Best Team Building Activities for Work: Find Your Team’s Perfect Match
Searching for the best team building activities for work can quickly become overwhelming. There are Amazing Races, trivia events, team challenges, scavenger hunts, game shows, outdoor adventures and plenty more to choose from. So, how do you know which one is actually right for your team?
The best team building activity isn’t necessarily the biggest, most physical or most elaborate. Instead, it’s the one that suits your people, location, available time and what you want everyone to get out of the experience.
A group of 20 senior managers may need something completely different from a 200-person Christmas party. Likewise, a conference group that’s been sitting through presentations all morning may be desperate to get outside, while another team might prefer an activity that can happen inside their venue.
Before choosing your next corporate team building activity, here are some of the most important things to consider.
Start With Why You’re Planning Team Building
Before choosing an activity, think about why you’re bringing everyone together. Do you simply want everyone to have fun, or are you hoping to encourage better communication between departments? Perhaps you’re planning a conference, celebrating the end of the year or bringing together employees who don’t usually have much opportunity to interact.
There doesn’t need to be a serious corporate objective behind every team building event. Sometimes getting people out of the office, laughing together and talking to colleagues they don’t normally work with is exactly what a team needs.
Once you know what you want the experience to achieve, choosing the right team building activity becomes much easier.
Think About the Personalities in Your Team
You know your people better than anyone, so think about what they will genuinely enjoy. Are they competitive, creative, analytical, outgoing or a little more reserved? Do they love getting up in front of everyone, or would that be their idea of absolute torture?
The best team building activities for work give different personalities a chance to contribute. That’s why activities that combine several types of challenges often work so well.
One person might be brilliant at solving a puzzle but terrible at throwing a ball. Someone else might take charge of navigation, while another team member comes up with a completely ridiculous solution to a creative challenge that somehow works.
You don’t want the fittest, loudest or smartest person in the room to dominate the entire event. Good team building gives everyone a chance to shine.
How Competitive Is Your Team?
There is friendly competition, and then there is corporate friendly competition. After running team building events for plenty of competitive workplaces, we can confirm there is definitely a difference!
If your team loves competition, activities such as a Corporate Amazing Race, Survivor or Corporate Olympics can work brilliantly. Teams have something to chase, points matter and suddenly the colleague who claimed they “weren’t competitive” is racing towards the next checkpoint.
For groups that prefer something more relaxed, a Scavenger Hunt, Brick Masters or Quiz Masters can still include plenty of competition without making the entire event about winning.
Competition can create fantastic energy. However, the level of competition should always suit the people taking part.
Indoor or Outdoor Team Building Activities?
One of the easiest ways to narrow down your options is to decide whether you want to stay indoors or get everyone outside. Both can work brilliantly, but they create very different experiences.
Not sure which one would suit your team better? Check out our blog about indoor vs outdoor team bonding activities.
Outdoor Team Building Activities
Outdoor team building activities are ideal when you want to get people away from their usual environment. A Corporate Amazing Race can send teams exploring their city while solving clues and completing challenges. Survivor and Corporate Olympics create a central competition, while a Scavenger Hunt gives teams more freedom to choose their own strategy.
Outdoor activities are particularly popular for Christmas parties, company celebrations and conferences. After all, if your team has spent most of the day sitting inside listening to presentations, getting outside can completely change the energy.
Indoor Team Building Activities
Sometimes staying indoors simply makes more sense. You might already have a conference room booked, your schedule may be tight or the weather forecast might not be looking particularly friendly.
Indoor team building activities such as Task Master, Game Show, Brick Masters and Quiz Masters can all be run within conference and function venues. They’re also great conference breakout activities because teams can move straight from presentations into something completely different without travelling elsewhere.
Indoor certainly doesn’t have to mean boring. In fact, some of the loudest and most competitive events we run happen inside conference rooms.
Consider How Active You Want the Event to Be
Not every team building activity needs to involve running around a city. In fact, for most of our events, running isn’t necessary at all. However, it’s still important to consider how active your group wants to be.
If you have a team that loves getting outside and moving, an Amazing Race, Adventure Race, Survivor or Corporate Olympics might be a great fit. On the other hand, if you’d prefer something less physical, Task Master, Brick Masters, Game Show or Quiz Masters may be more suitable.
You should also consider mixed ages, fitness levels and accessibility requirements. A good team building event should be designed around the people participating rather than forcing everyone into exactly the same mould.
Think About Your Group Size
Group size can completely change which team building activities will work best. A small team of 10 might enjoy an intimate problem-solving event where everyone has an important role. Meanwhile, a group of 70 may work better when divided into multiple teams competing across different challenges.
Large groups require even more planning. A company event with several hundred participants may need team rotations, waves, multiple hosts and carefully managed logistics.
Large group team building can absolutely work, and it can create an incredible atmosphere. However, the event needs to be designed for scale rather than simply taking an activity built for 20 people and trying to make it work for 200.
How Much Time Do You Have?
Team building doesn’t need to take an entire day. For many corporate groups, around two to two-and-a-half hours is ideal. It gives teams enough time to get into the activity, become competitive and enjoy the experience without it dragging on.
Conference schedules may require something shorter. For example, Quiz Masters or Game Show can work well when you have a limited window. Amazing Races, Survivor and other larger outdoor events generally benefit from having more time available.
Before deciding on an activity, work backwards from your schedule. If your conference finishes at 2:00 pm and dinner starts at 6:00 pm, you have a very different opportunity from a group that only has a 60-minute breakout window.
Let Your Location Help You Choose
Your location can actually help determine which team building activity will work best.
If you’re staying in the middle of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra or Auckland, you already have an incredible playground outside your door. A Corporate Amazing Race or Scavenger Hunt can turn the surrounding CBD into part of the experience, with teams discovering landmarks, hidden laneways, parks and unexpected locations along the way.
If you’re at a resort, regional conference venue or somewhere with large outdoor spaces, Survivor or Corporate Olympics may be a better fit. Alternatively, if you’re inside a hotel or conference venue, Task Master, Game Show, Brick Masters or Quiz Masters can come to you.
Instead of deciding on an activity first and then trying to force it into the location, consider what your venue and surroundings naturally lend themselves to.
Don’t Forget About the Weather
The weather is one part of an outdoor event that nobody can control. Therefore, if you’re planning an outdoor team building activity, it’s worth discussing the wet-weather plan before event day.
Light rain doesn’t necessarily stop an outdoor event. However, severe weather is a different story. Depending on the event, you may be able to postpone, adjust the format or switch to an indoor activity such as Game Show or Brick Masters.
If you’re organising a major conference or event where changing the date isn’t possible, having a backup plan from the beginning can save a lot of stress later.
Do You Want Your Team Building Activity Customised?
Team building doesn’t need to feel like exactly the same event another company completed last week. Customisation can make a huge difference, particularly when you’re planning a conference, company celebration or major corporate event.
You might incorporate company trivia, industry references, conference themes or challenges based around your brand. You could even include locations that mean something to your organisation.
We’ve created Christmas-themed events, charity-focused challenges and races built around completely custom storylines. So, if someone in your office has come up with a weird and wonderful idea, tell us. Those are often the fun ones.
Are You Bringing Multiple Offices Together?
If your company operates across multiple locations, you don’t necessarily have to choose one city. Multi-city team building events can allow teams in different locations to participate at the same time.
For example, you could have teams competing in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, with everyone contributing to one overall competition. Suddenly, it’s not just Team Red versus Team Blue. It’s Sydney versus Melbourne or Australia versus New Zealand.
For geographically dispersed companies, this can create a shared experience without requiring everyone to fly to the same location.
So, What Are the Best Team Building Activities for Work?
There isn’t one answer, and that’s actually a good thing.
If you want teams exploring, solving clues and working together under pressure, a Corporate Amazing Race could be perfect. If your group loves strategy and competition, consider Survivor or Corporate Olympics.
For creative and unpredictable challenges, Task Master is a great option. If you need indoor team building, Game Show, Brick Masters or Quiz Masters can all work well. Alternatively, a Scavenger Hunt is ideal if you’d prefer something flexible and self-directed.
For companies looking to add more purpose to the experience, charity team building activities such as Build-A-Bike can combine teamwork with a meaningful outcome.
Ultimately, the best choice depends on your team.
Five Questions to Ask Before Choosing
Still not sure? Start by asking yourself these five questions:
How many people are participating?
Where is the event being held?
How much time do you have?
Do you want an indoor or outdoor activity?
What type of experience would your team actually enjoy?
Once you’ve answered those questions, your options usually become much clearer.
Team Building Shouldn’t Feel Like Forced Fun
We’ve all experienced it. Someone announces there will be a “fun team building activity” and half the room immediately looks concerned.
It doesn’t need to be like that.
The best team building activities get people involved naturally. Teams become competitive, people start laughing and unexpected strengths begin to appear. Someone becomes the puzzle mastermind, someone else takes charge of navigation and another person becomes far too invested in winning a completely ridiculous challenge.
Those are the moments people remember.
At Tailored Team Building, our events are designed to create those moments while encouraging communication, collaboration and genuine connections between colleagues.
No awkward trust falls required.
Find the Right Team Building Activity for Your Workplace
Whether you’re organising a small team day, conference breakout, Christmas party or company-wide event for hundreds of employees, choosing the right activity makes all the difference.
Tailored Team Building delivers indoor and outdoor team building activities across Australia and New Zealand. Our events can be customised around your group, location, schedule and what you want to achieve.
Not sure which activity suits your team? Tell us your location, group size, available time and a little about your people. We’ll help you narrow down the options and recommend an event that genuinely suits your team.
Because the best team building activity isn’t the one everyone else is doing. It’s the one your team will actually enjoy.