There’s no reason for corporate team building events to be dull or awkward. They can stir creativity, engage your people and, dare we say—they can be fun, too.
But there’s something of an art to organising the right event for your company. For instance, what’s something that everyone can get on board with, that works for your team size and budget? And most importantly: what’s an activity that will get people bonding and working together?
We’re here to help. Here’s 33 ideas for your next corporate team building event.
Contents
Why are corporate team building events important?
Icebreaker activities
Indoor corporate team building activities
Outdoor corporate team building activities
Offsite activities
What are the best team building activities for small groups?
Why are corporate team building events important?
Because relationships matter in the workplace. You’re working alongside your colleagues week-in, week-out, and trust us: it helps a great deal if you have a friendly connection.
Team building activities create environments where people communicate, solve problems and build camaraderie. They learn about each other’s strengths (who knew that Carol in accounts had such a good singing voice?) and quirks (turns out Jacques in marketing really loves playing charades) without the regular routine and pressures of deadlines, meetings and objectives. It also brings people together who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily cross paths.
Plus, having fun together boosts morale and makes people feel appreciated.
Icebreaker activities
1. Two truths and a lie
This is a good option for smaller teams (you can also break people into smaller groups). The premise is simple: each person offers three statements about themselves, two that are true and one that’s a lie. It’s up to everyone else in the group to guess which one is the lie.
It’s a great way to break the ice and have people get to know each other better.
2. Office trivia
Like a pub quiz, only focused entirely on your company and the people within it. When done well, we’ve personally seen these go down a treat. Remember to keep the questions lighthearted and fun. For example: What colour was our logo initially before we changed it two years ago? Who among us can play the flute? Who completed two Ironman triathlons last year?
3. Human bingo
We’re big fans of human bingo here at Kindred. It goes like this: everyone is given a bingo card that lists different facts you need to “collect” about other people. For instance: someone with a pet, someone with two siblings. The idea is that you move through the room and ask people questions to find out who you can match to each fact. Once your bingo card is full, you’re done!
4. What we have in common
This is a simple one but it gets to the heart of what team building is all about: bonding and learning more about each other. Have your team break into groups and give them a time limit to come up with three things they all have in common. To make it harder, make the groups bigger or have everyone come up with more answers. At the end, have everyone come together into a big group to come up with three things you all have in common.
5. Birthday lineup
Have everyone in your team line up side-by-side, in order of their birthdays (months and days, not years). Only they’re not allowed to speak while doing it.
Indoor corporate team building activities
6. Escape room
Problem solving and working together? An escape room fits the brief perfectly. These aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but if it’s something you think your team would be on board with, they can be a really engaging and fun activity.
7. Murder mystery
Here, everyone in your team receives their own character and storyline—and one of them is the murderer. By talking to each other (as their characters) and trying to eke out clues, the task is to figure out who the murderer is. Meanwhile, it’s the murderer’s job to cover their tracks and point the finger elsewhere. If you think your team would be up for it, you could even have everyone dress as their characters.
You can buy murder mystery storylines and character profiles online. Also, our upstairs Library is the perfect backdrop for a murder mystery party.
8. Scavenger hunt
Have your team work together to follow a series of clues that lead them to a final prize. You can book a pre-arranged scavenger hunt around London, which is a popular choice (especially if you have a larger group). Or if you’re feeling adventurous, you could put together the clues yourself.
9. Singing workshop
Trust us: this is fun! These workshops are run by providers and will have your team singing together. While you might feel some nerves at first, these will settle as you all get into it. Workshops like these help to break the ice and encourage your team members to let go of their inhibitions.
10. Charades or pictionary
These are much-loved party classics for a reason. Both are games anyone can play that involve communication, creativity and problem solving. Not to mention that they’re highly sociable games that often drum up plenty of laughs.
11. Case study challenge
For something that’s a bit more directly related to work, have your team work together to solve a hypothetical business or real-world problem. You could have them work in small groups and then come together at the end to share their plan and how they’d go about it.
12. Hackathon
This one is aimed at technical teams and companies. A hackathon is where people (usually developers) come together to complete specific technical challenges. Sometimes, they all work together and other times it’s a competition to see who can get there the fastest.
13. Human knot
Gather your team members in a big circle and have them join their hands (both left and right) with the person standing opposite them. Soon, everyone will form a big human knot. The task is to untangle everyone without opening your hands. It calls for strong communication and collaboration, and the game ends when everyone is standing in a circle with joined hands.
14. Reverse engineering challenges
Break your group into small teams and give each of them a mechanical device (a small toy is ideal—make sure it’s a simple device that is safe to dismantle). Their job is to break it apart and figure out how it works. The idea here is that your people work together and share ideas: how can we take it apart safely, what are the mechanisms that seem to be at play here?
15. Company book club
If your team is partial to reading, why not start a company book club? People can choose a different book each month and take it in turns to lead the discussion. You might choose to host his offsite in a lovely cafe.
16. Coffee roulette
Match up different members of your team randomly each month and have them go for a 30-minute coffee break. You can get apps (including Slack plugins) that do this for you. We’ve found that setting aside the time for connecting during the workday really helps people to get on board with this.
We run a coffee social every week day at 11am for our coworkers, so we can vouch for this idea.
17. Office talent show
Depending on your office, this might not be for the faint hearted. Have your team members work in groups or separately to put together an act for the office talent show. It could be anything: singing, juggling, listing every episode of Friends in alphabetical order. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun so try to encourage your team not to take it (and themselves) too seriously.
18. Dragon’s Den
Have your team members come up with and pitch fictional business ideas to a panel of “dragons”, which might be senior management. To shake things up, you could randomly select people to be the dragons instead. Here, some companies may choose to have people pitch solutions to real problems that are related to your work, for instance ideas for new features for your app or products that you might launch.
19. Board game creation
Working together in smaller groups, have your colleagues come up with a concept for a new board game. They should be able to explain the idea behind it and how it’s played. You might decide to get everyone to pitch their game at the end, or to draw up prototypes.
20. Choose your own adventure
Those of us who experienced the nineties might remember “choose your own adventure” books, where you could pick a decision or path a character took and skip ahead to a section of the book that follows that new storyline. Well, you can also play this as a game with your colleagues. There’s plenty of online games you can choose from, so this one might be a great shout for remote teams.
Outdoor corporate team building activities
21. Obstacle course
Looking for something a little more adventurous? You could have your team complete an obstacle course. There’s plenty of courses out there you can visit, including inflatable and ropes-based ones, with varying levels of difficulty.
22. Sports day
Alternately, head out into a park or field and have your people compete in different “sports”, like potato sack or egg-and-spoon races. These are well-loved activities that everyone recognises and can get involved in.
23. Capture the flag
Here, two competing teams aim to capture their rival’s flag. Each team needs to protect their own flag while staging an offense to grab the other. It’s a game of strategy, communication and creativity.
24. Company picnic with games
A more lo-fi version of a company sports day would be to simply have a picnic with a few gentle games, like cornhole (where you throw a small beanbag into a hole that’s placed a few metres away). It’s an event that’s ideal for the summer months.
25. Mini golf
This is a great choice for teams of all sizes. Mini golf is fun, simple and accessible—anyone can play. It’s enough of an activity to break the ice but relaxed enough to get people chatting and laughing together.
Offsite activities
26. Team cooking class
Bring your team together to learn how to make something delicious, whether that’s fresh pasta, dumplings, sourdough bread, pastries or more. Following the guidance of an instructor, your colleagues will work alongside each other while chatting and having a great time. Plus, you all get to share a brilliant meal at the end.
27. Volunteering
For companies who like to give back, why not have your team volunteer for a good cause? Not only will they be working together on something unrelated to the office, but they’ll be putting their skills to good use by helping others. Volunteering can be incredibly rewarding and is a wonderful way to bring people together.
28. Rock climbing
Yep, you can do rock climbing as a team-building activity. There’s plenty of centres in London that have climbing walls to suit all skill levels, with instructors and all the necessary equipment. An activity like this helps people to bond and face challenges alongside each other.
29. Go karting
Another higher octane activity is go karting. It’s more ideal for smaller groups—and it can be a lot of fun. Again, there’s plenty of providers around London that can get your team suited up and ready to ride.
30. Cinema trip
Why not rent out a private cinema and treat everyone to a film? You could show a classic that everyone likes or have people vote on a film ahead of time. And if you add in plenty of great snacks, it’s sure to be a hit.
31. Art workshop
Unlock your team’s creativity in an art workshop. There’s loads of providers offering these around London: you could do anything from making a vase to painting a masterpiece, through to collaging and making jewellery. Activities like this help people to unwind and let their creative juices flow, all while getting to know their colleagues.
32. Yoga retreat
If you’ve got an office full of yogis (or even those who would be open to trying it), why not take them on a dedicated yoga retreat? It’s a lovely way to de-stress and get people to connect with each other.
33. Charity walk or run
Have your people lace up their trainers or walking shoes and get moving for a good cause. You could have your team collectively decide which cause they want to support and even work together to fundraise.
What are the best team building activities for small groups?
In smaller groups, it’s really about forging those interpersonal connections and having people spend quality time with one another. The added advantage is that you usually don’t need a complicated set up to do this.
Think about the core type of experience you want your team to have. Do you want them to sharpen their problem solving skills or perhaps tap into their creativity? Or is the aim more to have them get to know each other and build trust? Whatever you decide will inform which type of activity is best.
Some of our favourite ideas for smaller teams are:
- Scavenger hunt
- Escape room
- Company picnic and sports day
- Rock climbing
- Cooking class
- Volunteering
Your next corporate event
But what about the venue for your corporate event? Kindred is a much-loved West London events venue in the heart of Hammersmith.
We can host a range of team-building events and have a variety of spaces to suit companies of all sizes. For instance, there’s breakout spaces on our top floor while our large, airy Hall is ideal for larger groups.
And when you’re all done with your activities, head to Cellar, our downstairs Hammersmith bar and restaurant, to enjoy a delicious spread.
Take a look through our private hire brochure or go on a virtual tour of our building to learn more about us. We would be delighted to show you around our building if you prefer to visit us in person. Just get in touch with our friendly team to arrange it.
