Ensuring a motivated team and good teamwork is essential for the success of any business. Furthermore: it is part of the employee retention. Therefore, it is no wonder that more and more people want to invest in team building.
Outdoor team building activities include games, events, exercises and outdoor celebrations that promote relationships between team members, allow them to break out of the work routine and increase employee satisfaction.
However, promoting outdoor team building activities that attract everyone's interest and involvement is still a challenge for many organizations.
Get inspired by these 15 creative ideas that are easy to put into practice outdoors!
Why should you invest in team building activities abroad?
Studies show that contact with nature has a positive impact on concentration and well-being. Which meets one of the main objectives in developing outdoor team building activities, which is reduce stress at work.
When promoted outside the office and abroad, they help to revitalize energy and increase employees' commitment to activities. Don’t forget that you must provide fun and exciting experiences to reap the benefits!
Furthermore, the team dynamics they bring employees together, strengthen team spirit, encourage communication, leadership and cooperation skills, and foster creativity and resilience to overcome challenges.
Ultimately, outdoor team building activities end up being an investment that brings better performance and productivity on the part of teams.
15 ideas for outdoor team building activities
There are various exercises, simulations and games, from the simplest to the most complex, lasting one day or several days, to carry out with your team.
You can choose to organize them with your own resources or use specialized companies that offer outdoor team building activity programs. See 15 ideas for all tastes and desires!
1. Arborism
How about taking a chance on an extreme sport? Tree climbing consists of crossing obstacles and platforms installed in trees, such as stairs, suspension bridges and zip lines. The goal is to get people out of their comfort zone.
Look for a circuit that gradually increases in complexity and challenges your endurance, focus and coordination!
2. Treasure hunt
Who says treasure hunting is just for kids? You can make this game more attractive through challenging clues and riddles, physical obstacles, sudden rule changes and motivating prizes.
Enjoy this team building activity to unite all your employees around the same goal. No matter the game setting – beach, city or forest – make sure the hidden treasure is worth finding!
3. Paintball
Paintball is one of the most popular outdoor team building activities, as it combines fun and competition. In this game, the group divides into teams and tries to hit opponents with toy guns that shoot colored paint balls. The team with the most unharmed survivors wins.
It is recommended that you go to a paintball field or area for your games, where you will have all the necessary equipment and can ensure your safety.
4. Canoeing
There is nothing better to encourage teamwork than taking your employees canoeing. This team building activity focuses on contact with water and requires a lot of physical effort, but above all coordination.
You can try this water sport either on rivers or lakes. What counts is moving the boat forward using synchronized strokes. The boat that reaches the finish line first will be entitled to a special prize.
5. Volunteering
Volunteering can be an especially rewarding team building activity. Therefore, it is important to choose an initiative that your employees identify with and want to be part of. The goal is for them to feel like they have more to give.
Some ideas for volunteering outdoors could be looking after or walking dogs at a shelter, collecting urban waste, organizing food collections for an association, participating in a solidarity run or helping to build houses and social institutions.
6. Replant Portugal
Gather hoes, gloves and rubber boots and participate in a reforestation action with your team. There's a lot initiatives, on previously marked terrain and with the support of specialized technicians, which you can join.
Also search your local authority's website and look for projects and initiatives near you. When a reforestation event is approaching, sign up your employees and spend a few hours with their hands in the dirt.
7. Guided tours
Guided tours are one of the most ideal outdoor team building activities for groups. They are accompanied by a tour guide who takes participants to explore a region, while pointing out important landmarks and explaining the history and context of the area.
Some examples of guided tours include myths and legends tours, gastronomic tours and urban art tours. Simply search for walking tours in your region and then book a guide to lead the activity.
8. Orientation test
How about testing your team's survival skills? Provide your collaborators with a compass and military chart and take them to guide themselves through forests, valleys, mountains and winding paths.
The objective is to reach the destination proposed to them, overcoming some enigmas and challenges along the way, but above all not to get lost.
9. Hiking in the mountains
A team building activity suitable for nature lovers. Follow hidden trails, breathtaking landscapes, mountainous paths on a route that can vary in complexity and last between 1 and 4 hours.
Choose a safe and well-known route, and bring water, sturdy shoes and a good disposition. If you want, you can even call on a specialized guide to make sure everything goes smoothly.
10. Competition Games
Spending energy and learning about cooperation, communication and leadership are the objectives of this activity. Choose a day with good weather, divide your team into groups and prepare several games for your employees to compete against each other.
There are several stimulating outdoor team building activities that you can organize, such as rope game, human football, pair race, dart throwing, capture the flag, hit the target, obstacle course, among many more.
11. Photography Competition
Discover the main interests of your region from a different point of view. Organize a photography competition where each stage is associated with a question, a task or a themed photo.
For this activity you will need a camera (it can be a disposable camera or even a cell phone), a map and a transport pass, if you do the challenge in a city.
12. Kart Racing
Kart racing involves adrenaline, excitement and fun, and allows your employees to experience the experience of becoming drivers, even if only for a few hours.
Simply head to an outdoor driving track and sign up your team to have access to this experience. You can organize individual or group races. The member or team with the fastest times on the track wins.
13. Harvest
Do your employees appreciate good wine? And how about teaching them how to produce this true nectar of the gods? Take them to harvest grapes and experience the main processes that give rise to the best wines in Portugal.
At the end of the activity, enjoy an outdoor lunch, a meal that will naturally be accompanied by the wine they produced.
14. Tavern Rally
Tasting the region's delicacies, visiting the most picturesque places and learning about the country's traditions are some of the benefits of this program.
Through information received by SMS or other means, participants have to go to each tavern and overcome a challenge (for example, a tasting test) to gain access to the snacks.
15. Beach Party
There's nothing better to relieve work stress and cheer up than a beach party. To make this event more special, you can rent an area on the beach from a concessionary terrace and prepare tropical cocktails, host a limbo contest, play volleyball, play summer music and opt for a themed and relaxed decor.
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