10 Company Retreat Team Building Activities
A positive company culture doesn’t happen by chance - companies must invest time into their teams for them to grow.
A great way to get to know your team and strengthen collaboration skills during your company retreat is through team-building activities. Despite popular belief, they don’t have to be cringe-worthy or expensive. Here are a few of Basejam’s favourites…
Company retreat team-building activities
1. Foraging 🍄
A team foraging trip is a wholesome and low-cost way to get your team out into nature and work towards a common, non-work-related goal. You can use this app to identify your Funghi findings.
What's more, holding your offsite in the countryside has huge benefits - improving your ability to have broad discussions, come up with new ideas, and form authentic bonds with your team away from the city.
2. Intuitive painting 🎨
Intuitive painting is painting how you want to, unguided by rules, designs or formulas.
It's all about thinking creatively and being able to explore new ideas without fear of judgment or self-criticism.
When we are so used to judging ourselves and our abilities at work, the opportunity to get creative juices flowing without consequence can be hugely beneficial to employees' mindset - in and out of the office.
3. Wild swimming 🏊🏽♂️🏊🏻♀️
Wild swimming checks all of the boxes for building connection: it's in nature, out of your comfort zone (but not unachievable), and has an array of health benefits.
In our experience, getting slightly out of your comfort zone around team members is a shortcut to creating meaningful connections. Doing this in nature breaks the typical mental loops we find ourselves in day-to-day when working at home or in the same office environment.
Some of our venues have wild swimming ponds and others offer local activity providers who will facilitate a wild swimming activity for your team.
4. Guided breathwork 🧘
Time spent practising conscious breathwork can do huge amounts for our mental clarity, as well as supporting healthy sleep and boosting our immunity.
At its core, guided breathwork calms the immune system and allows your teammates to check in with themselves.
An opportunity to learn the basics of breathwork can have long-lasting effects on your team's ability to manage stress and anxiety.
Enjoy a meditation session at our well-being retreat in Somerset...
Wellbeing retreat, nature reserve and regenerative farm stay in rural Somerset →
5. SUP boarding 🏄
Stand-up paddle boarding gives you all the adrenaline benefits of going surfing but is accessible and enjoyable for all.
It can be learnt quickly within a team setting and gets your team out into nature and away from the city slog. Likely, many of your team haven't tried SUP boarding before, offering a sense of shared experience of getting out of your comfort zone together.
6. Scavenger hunt 🕵🏼
For an engaging team-building activity that encourages co-workers to network, a scavenger hunt is a great team-building activity.
Participants venture outside to gather a series of peculiar or amusing objects chosen by the organiser; the winner is the team or individual that returns with all the items first. And remember, purchasing them isn't an option, so time to get creative.
7. Cooking class 👩🏾🍳
Cooking is known to be incredibly therapeutic, where cooking within a team can strengthen relationships among employees and show them how to collaborate to achieve incredible (and tasty) results.
One idea is to let attendees take turns cooking their home country's classic meals and talk about the culture behind them. You can spread this activity throughout your retreat, so everyone can have a chance to demonstrate their cooking skills (or have a good laugh about a lack thereof).
It’s a great, fun and informal way to get to know each other - and also sorts out a big chunk of your retreat catering!
8. Company trivia 🤓
This is a fun and simple retreat team-building activity that’s versatile and engaging.
It caters to a range of settings and abilities and lets the team learn more about your company and each other in a relaxed, informal environment. Besides encouraging teamwork, trivia can develop vital skills like decision-making and critical thinking.
How to play
Create specific trivia questions based on your organisation and team members on the retreat. A quiz focusing on your firm’s sales goals, strategic plans, and past and forthcoming events can improve your attendees' knowledge of the business.
Divide your colleagues into teams and offer prizes to players with the highest scores.
Ideas for company trivia questions:
“What year was our company founded?”
“Name three core values of our company.”
“What charities does the business support?
“What’s the company tagline/motto?”
Note that the game’s aim isn’t to prove who doesn’t know enough about your organisation, so ensure at least a few participants will know the answers.
9. Group pottery 🪴
Pottery has been proven to be great for the brain and could be the perfect team-building activity for those in need of a bit of a mental break. It’s a great way to let your team be creative and encourage collaboration.
Art activities like pottery can lower stress hormones in just 45 minutes, helping teams unwind from professional pressures. Pottery studios exist in most cities and towns, so a pottery day will be easy to both access and organise.
10. Go on a hike ⛰️🚶
It’s easy to forget that urban cities are often just a train ride away from some of the most outstanding areas of beauty. Whether it’s tackling the cliffs of the Seven Sisters or aiming for the picturesque pubs of the Peak District, the options and the benefits of getting out of the city are endless.
Hikes can be a particularly useful team-building activity due to their psychological impact. Research by Andrew Huberman from Stanford University says if you focus on long distances or wide angles, your thoughts and conversations will become broader.
Ever wondered why we have much better and deeper conversations while out on a hike with a group of friends?
Benefits of company retreat team-building activities
- Form new company objectives and goals: Time invested in team-building activities is far from wasted. During the activities, you can come up with company ideas and create new business goals with your staff, giving you new insights and fresh perspectives. As well, including employees in decisions builds a sense of ownership and accountability.
- Increase productivity and decrease employee turnover: Use your company retreat as an opportunity to thank and reward employees for all their hard work. Recognising effort short term is a great morale booster, and long term it reduces the risk of high turnover and quiet-quitting.
- Foster a sense of community: Doing things together during your company retreats can build an important sense of community and belonging, resulting in improved loyalty and commitment to quality work.
Things to consider when organising company retreat team-building activities
Location
Your company retreat’s location is the key to the success of your offsite event. It determines your costs, what you’ll do when you get there, and your travel plans. Browse our unique venues across Europe.
Schedule
How long should you run a company retreat? Ideally, it should be between 3 and 5 days, as this gives you enough time to achieve your objectives and fill it with productive team-building activities.
Goals
So that your company retreat and teambuilding activities produce positive results, ensure you have crystal clear goals. Do you want to develop a company strategy, or improve team communication? Figuring this out before will guarantee you’ll make the most of your time spent together.
Discover and book the perfect company retreat venue
Basejam is a platform where you can easily find a venue to host a wide variety of team-building activities. Enjoy a meditation session at our well-being retreat in Somerset or venture out on a team hike at our chateau in the rural Dordogne. For more ideas for your company retreat, browse our venues now.
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