10 team building activities to try in the office

Effective icebreaker activities can have multiple advantages resulting in a better company culture, team bonding and improving your company’s positive image.

Corporate team building benefits employees and helps promote a culture of collaboration and problem-solving. They are also encouraged for remote teams.

Below are some of the best team building activities you can start incorporating within your company today. 

1. Escape room

Escape room team building activities are a new corporate team building trend that continues to grow. The concept of these games is that all participants are locked in a room, and they must work together to find their way out. Once the team finds the way out or runs out of time, the game is over.  

This is a great method of corporate team building that encourages team communication, collaboration in finding creative solutions, and quick thinking. 

For managers, it provides some insight into how employees deal with and manage conflict. Who loses their cool, and who is able to find a resolution while keeping their composure? 

It will all unfold throughout the course of the game, allowing coworkers to get to know each other on a deeper level, making these games an effective method of corporate team building. 

2. Campfire or memory wall

A good, old-fashioned campfire has a way of bringing together people like nothing else. This is a simple one. No flashy games, no hunt, no solving clues. It's one of those trust-building activities that gets straight to the point... getting to know your coworkers.

You could tack this onto the end of one of your other corporate team building activities after everyone has loosened up a bit and is more open to sharing. 

Everyone gathers around the campfire and takes turns sharing workplace experiences, triggered by words meant to inspire sharing. For example, "first work day" or "office bloopers."

Another similar game is a memory wall. Each team member draws a picture that depicts memories of coworkers and places them on a wall. They then stand up and share the story behind each photo. This is something that could be played before a meeting, to get people to open up. 

Try these corporate team building ideas out with your team and get some more insight into team members' personalities. 

3. Scavenger hunt

Corporate team building is one of those classic team building activities that will never go out of style. It's popular because you can do it anywhere, whether you have it in the office or take it offsite. 

You can also involve as many or as few people as you want. Make it a company-wide event or limit it to a single department. You can also make teams out of each department and have them work together to find the items.

The premise is to assign items that each team will search for using a series of clues. For corporate team building, this will bring people together and encourage collaboration by focusing on the same goal. 

4. Outdoor activities 

A change of scenery is sometimes all it takes to get people to bond. Take your team building activities outdoors and watch your team members bond over bonfire stories (you can throw the campfire game in here!), grill some hamburgers and hot dogs and let them get to know each other better. 

If you want to take a more active approach, you could set up a corporate team-building game, such as paintball or go-cart racing. This will bring out some competition and will allow people to let off some steam. Or you can go for a totally sporty one like we did here ;)

5. Work jeopardy

Let everyone showcase their smarts with a game of Office Jeopardy. But rather than basic trivia, make it office trivia and see how well everyone knows their environment. 

Format it like the game show and lead with answers such as "The number of conference rooms in this building." Or, for a more personal touch, you can frame the answers around coworkers, like types of cars or pets. 

Make it one of your traditional team building activities and have the winner come back to play against others. You can make a sign-up sheet to make sure everyone gets a chance at the championship. Instead of money, play for a free lunch or a day off. This is guaranteed to fill up the sign-up sheet and get everyone involved.  

6. Obstacle course race 

When it comes to team building activities, this is a fun one for those who like being active, and it's a good way to introduce it to team members who've never done an obstacle course race before. By participating together, employees will work together to help each other overcome obstacles and cheer each other on to the finish. 

There are a variety of obstacle course races you can sign u for with different themes, including zombie races and mud runs. Get a team together and tackle this one, and you can work your way up to the more difficult Spartan races or Tough Mudders.

Getting through these courses together is a unique and fun method of corporate team building. 

7. Volunteering

If your company has a cause that it commonly supports, instead of simply sending in a donation, try showing your support in person. There are walks and runs to benefit causes such as heart disease and breast cancer.

Get a team together and walk to show your company and team members support. You can make this an annual event and set up a company tent with beverages and food. 

8. Cook-Off

Who doesn't love an event with food as the main focus? A game of "Top Chef" company edition is a fun way to get everyone involved and learn about everyone's culinary tastes. It can be a great option even for smaller teams.

For team building activities like this one, assign some judges, and have everyone bring in their favorite (home-cooked) dish. Even if someone absolutely can't cook, it's part of the fun. 

9. Board game tournament

Who doesn't love a board game? This is one that you can set up in the office. In fact, make it a reward and shit down operations a little early and announce that you'll be having a board game tournament. 

You can set up different rooms with various games and have people choose which areas they want to participate in. For example, one room can have Jenga, another can host Uno, and for those who are kids at heart, a game of Operation.

This is a great way to unwind at the end of a long work week, and employees will appreciate the break from their routine. Don't forget to keep score and announce the winners at the end.  

10. Human knot

This activity doesn't require much time and it can be great for small groups. If you have a large group, the team can be divided into groups of 5-10 people.

To play this game, the first step is to form a circle. Second, instruct each person to put their right hand in someone else's hand across the circle. Then, ask them to do the same thing with the left hand, but now grab another person's hand. Set a time limit for them to untangle themselves without releasing their hands.

Untying the know can be a fun game to help team to work together and develop communication skills.

How team building activities help with corporate team building 

While team building activities don’t have to be outside of the office, they should feel like it.

Whether you do team building problem-solving activities or simply gather your team and encourage storytelling and communication, the goal is the same... to nurture trust and promote a mindset of teamwork that lasts beyond the games and becomes a lasting part of your company culture. 

Try out one of these corporate team building activities and see for yourself how trust, communication, performance, and sympathy among teams increase and how this leads to a positive company environment.