start by addressing the possible push back, whether it is a previous negative experience or introversion. 
• Be clear on the purpose of the exercise and/or activity. 
• Engage your team early on and include them in some of the planning. Participatory data research has shown that people who are part of the process are more likely to engage and participate. 
• Offer a couple of options. 
• Keep it simple and consistent. 
• Ask for feedback to improve the subsequent activity sessions. 

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Successfully balancing the need for fun and relaxation with the necessity of goal setting is the key to organizing meaningful and relevant team-building activities. 

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Team building activities that make a difference

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We gave the example of five team-building activities that make a difference in a blog piece back in 2022. Beyond specific games, you can narrow it down to a few categories of activities with the most significant ROI (usually): 

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• Problem-solving activities such as treasure hunts, escape rooms, or “puzzles” work on your team’s collaborative and communication skills, force them to think outside the box and be creative, and reveal strengths and leadership potential in individuals.  

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• Outdoor adventures take the team out of its comfort zone, building trust and resilience within team members; there is a strong sense of achievement, shared memories are created, and you have the added benefits of being in nature.

• Skill-based workshop sessions during which participants actively learn something new that they can implement immediately. 

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• Volunteering and/or community support creates a sense of shared purpose.

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Don't forget the "in-between" moments

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This last tip is mostly relevant during a team retreat of several days.
Then, it is essential to remember that the unplanned moments also build your team. 

Talking to Quick Release in June 2023 after their team-building retreat with Campfire, marketing business function owner Jonathan Noy shared his personal tip: “Remember to allow for off time for people to be together in an unstructured way. Activities are good, but don't forget the power of unstructured time in a nice setting.” 

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The landscape of team-building has transformed significantly, from traditional outings to innovative experiences that adapt to our evolving work environments, especially in the wake of the pandemic.
Clearly, these activities go beyond mere entertainment and play an essential part in enhancing communication, collaboration, and trust among team members. These are essential for a cohesive work culture, particularly in remote or hybrid settings where informal interactions are limited. Organisations can cultivate an atmosphere where every member feels valued and engaged by prioritising quality over quantity and ensuring inclusivity in activities. Successful team building ultimately involves creating genuine shared experiences that strengthen relationships and enhance productivity.