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Original poster

Give me your best team building day ideas (please?!)

51 replies

AndSoFinally · 11/10/2022 10:38

Am trying to organise a team building day. Morale is terrible, and we really need something.

I don't want to do the usual "getting to know you" games and building paper towers, I'd like to do something actually fun.

We are a group of about 30, ranging in age from 30s to mid 60s (but fairly active). Both men and women. Budget not enormous and would need to include lunch. Thinking around 10am to 4pm. South Wales if that helps.

Please give me some ideas! What was the best team building day you have attended?

OP posts:
HoppingPavlova · 11/10/2022 10:53

I’m going to be brutally honest here. There will be nothing that everyone will be into and you will always have a good proportion wishing heavily for gastro to strike the night before. I manage teams and have to tick this off every year and the key is to empathise that most will be putting a fake smile in and dying inside (as am I).

MegBusset · 11/10/2022 10:56

Best I did was paddle boarding. Worst was a 'sports day' theme because I was heavily pregnant and really not feeling it.

I'd put together a couple of suggestions in a poll for the team, and choose the least unpopular option.

RoseHarper · 11/10/2022 10:56

Something with options, so maybe a day at a venue, with spa type option/sport option/motivational speaker/wellness option,with nice lunch. Prob over budget..we used to do a lot of this type of thing and I dreaded the ones where you were forced to do something you hated...

OneDayAtATimePlease · 11/10/2022 11:00

My team once hired a narrow boat and travelled down the Brecon canal (visiting pubs on the way).

It involved team work in as much as you needed to get the narrow boat safely from point A to B and through some locks but was also a pretty chilled day in terms of chatting away and spending time together. Not the worst team day we've had.

theoldhasgone · 11/10/2022 11:00

My DH has done a few of these at his big company. Usually loathes any forced socialising and not remotely hippy-leaning BUT said a drum circle was actually really fun and that laughing yoga was absolutely brilliant.

JoanOgden · 11/10/2022 11:01

What sort of people are they? Some teams enjoy quizzes, others not so much. Would they enjoy an escape room or similar?

Make sure the food is excellent, including good coffee and elevenses. Avoid motivational speeches from senior management

Iheartmysmart · 11/10/2022 11:02

Nothing is guaranteed to further lower my morale than a forced team building day! Give everyone a voucher and an extra day off rather than inflict this nonsense on them.

SnoozyLucy7 · 11/10/2022 11:03

Don’t do that awful team building stuff, where people pretend to be enjoying themselves to appease the manager. Instead, maybe do some food related, or nice big meal, somewhere nice. Food cheers people up.

CMOTDibbler · 11/10/2022 11:03

The only team building thing I have ever actually enjoyed (and I've been made to do a lot) was one where we packed backpacks for a charity and wrote cards to go in them. It was doing something together, everyone could participate, and it felt like there was a point to it. We were in mixed up teams, there was plenty of time to do it so people chatted, and then we had a nice lunch.
If morale is awful, then you need to work on sorting out why and engaging people in change, not team building days which usually make morale worse though.

AlisonDonut · 11/10/2022 11:04

My team like it when I told them to spend the day doing something they wanted but never got the time to do and book it as a 'working together' day.

Worked wonders.

Talipesmum · 11/10/2022 11:04

We’ve done ones where we volunteer as a team somewhere local - painting a bit of a school, clearing brambles and saplings in a nature reserve area etc. It felt like we were being useful, could be a bit competitive, and the physical activity was quite good for morale. Then pub dinner, or something.

girlmom21 · 11/10/2022 11:06

Escape Rooms?

I'd prefer something outdoorsy though. Charity Walk with a pub lunch?

CallTheMobWife · 11/10/2022 11:07

theoldhasgone · 11/10/2022 11:00

My DH has done a few of these at his big company. Usually loathes any forced socialising and not remotely hippy-leaning BUT said a drum circle was actually really fun and that laughing yoga was absolutely brilliant.

I would definitely be suddenly ill on the day if I was supposed to be doing either a drum circle or laughing bloody yoga.

If morale is low, forcing everyone to do some awful shite like laughing yoga or paintballing is not going to help anything at all. Maybe actually find out why everyone hates working there instead of just making it even worse?

Whatthetrolley · 11/10/2022 11:09

OneDayAtATimePlease · 11/10/2022 11:00

My team once hired a narrow boat and travelled down the Brecon canal (visiting pubs on the way).

It involved team work in as much as you needed to get the narrow boat safely from point A to B and through some locks but was also a pretty chilled day in terms of chatting away and spending time together. Not the worst team day we've had.

I was going to suggest a narrow boat. Normally have about 10 per boat so you could all saunter down the river together and mix each boat up at each lock. The route near us doesn't have many pubs so we just take our own food and drink and hope we're still capable driving the boat at the end of the day!! We do an annual "cruise" out of work time now for those that have left but still want to catch up!

FiveShelties · 11/10/2022 11:11

I have never been to a good team building day. Give them all a day off to pick their own date. Team building is just shit.

girlmom21 · 11/10/2022 11:13

Oh actually op we once did one of those city treasure hunt things and that was really good fun

Yika · 11/10/2022 11:16

I second the suggestion of volunteering but you do have to make it something where people mix. I spent one such day painting a room at a youth centre with one other colleague while others worked on different parts of the building. A canal clean up or something would be good.

we also did a couple of cooking classes which were brilliant. We were in teams each preparing one of 3 courses (which we then enjoyed with copious wine).

Yarnosaur · 11/10/2022 11:17

If morale is low a 'team-building' day won't fix it.

What actually helps is decent working conditions: a working environment that meets team and individual needs, good pay and clear progression opportunities, and fair distribution of work. If the team are feeling shit then you really need to look at those things first.

Jins · 11/10/2022 11:17

I was about to say the only one I’ve ever enjoyed was a city trail/treasure hunt thing.

girlmom21 · 11/10/2022 11:22

On the same day we did this thing where an external company came and in our teams we designed go karts and attached balloons to them and raced around an empty unused office space
It was a bit surreal and a bit batshit but I'm remembering it all now

Boxshibe · 11/10/2022 11:28

About to go one tomorrow it's a treasure hunt which sounds ok followed by lunch and an awards ceremony. We've done a walk and talk which was ok and go karting which was good.

LindaEllen · 11/10/2022 11:28

Night out with a few free drinks on the company.. best team building there is!

beonmywaythen · 11/10/2022 11:29

We did a pottery class - really fun!

IceandIndigo · 11/10/2022 11:30

The best team building day I've had was where we went to a cooking school that was based at a country house. In the morning we did the usual team planning type activities followed by a catered lunch and enjoying the gounds. In the afternoon we worked together to cook a big buffet style dinner which we enjoyed together in the evening. The menu was designed by the cooking school and people were put in groups of 2-3 and each assigned a recipe to make, with fairly minimal supervision (but an expert on hand to ask if necessary). One of the things that interesting about it was that the managers were primarily men who didn't know how to cook, so it gave an opportunity for more junior members of the team taking the lead.

AriettyHomily · 11/10/2022 11:31

Best one I did was sailing on the Solent in one of those racing catamaran things but eye wateringly expensive and not for everyone.

Ours are overnight and most go for the free bar in the evening, the team building shit is an inconvenience to be endured during the day.

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