16 original ideas for a successful team building

Team building is an essential tool for strengthening cohesion within a company and improving employee well-being.

However, it is not always easy to find original and effective ideas to organize an event that will be memorable and strengthen team cohesion within the company.

Do you need to organize a team building event? Are you looking for creative and original activity ideas to motivate your teams? Then you have come to the right place! Deskeo has prepared a selection of 16 original and effective activities for a memorable team building.

What is team building?

Team building refers to all the fun activities organized by a company to strengthen team spirit, improve interpersonal relationships and optimize collective performance.

These activities can take the form of:

• sports challenges,
• creative workshops,
• role-playing games,
• or even nature excursions.

Whatever activity you choose, the main goal of team building is to:

• encourage positive interactions among employees,
• develop mutual trust,
• and foster a healthy group dynamic.

By choosing an activity tailored to your team's specific needs, you can greatly enhance cohesion and communication within your company. But that's far from the only benefit of this type of event…

The Benefits of Team Building

When done well, team building operations can be particularly beneficial for companies as they help to:

• Strengthen cohesion and team spirit.
• Improve interpersonal communication.
• Boost employee motivation and engagement.
• Develop a positive and supportive work environment.
• Stimulate creativity and innovation.
• Better manage stress and prevent conflicts.
• Discover new talents and skills among employees.

In short, by organizing regular team building events, you have the opportunity to create a strong corporate culture and promote employee well-being.

5 Ideas for Sports Team Building Activities

Sports activities are an excellent way to strengthen team cohesion while encouraging a healthy competitive spirit and getting some exercise. Deskeo has prepared a selection of 5 sports activities that will easily help you achieve these goals.

Obstacle Course

An obstacle course is a team building activity that involves overcoming a series of physical obstacles as a team. Participants must collaborate to find the best strategy to overcome each challenge, whether it is climbing walls, crossing ditches, or passing through nets.

This activity is particularly useful for improving team cohesion as it encourages:

• communication,
• trust,
• and mutual support among teammates.

Each person must therefore rely on each other's strengths and help each other to succeed, which creates strong and lasting bonds.

Sporting Olympiads

Sporting Olympiads are a set of varied events organised as a competition between different teams within the company.

These events can consist of activities such as:

• relay race,
• tug of war,
• shot put,
• or an orienteering race.

This wide variety of events allows everyone to find their place according to their abilities.  They thus promote team spirit by encouraging collaboration and healthy rivalry between departments.

Guided Hike

The guided hike is an activity that combines discovering nature with physical effort. Accompanied by an experienced guide, your employees set off on an adventure on marked trails to explore beautiful landscapes and get some fresh air.

Beyond its benefits for health and well-being, hiking is an excellent way to strengthen bonds between colleagues. Faced with the challenges of the terrain, your employees must therefore:

• help each other,
• motivate each other,
• and look after one another.

Informal exchanges during the walk also allow each participant to get to know each other better outside the office and to develop more authentic relationships.

Orienteering Races

Orienteering races are very effective team-building activities because they combine thinking and action. Equipped with a map and a compass, teams must follow a route filled with puzzles and challenges to reach checkpoints.

This life-size game stimulates communication and collective decision-making. Teammates must:

• analyse the given information together,
• develop a strategy,
• and distribute tasks effectively to progress.

Orienteering thus develops problem-solving skills, teaches teams to manage their time and resources, and values collective intelligence.

Outdoor Activities (surfing, climbing…)

Outdoor activities such as surfing, climbing, rafting or tree climbing are powerful experiences that are very effective in uniting a team.

Usually supervised by instructors, these outdoor sports require overcoming apprehensions, trusting teammates, and pushing oneself together.

But they mainly allow you to:

• create memorable memories,
• enhance the feeling of collective pride,
• reveal unsuspected talents,
• and build strong team bonds by discovering each other in a different light.

Not all your collaborators are fans of physical exertion? That's okay, there are plenty of other types of activities. And particularly creative activities!

4 original ideas for creative team building

Creative activities are another way to stimulate team cohesion by tapping into everyone's imagination and expression. If you are dealing with a team of creatives, the following 4 activities should therefore be a hit.

Painting Workshop

A collective painting workshop is an opportunity for collaborators to express their creativity and create a joint work. Guided by an artist, participants learn different techniques (watercolour, acrylic, pastel…) and unite their talents to create a painting or a mural.

This activity is particularly effective in team building as it:

• promotes communication and cooperation among teammates,
• reveals everyone's sensitivity,
• values individualities,
• and shows that it is the combination of singularities that makes the richness of the collective.

Sculpture session

A sculpture session is a unique experience to boost a team's creativity tenfold. With the guidance of a professional sculptor, employees discover the work of clay, wood, or metal to create individual or collective works of art.

Sculpting together teaches one to:

• express their ideas,
• listen,
• and adjust their actions to those of others.

This activity is therefore a beautiful metaphor for teamwork where everyone contributes to the common project.

Unconventional brainstorming

When we think of brainstorming, we often struggle to imagine the fun side of it. However, there are brainstormings like no other, capable of boosting your team's creativity.

The idea is simply to gather your collaborators around an unusual, fun, or even whimsical challenge, to force them to think outside the box.

You can, for example, ask them to imagine the office of the future, invent a new language, or create a custom board game.

By confronting new problems in an unconventional setting, your employees learn to:

• think differently,
• overcome preconceived notions,
• and build on each other's suggestions.

Unconventional brainstorming is therefore an excellent way to unleash your team's creative potential and generate innovative solutions.

Lego construction sessions

The famous Lego bricks are not just for children! More and more companies are using them as a team-building tool to stimulate creativity and improve team cohesion.

The principle is simple: participants must create a specific construction (a building, a vehicle, an object...) within a limited time and with a fixed number of pieces. This constraint forces teams to optimize their resources, make strategic choices, and coordinate their actions.

Lego construction thus develops:

• communication,
• collective problem-solving,
• and project management.

But it is also a fun way to unleash creativity and reconnect with one's inner child for the duration of a workshop.

Have you already tried creative activities and now want to focus your team building around games? Then the following activities will surely please you!

5 activities for fun team building

Games are a fantastic tool for team cohesion. Organising fun team building activities is therefore an excellent way to encourage your teams to collaborate and communicate together while having fun. And the following 5 activities should allow you to easily achieve these results.

Quiz nights

Quiz nights are a classic of team building, but they remain timeless. The idea is to organise a friendly competition around a series of general knowledge questions or questions related to your business.

This fun activity will allow you to create a true team spirit among your employees by forcing them to combine their strengths and knowledge to score points.

It is also an opportunity to:

• discover each other's hidden talents,
• value individualities,
• and maintain healthy competition between departments.

Board game tournaments

Too rarely organised during team building, board game tournaments are nonetheless an excellent activity to strengthen cohesion and collaboration between colleagues.

Faced with tactical traps, complicated questions or whimsical situations, teams must demonstrate strategy, cooperation and communication to win.

This type of activity will encourage teams to work together and teach them to:

• get to know each other better,
• listen to each other,
• and trust each other.

This fun and friendly experience will strengthen their team spirit and develop better synergy in their daily work.

Karaoke

Who doesn't love singing loudly and off-key? Often set aside during team-building, this activity is nonetheless ideal for breaking the ice and encouraging personal expression.

By singing together, participants will learn to:

• get to know each other,
• support each other,
• celebrate their hidden talents,
• but above all, to let go.

This fun and friendly experience will strengthen group cohesion and allow everyone to express their personality and share their musical tastes, thus fostering authenticity and kindness within the team.

Escape games

Escape games have been very popular in recent years, and that's great because they are very effective in strengthening company bonds.

The principle: a team is locked in a room filled with puzzles and must find a way to escape within 60 minutes.

To escape in time, participants must pool their talents and work hand in hand.

Under pressure, teammates therefore learn to:

• consider everyone's ideas,
• manage their stress,
• and to persevere collectively.

The escape game thus offers an intense experience to live and debrief together!

Organized treasure hunts

Nothing like a treasure hunt to motivate your troops! This activity, which combines reflection and action, involves finding a "treasure" by solving a series of puzzles scattered over a given area (company premises, city centre, park, etc.).

Between orienteering and scavenger hunt, teams must collaborate to decode clues and progress together.

This unifying activity awakens the spirit of competition and values collective intelligence.

Are your employees in the thick of it all year round and in need of some rest? Then why not opt for a relaxation and well-being team building?

4 well-being activities for a relaxing team building

Work time can sometimes be very demanding and intense. Organizing a relaxation and well-being team building can therefore be a good way to give your employees some breathing space and reconnection time both with themselves and with others. Here are a few ideas for well-being activities to pamper your teams.

Yoga workshop

A yoga workshop is an excellent way to refocus on oneself and to enjoy some well-deserved relaxation time. Under the guidance of a teacher, participants learn postures and breathing techniques to relax, centre themselves, and rejuvenate.

And while it is generally perceived as a simple activity, yoga is much more than that because:

• it helps to relieve stress,
• improve concentration,
• and become self-aware.

But it is also a wonderful team-building tool. Indeed, practising together creates group harmony, synchronizes energies, and strengthens the feeling of belonging.

Meditation session

Mindfulness meditation is becoming increasingly popular in companies. This practice, which involves focusing on the present moment by paying attention to one's breathing or bodily sensations, is a powerful cohesion lever.

This type of activity teaches participants to:

• listen to themselves and others,
• observe their thoughts without judgment,
• and cultivate kindness and compassion.

And that's not all since meditation also helps to improve stress management, mental clarity, and creativity, valuable qualities in business.

Themed weekends

What better way to bond your teams than to offer them a refreshing weekend focused on well-being? Gathered together during a retreat in nature, a stay at a spa, or a personal development workshop, your employees can enjoy a bubble out of time and out of their workspace to:

• recharge their batteries,
• build connections,
• and discover new facets of themselves.

The goal is to promote both individual and collective fulfillment in an environment conducive to relaxation.

Nature retreats

An immersion in nature is a unique experience to unite and recharge your teams.

In contact with the elements, far from the urban hustle, participants reconnect with the essentials. They become aware of their place in a larger whole and cultivate a peaceful relationship with their environment.

Simply put, a nature retreat is the opportunity to recharge batteries and bond your teams sustainably.

As you will have understood, there are numerous original activities available to animate your team buildings. But to create an unforgettable team building, good organization is key.

How to create an unforgettable team building?

Have you found the ideal activities for your team building? Do you wish to offer your employees an unforgettable moment? Then you need to organize everything with the utmost care.

The key steps to planning a team building

A successful team building primarily involves good organization. It is therefore important to:

1. Define objectives: cohesion, communication, creativity...
2. Choose an activity that fits your objectives and team.
3. Set a date and location in consultation with the participants.
4. Select a reliable and experienced provider.
5. Communicate in advance to generate buy-in.
6. Plan logistics: transport, meals, equipment...
7. Ensure safety and comfort.

Deskeo's tips for a successful team building

The big day is here? To ensure everything runs smoothly, you need to implement several simple measures:

• Appoint a leader.
• Communicate all practical information.
• Prepare the space and do a full run-through.
• Welcome and guide participants.
• Manage time and keep flexibility.
• Be attentive to the atmosphere and adjust if needed.
• Take photos to capture the moment.

Coordination and adaptability are the keys to a successful team building!

The importance of post-event feedback

To you, the team building you organized was a great success? Congratulations! But it is important to check that your employees felt the same way. Therefore, you need to gather feedback from each participant in order to:

• Measure satisfaction and perceived ROI.
• Identify strengths and areas of improvement.
• Involve teams in a continuous improvement approach.
• Embed the benefits lasting effect.

To collect feedback, you can, for instance, organize a quick debrief meeting, send an online questionnaire, or conduct individual interviews. The essential part is to listen to your employees and take their suggestions into account to improve your future team buildings.