Organising a team-building event sounds simple. Until someone suggests tackling an obstacle course with twelve colleagues, someone else wants an escape room, and half the team is mainly hoping there will be food afterwards.
A good team-building event doesn't have to be spectacular to work.
What matters most is that people experience something together. Something they will still talk and laugh about afterwards — without anyone feeling forced to have fun.
Because putting twenty people into the same activity doesn't automatically make them a team.
Here are nine original team-building ideas for companies looking for something a little different.
1. An improv workshop
With improv, no one knows in advance what is going to happen. And that is exactly the point.
Participants respond to one another, build on each other's ideas and discover that there isn't always one right answer. And you don't have to be a born actor or an extrovert to join in.
The result is usually plenty of laughter, while the group is also — almost without noticing — practising communication, listening, flexibility and letting go.
“People first need to feel that they aren't going to make fools of themselves”
That is something I see very often when a group starts Zonder Script.
For the first few minutes, people can be a little hesitant. Understandably so. No one knows exactly what is going to happen, and no one wants to be the first person doing something completely absurd while twelve colleagues watch.
But the moment they realise it isn't about good or bad, funny or not funny, something changes.
Someone does something unexpected. A colleague picks it up. The group starts laughing. And before they know it, they are in it.
That is exactly what I love about improv. You don't need to feel confident before you take part. Often, that confidence emerges because you take part.
And sometimes the best moment is when someone who said very clearly at the start, “I'm really not joining in with this,” is acting out the most absurd scene ten minutes later.
2. A comedy or humour workshop
Humour doesn't have to mean that everyone suddenly becomes a stand-up comedian.
Fortunately. I have enough competition already.
A workshop about humour can explore why certain things are funny, how to take a more playful view of situations and how humour can break tension.
“Laughing together briefly takes people out of their job titles”
To me, that is one of the most powerful things about humour.
When people laugh together, for a moment they aren't the manager, project lead, intern or colleague from accounting. They are simply people who find the same thing funny at the same time.
That creates connection without having to invent an exercise called “Connection Exercise 3B.”
Humour can also reduce tension. One well-timed remark can completely change the feel of a meeting that got off to a stiff start.
But humour at work is also a matter of timing and context. Not every joke works in every group. And not everyone needs to be the funniest person in the room.
That is why Humor Effect isn't about learning to tell jokes. It is about discovering how to use humour in a way that suits you and the situation.
3. A public speaking and storytelling workshop
Everyone tells stories.
During presentations, meetings, conversations with clients, or simply by the coffee machine when someone asks how your weekend was and, eight minutes later, you're still talking about it.
That is why a workshop on public speaking and storytelling can have a surprisingly wide range of uses.
It isn't about teaching everyone the same presentation style. It is about helping people feel more comfortable when they want to get something across.
“Speaking well doesn't mean becoming a different version of yourself”
That may be one of the biggest misconceptions about speaking to a group.
Many people think that being in front of an audience means you automatically have to become more extroverted, energetic or impressive.
But you can actually become a stronger speaker by staying closer to who you are.
In Speak & Spark, I therefore work not only on storytelling, voice and body language, but also on authenticity.
How do you connect with an audience? What is your body saying while you speak? How do you deal with nerves?
You don't have to be a born speaker.
Above all, you need to discover how you speak best.
4. Improv games and surprising challenges
A team-building event doesn't always have to be a full workshop.
Short improv games and surprising challenges can also help colleagues see one another in a different light.
The person who usually observes quietly during meetings might suddenly be the one with the most absurd idea.
And someone who is always very serious at work may turn out to be remarkably good at completely nonsensical situations.
That is exactly why improv works so well as a team-building activity: it briefly takes people out of their usual role.
You see sides of colleagues that might never appear during a normal working day.
And no, you don't have to push anyone onto a stage to make that happen.
5. A walk with a challenge
A team-building event doesn't always have to take place within four walls.
A walk can create a different dynamic all by itself, especially when you add small challenges, questions or observations.
For groups who spend a lot of time behind a screen, the change of surroundings alone can feel refreshing.
Away from the screen for a moment. Out of your head. Together in the moment.
A good challenge doesn't need to be complicated. Sometimes a conversation with someone you don't normally work with very often is surprising enough.
6. A body language workshop
Your body says far more than you think.
How you stand. Where you look. How you move. How you enter a room.
And especially: what you do while saying that you are “not nervous at all.”
A body language workshop can let teams experience, in a surprising way, how communication works before a single word has even been spoken.
“Your body speaks before you have said a word”
That is what I find so interesting about body language.
We often think communication begins when we start talking. But others have already read us before we say our first sentence.
That doesn't mean you have to think constantly about where your hands are or adopt the perfect “open posture.”
That will only make you uncomfortable.
It is much more about awareness. What are you projecting? What does your posture do to your message? How do you come across when you enter a room?
I find it especially interesting because small changes can sometimes make a big difference.
7. Team building around communication and collaboration
If you want an activity to offer something meaningful about working together as well, you can choose exercises centred on listening, association, responding and collaborating.
The interesting thing is that you don't have to turn it into a heavy management exercise.
In fact, the less it feels like a management exercise, the more likely people often are to genuinely engage with it.
Through improv, for example, you can experience very concretely what happens when someone doesn't listen, immediately rejects an idea or continually tries to control where things are going.
You don't need to make a PowerPoint about it.
You simply see it happen.
8. Try something new together
An original team-building event can absolutely include something that makes people think in advance:
I've never done this before.
It doesn't have to be extreme.
Trying something new in a relaxed setting can yield a surprising amount. People can't rely on their usual expertise or role for a moment.
The project manager is no longer the project manager.
The quiet colleague may turn out to be the person who makes everyone laugh.
And the person who always says they are “really not creative” suddenly comes up with the best idea.
That is also what I love about improv. You can't always prepare people for what is going to happen. And that is precisely why some of the best moments emerge.
You don't necessarily have to learn something useful.
Sometimes doing something completely different together is useful enough.
9. Let the team have a say
Possibly the simplest tip of all: ask people what they enjoy.
That doesn't mean twenty colleagues have to design an activity together. By the time a decision is made, another quarter will have passed.
For example, offer three very different team-building ideas and let the team choose.
Not everyone needs to have the same favourite activity. But involving people in the choice can already change how they approach it.
And perhaps that matters more in the end than whether it is the most original team-building event of the year.
What makes a team-building event truly successful?
To me, good team building for companies isn't about how much noise people make or how spectacular the activity looks on Instagram.
It is about what happens between people.
Can colleagues step out of their everyday roles for a while? Is there room to try something new? Do people get to know one another in a different way?
And above all: does it feel natural?
Not everyone enjoys jumping around in front of a group, telling a personal story or suddenly having to perform a dance together because it is supposedly good for group dynamics.
A good team-building event takes that into account.
Team building doesn't have to feel forced
That is also what matters to me in my own team-building workshop, Without Script.
We work with improv, humour and playful exercises. People don't have to play a part or be the loudest person in the group.
There is room to observe at first, join in when it feels right and gradually loosen up.
If I could say one thing to someone organising a team-building event for their company, it would be this:
Don't just choose something you think will look fun. Think about the people who will be taking part.
An activity can look fantastic on paper and be completely wrong for a group in practice.
You don't necessarily have to organise anything spectacular, either. A good team-building event lets people step out of their daily roles for a while, get to know one another in a different way and share an experience.
My favourite moment is when, by the end, people have forgotten they are actually at a team-building event.
When colleagues laugh together. When someone suddenly shows a completely different side of themselves. When something happens that people are still talking about afterwards.
That is when, I think, you have found something that works.
And no obstacle course is required.
Barbara Loots organises interactive team-building sessions, workshops and keynotes for companies on humour, improv, communication, body language and public speaking.