📺 Stream EntrepreneurTV for Free 📺

3 Fresh, Fun Ideas to Bring Your Team Together Admit it -- trust falls have gotten a little cliche.

By Amy Wilkinson

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Are your team-building go-tos stale? Likely. Freshen up with these action-packed adventures.


Kitchen Cookoff

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
After camera company Lytro restructured, employees needed some bonding time. The Mountain View, Calif.-based team headed to the Kitchen Challenge at Parties That Cook, a competition inspired by Iron Chef and Chopped. "It really played to so many different types of personalities," says Lytro HR manager Jenny Garcia. After judging, teammates feasted on their meals over wine. "It was one of the most popular things we've ever done."

Related: The Importance of Teamwork and Collaboration


Locked Up

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
Escape rooms -- those self-contained scavenger hunts in which puzzles are solved in order for participants to break free -- are good for more than just birthday parties: They're also a way for colleagues with diverse skill sets to collaborate. "Our brains all work in different ways," says research scientist Amanda Weidner, who took her team of faculty and staff from the University of Washington to Seattle's Puzzle Break. "Even if you weren't the puzzle solver, you still had a role and felt like you contributed."

Related: 6 Ideas for Healthy Team-Building Activities


Survivor: Corporate Edition

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
Patrón took employees to Las Vegas' Camp Rhino for an obstacle course, putting staffers through a gauntlet of challenges such as hanging rings, climbing walls and tire rolls. The intensity has its advantages: "If somebody couldn't do the monkey bars, another team member would hold their legs and help them," says Melissa Aupperle, VP of operations for Destinations By Design, who organized the activity for Patrón. "It was more strategizing how to get everyone through as opposed to finding their strongest players."

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Career

This 'Cutting-Edge' Strategy Used By Meta and Google Is Helping Leaders Keep Young Employees Motivated

Archer Chiang, founder and CEO of Giftpack, breaks down the method that can improve results and retention.

Growing a Business

AI Marketing Is Flooding Social Media. Here's How to Make Sure You Don't Get Lost in the Robotic Noise.

Content overload from AI is the new normal. Marketing guru Mari Smithen shares strategies for navigating the AI revolution and getting your messaging across.

Franchise

After Decades of Hard Work, This Couple Is Living the Entrepreneurial Dream. Here's How They Achieved Generational Wealth.

Nadine and James Middleton's journey shows what can happen when hard-working people are matched with the right franchise.

Business Ideas

How This One Customer Service Hack Can Transform Your Business

Instead of examining all the options and offerings to add, consider what you should remove, redesign, and eliminate.