Offsite Team Building: Bring an Escape Room to Your Event
Your team is starting to fray at the seams and lines have communication are beginning to shut down. It’s been a long sprint to get this latest product update operational and the signs of frustration are starting to show.
You need to find some way to get everyone back on the same page and working together efficiently again but short of a company-wide intervention, what can you do?
Giving the team some time away from the office to relax and bond with one another can help reestablish those lines of communication and get everyone back on track.
Offsite team building can take many forms but the goal is always the same – to get your employees working together again in a more effective way. If you can hide it in a bit of fun, all the better.
Sound interesting? Let’s get into the details!
What is offsite team building?
Okay so it’s meant to get people working together, but what does that look like? Offsite team building can be anything that takes the team out of their normal work environment and into a new one where they can interact with each other differently.
This could be something as simple as going for drinks after work or taking the team out for a day of paintball. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but it should be something that everyone can enjoy and will help them relax enough to start working together more effectively again.
Importantly, it should also be something that takes them out of their comfort zones a bit so that they can grow as individuals and learn to trust each other more.
Stretching an employee to their limits in a safe and controlled environment often allows them to come out the other side more resilient and with a better understanding of their capabilities.
The benefits of offsite team building
This is one of the main reasons that offsite team building can be so effective – it helps employees to understand each other better on both a personal and professional level.
When people feel like they know and trust their teammates, they are more likely to open up about their ideas and be willing to work together towards a common goal.
In addition, offsite team building can help to break down any artificial barriers that have been erected between employees. In a lot of workplaces, there are natural cliques and social groups that can make it difficult for people to work together effectively.
Getting everyone out of the office and into a new environment can help to break down these walls and get everyone working together more cohesively.
Finally, offsite team building can simply be a lot of fun! When employees are enjoying themselves and feel like they are part of a team, they will be more likely to want to come to work and put in the extra effort. A happy employee is a productive employee, so offsite team building can have a direct impact on your bottom line.
Types of offsite events
You might be thinking “where do I even start?” when it comes to organizing an offsite team-building event but luckily, there are a ton of options out there. It depends on your budget, the size of your team, and what kind of activities everyone enjoys.
Dinner and drinks
Probably the most common is simply taking the team out for dinner and drinks after work. This is a great way to unwind and bond with your coworkers in a more relaxed setting. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just make sure that everyone has a good time and feels like they can relax and be themselves.
One of the problems with this type of event is that it can often turn into a gripe session about work. To avoid this, make sure to set some ground rules before everyone gets there. For example:
- No talking about work
- No phones at the table
- The first round of drinks is on the company
This will help everyone to relax and focus on enjoying their time together.
Scavenger hunt
Find me three license plates from out of state!
A scavenger hunt is a great way to get everyone working together in small teams to complete tasks. It can be done in almost any location and can be customized to be as easy or difficult as you like.
This type of event is great for building teamwork and communication skills as well as giving everyone a chance to bond with each other. If you want to make it more challenging, you can even add in some physical tasks that everyone will need to work together to complete.
Simple sports
Bowling or laser tag are both great examples of activities that can be done as a team but don’t require too much physical exertion or previous skill.
They’re pretty cheap, easy to organize, and also good for larger groups since you can usually divide everyone up into smaller teams, sometimes even connecting employees who would not normally have any interaction.
That will help break the ice for more introverted employees and get everyone mixing and mingling. They don’t need to be good, just willing to have some fun and try their best. Heck, you might even discover someone’s hidden talent!
Escape rooms
Unfortunately, thanks to the pandemic and repeated shutdowns, many businesses that offered offsite events have had to close their doors. One popular team-building method that was hit especially hard was escape rooms.
These are locations where players are locked in a room and have to solve a series of puzzles to escape. They’re usually themed around a particular topic, like a haunted house or a heist, and require players to use teamwork to solve the puzzles.
While many of the physical locations have been forced to close, Puzzle Break came up with a new solution to get your teams out of the office and working together – portable, hybrid escape rooms that come to you.
Puzzle Break’s hybrid team-building experience
Find a venue and we’ll take care of the rest. We bring everything needed to run a fully-immersive, live-action escape experience right to your door. And with our new hybrid format, we can even accommodate larger groups by incorporating both in-person and remote players working together simultaneously.
This is the perfect solution for teams that are looking for a way to bond but may not be comfortable meeting in person just yet. It’s also a great option for those who are spread out geographically and can’t all travel to the same location.
The Sentinel Signal
Our newest mystery revolves around the search for extraterrestrial life! Turn your HR team into cryptographers, or your accounting department into astronomers as you comb through the sky to find life on other planets.
What’s that, a complex code broadcasting from the darkest parts of the galaxy? Work together to crack it before it’s too late!
The Grimm Escape
A Puzzle Break classic, this tale of witchcraft and curses will test your team members in more ways than you can imagine. Find the hidden clues and a way to break the spell or be trapped in the mysterious forest forever!
A Hollywoodland Mystery
A killer is on the loose, and there’s only one team that can crack the case. Unravel this dark web of lies and misdirection to come out on top in this 1950s murder mystery.
Examine fingerprints, find hidden clues, and solve complex codes to find out whodunit!
Benefits of escape rooms
Even though the goal is to get people communicating again, offsite team-building events can do so much more.
Escape rooms specifically have been shown to:
- Help people feel more comfortable taking risks
- Encourage creative thinking
- Improve problem-solving skills
- Enhance team collaboration
- Boost morale
They also help people learn how to better handle stress and work under pressure. All of these are important skills for any employee to have but they’re especially vital for those in management positions.
If you’re looking for a way to invest in your team’s development and future, an escape room is a great option.
In-person and remote-only escape room options for team building
So much of the world has moved to remote work that it can be difficult to get the whole group in one place. If that’s the case for your team, we also offer a completely virtual escape room option that can be played from anywhere in the world.
This is a great option for companies with employees who are located all over the globe or working different shifts. It’s also a more budget-friendly option as there is no need to rent out a space or cover travel costs.
But wait, you still have a group that wants to get together? Check out Puzzle Break’s Seattle HQ to experience the authentic, in-person adventure that is an escape room. Enter the Puppeteer’s Workshop, or The Eventide Departure and build new trust with peers and teammates as you try to solve the mystery.
Get in touch today and start your offsite team-building journey with Puzzle Break!
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