Choosing the best team-building event depends on many different factors. The reason why can often revolve around the team-building event companies themselves. Oftentimes, the research we find online when searching “team-building events” can leave us in more confusion than we started with.
This happens mostly due to the vast experiences that can fall under the same umbrella. Every type of activity, from classroom team training to charity events, to outdoor scavenger hunts, to ropes courses— they’re all considered team-building. You will also get results that are great ideas for having a shared experience with your group. However, those activities will not help you improve teamwork.
Not all events are built for all teams. So how do you choose the best corporate team-building activity?
There are three different main genres of team-building activities or team events:
- Small-Group Shared Experience Team Activities
- Classroom Team Building
- Big Group Shared Experience Team Building Events
Small Group Shared-Experience Team Activities
The best team-building activity for groups of under 30 people who already have a team atmosphere is a simple shared-experience. This is because they already have a solid foundation of fundamental teamwork skills.
Shared-experience activities are any gathering whose primary purpose is for the group to have fun with each other. As long as you have a pretty good atmosphere within the group, these types of activities are fun and very inexpensive. You are only limited by your creativity here. So you can do the old standbys like go bowling or play golf. There are also neat places like Dave and Buster’s where your team can have dinner and play pool or arcade games.
More extensive outings might include taking the day off and going to a theme park. You might also consider treating your team to dinner and a show. Pretty much, any type of fun activity will work here. There are lots of “non-team-building” organizations that specialize in these types of events.
When I say “non-team-building,” I really just mean that these organizations do not specialize in team-building. They may offer it as an extra, but it is not their main expertise. Organizations that specialize in these types of activities include big resort hotels, cooking schools, race tracks, theme parks, bowling alleys, etc.
Once your group size increases to more than 30 people or so, these types of team activities can be counterproductive. Particularly if you have a specific challenge within your group that you want to improve. This can include communication challenges, a new team leader, groups that have merged together, or other team issues.
Classroom Team Building
Classroom training is the best corporate team-building activity for groups who have a specific challenge that needs improvement.
Many people think “classroom training” equals boring. Because for most of our lives, if we are in a classroom, we are bored to death. However, good team-building companies and facilitators are enthusiastic and fun. Teams that have professional team-building facilitators come in and lead these classroom events can improve team culture in a short period of time.
Since participants learn faster when they are having fun, a group can really get fantastic results and feel like the activities were time well spent. This type of event is best for groups where a specific team result is trying to be reached. Such as, if an organization merges with another company and the leaders are trying to create a new team culture. Another situation might be where leadership has changed, and the new leaders want to start fresh.
If you are having quarterly meetings or annual meetings at your office, or if you have breakout sessions at your annual convention, then these types of events work really well in those types of time slots. You can also have these facilitators come out and do keynote speeches if you have an open slot at your convention or meeting.
Unlike the shared-experience team-building events, very few companies specialize in classroom team building, so they are harder to find. Keep in mind, if the company specializes in big events and not seminars or workshops, you can end up with a bunch of rah-rah activities that don’t get you the best results.
Big Group Shared-Experience Team Building Events
For big groups, a charity team event is the best corporate team-building event. This type of event is very similar to the small group team events above. However, they are much, much, much more challenging to pull off.
For instance, if you have eight people in your group, you can go to a bowling alley and rent two lanes or have two foursomes at a golf course, and everyone will be active the entire time. However, if you have 100 people or 1000 people trying the same activities, a ton of people will be standing around watching, doing nothing, and getting bored. Unless the facilitators really know what they are doing.
So if you have a big group and you want your team to have fun and stay active, this is where you really want to invest in a professional team-building company. (Especially if your reputation is on the line.)
In my experience, it is best not to leave this decision to your event planner. Event planners are very good at getting great deals on hotel rooms, organizing complex events, and making sure the food works for the group. However, many of them will do whatever it takes to please the customer (you). So if you ask them for a specific team-building activity, they will give it to you. Even if the event or activity is not the best result for your group. You will get a much better result if you contact the professional team-building company yourself. That way, the professionals will help you pick the absolute most appropriate event for your team.
If you are making a mistake, the team-building facilitators will tell you. However, if you have an event planner as a middleman and you are making a mistake, the team-building facilitator will tell the event planner. The event planner, because they want to please you, will likely just find another company that will do what you want.
In short, it’s always best to get an expert opinion on what activities would be best for your group. Especially when planning for large group events.
Two Questions to Answer Before Choosing a Team-Building Activity or Team-Building Company
- Are you looking for a specific behavior change? If so, hire a team-building company that specializes in classroom team training or hire a good team-oriented keynote speaker.
- Do you have a big group or a small group? If the group is small and you just want the group to have fun, spend some money and take everyone for a shared experience. If you have a large group and you just want them to have fun, hire a company that specializes in big charity team-building events or fun corporate team-building activities.
In either scenario, it is always beneficial to consult a team-building professional to help you choose the best activity based on the end goal you’re wanting for your group. If you’re planning a team-building event anytime soon, contact us for expert facilitators and activities that will keep your employees buzzing about the event for years to come.