Add “team building” activities to draw in corporate guests
Learning to work together is essential. Investing in team building retreats results in a multitude of benefits for corporations: trust, confidence, and teamwork between employees; better communication; enhanced productivity and ultimately, increased effectiveness.
Adding team building activities to existing recreation programs creates a new revenue stream, and can have long-term benefits as well. Employees who visit resorts for a team building retreat might just bring their families back on vacation. What activities appeal to corporations?
Eventplanning.com lists the following activities as “some of the most ideal and unique for getting corporate employees out-of-the-cubicle.”
Zip Line
Scavenger Hunts: Organizing a scavenger hunt is a great way to get your team to work together and foster friendly competition. Be sure to pick items that will be easy enough for teams to locate. Visual scavenger hunts, in which employees take pictures of the items that they are supposed to find, are often a good way to go. Breaking large groups into smaller teams, with each team member assigned an appointed task, teaches employees how to communicate effectively with one another and how to work as a team.
Geocaching is another creative twist on the traditional scavenger hunt. It’s also a way to transform existing recreation programs into effective team building exercises. Geocaching can utilize the visual scavenger hunt, where employees take pictures of the items, or employees can bring back the items themselves. Read more about geocaching in the R+R Blog.
Cooking Schools: Having teams whip up a delicious meal is a great way to utilize and promote gastronomy offerings. Cooking classes can build teamwork and inspire collaboration. Offer a number of dishes that teams can choose to make, and let the sky be the limit – create choices ranging from hors d’oeuvre to a full 5-star menu.
Wine Tasting: Wine tasting is a sophisticated and stylish way to help teams bond. If a property already offers this as an amenity, be sure that participants not only try the wine, but are quizzed about it as well. Wine quizzes are a great way to foster a little friendly competition (whoever scores the highest score wins a reward) as well as keeping teams on their toes. A different option might be a scotch or beer tasting.Offer a number of dishes that teams can choose to make, and let the sky be the limit – create choices ranging from hors d’oeuvre to a full 5-star menu.
Make a Movie: The art of filmmaking is truly a team effort. Not only will teams build their creative and communication skills, the end product can also become a promotional piece for the hosting property. Filmmaking is an innovative way to challenge every team member and ensure that everyone gets to participate. This is truly an exercise to test your team’s creative skills–have your team write their own script, audition for parts, assist with lighting, etc. Partner with film companies or universities in the community to borrow or rent equipment. Involve professors or other local filmmakers with a short workshop to teach teams about the filmmaking process, and to educate participants about the equipment.
Walking
