13 Company Team-Building Activities That Improve Collaboration

When you mention “team-building activities” to your employees, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to get some eye rolls. Team members might expect stilted small talk or an awkward group outing. But coworkers often benefit from team-building activities that boost morale, teach effective communication techniques, and sharpen interpersonal problem-solving skills to make workflows more efficient. Plus, when properly planned, these events can be fun — and free of cringe.

Below, we explore a list of popular team-building activities. Choose the best exercise for you, depending on the skills you’re hoping to cultivate, the size of your team, and the time and effort required.

What are team-building activities, and why are they important?

Work is, well, work. There’s not much play involved. But if you want your team members to bond, improve communication, build trust, and sharpen their group decision-making skills, some organized fun might be in order.

Team-building activities let coworkers get to know each other on a deeper level and develop better communication strategies. Through games, discussions, workshops, educational events, or problem-solving activities, you can encourage your team to think creatively, hone their leadership qualities, and identify improvement areas.

Other benefits of team-building activities include:

• Increased productivity. By learning how to work together more effectively, coworkers can boost their day-to-day productivity.
• Stronger morale. Team-building activities often offer a welcome break from typical work tasks and help boost motivation and create a more positive team culture.
• Identifying strengths. Team members might learn something new about each other’s — or even their own — skills and strengths. The same goes for opportunity areas.
• Building confidence. A little bonding can go a long way, especially for remote teams that may not otherwise spend casual time together. When teammates feel more comfortable with each other, they may in turn feel more confident at work.
• Enhanced collaboration. Team-building exercises help coworkers learn each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles, lending to better collaboration in the long run.

Team-building activity ideas to get you started

1. Board game gatherings

Goal: Minimize arguments, boost collaboration
Team size: 10 people or fewer
Commitment level: Moderate

Prevent conflicts before they start by giving employees the chance to collaborate and learn from each other in low-stakes situations. Playing board games can create instant collaboration. It forces people to think through things as a team and helps them better understand each other’s motivations and priorities to achieve a common goal. It can also encourage friendships between employees who may not otherwise interact much with each other, which can have a positive effect on team performance.

During the board game gathering, try pairing employees with people who have different working styles, or create cross-functional teams of people from different departments.

▶︎ Tip: Keep in mind how much time you have. If you have only an hour or so, consider fast-paced, small-group games like charades or trivia. With a couple of hours to spend, you could try more strategic games like Pandemic, Risk, or a murder mystery.

2. Moonshot brainstorms

Goal: Encourage innovative thinking, inspire creativity
Team size: Up to a dozen people
Commitment level: Moderate

Try giving teams the opportunity to develop a moonshot strategy. These are seemingly impossible, radical solutions that take creative thinking to an entirely new level.

Ask your team to come up with a plan that goes beyond the constraints of time, money, and tools. This gives employees an opportunity for freedom of thought and prevents naysayers or higher-ups from shooting down ideas.

▶︎ Tip: If you don’t want to get into a deep strategy session, smaller team-building activities such as art projects or group meditation might have a similar unconstrained focus effect.

3. Lunch and learns

Goal: Build trust in a relaxed environment
Team size: 10 to 20 people or more
Commitment level: Moderate to high (some preparation and public speaking required)

Pairing a team meeting with a group lunch can set up a good environment for casual but important discussions. It’s crucial to set an intention for the lunch and learn so that it’s more than bonding time — but it shouldn’t be an intensive training session. This team-building session is usually best for exploring things that help solve problems in employees’ day-to day work lives. The goal is for everyone to leave the lunch and learn feeling refreshed and excited about the evolution of their work.

▶︎ Tip: These can also provide an opportunity for employees to chat with leadership. Getting everyone together to talk about a topic can help break down any hierarchical barriers that are stifling teamwork.

4. Project management call and response

Goal: Develop project management skills, improve collaboration
Team size: Around 25 people
Commitment level: Moderate

Divide employees into multiple teams, and have each team choose a speaker. Managers can also assign a speaker if they want to help develop the skills of a specific person.

Each speaker will then get to look at a hidden, pre-built structure. This structure can be made of Legos, construction paper, or any other materials. The speaker then figures out how to instruct their teams on how to replicate it — without touching it themselves.

The speakers will need to use strategic thinking and communication to effectively give directions and delegate tasks, and the rest of the team will get a master class in project management.

▶︎ Tip: Turn up the heat by giving teams a time limit.

5. Grab bag of creativity

Goal: Boost creative problem-solving, spark cooperation
Team size: Around 25 people
Commitment level: Low

A recent study by Gallup shows that only 29 percent of employees strongly believe they’re expected to be creative and try new things at work. Give a spark to creativity by bringing a grab bag full of everyday items — a TV remote, pencil, tennis ball, screwdriver, and gloves — or pictures of those items to work.

Divide the group into small teams of three to five people and have each team draw two items from the bag. Then ask them to work together to develop a list of ways that the two disconnected items can be used together. The random and sometimes silly nature of the exercise will help team members flex their critical-thinking and creativity muscles.

▶︎ Tip: Offer a prize to the team that comes up with the most clever answer.

6. Volunteering together

Goal: Foster real intra-team relationships
Team size: Any size
Commitment level: High

Organize a volunteer outing, be it for a few hours or on an ongoing basis. It’s a great way to bring teams together for a noble purpose — and it can be effective whether you have just five volunteers or turn it into a companywide initiative.

By working together toward a shared goal, coworkers can develop deeper bonds based on their shared experience. What’s more, when employees practice empathy, it can help minimize conflict between team members.

▶︎ Tip: Find a cause that aligns with and can make use of your team’s unique talents.

7. Mini hackathons

Goal: Boost creativity, solve an actual problem
Team size: Any size
Commitment level: Moderate to high

Identifying the root cause of an issue is a necessary step for teams to take before brainstorming possible solutions. To get your team in the mode of solutions-oriented thinking, have them do a hackathon, where they have to collaborate to problem-solve in a limited amount of time.

Participants can either work as one team or divide into smaller teams. Give them an issue that your company is often faced with. Ask them to identify both the symptoms caused by the issue (how it affects their work) and the root cause of the issue (where the problem comes from).

Encourage divergent thinking with different means of brainstorming, and acknowledge there can be multiple acceptable solutions to the same problem.

▶︎ Tip: Sticking to simple problems is key. Anything bigger, and it become more of a moonshot exercise (see  No. 2).

8. Office olympics

Goal: Boost morale, spark friendly competition
Team size: Any size
Commitment level: Low to moderate

Cue the yogurt lids and paper clip medals for your very own office games. Think ultra-creative, low-stakes, quasi-athletic events like speed-walking with a full cup of water, paper airplane distance competitions, or who can find and stack the most pennies in a minute.

As with board games, office olympics events can spark camaraderie. Employees get to interact with one another away from meetings and spreadsheets and have some lighthearted competition.

▶︎ Tip: Get creative with the supplies you already have at the office or around a typical house for video-call competitions. And don’t forget to plan a fun closing ceremony.

9. Escape room activities

Goal: Strengthen problem-solving and communication
Team size: Four to eight people per group
Commitment level: Moderate

Escape rooms and other find-the-answer challenges involve working together to solve puzzles, decode clues, and accomplish tasks. People have to think quickly and collaborate effectively under the pressure of a time limit.

Not every team can go to an off-site escape room, but you may be able to bring the mystery to the office. You can buy ready-made escape room kits, find printable ones online, or create your own based on a theme relevant to your team. Lock up a box with a prize inside, leave some clues, and let the challenge begin.

▶︎ Tip: For distributed teams, try virtual escape rooms designed for remote play. With tools like video conferencing and Slack, the challenge can be just as engaging as being in person.

10. Skill-swap workshops

Goal: Share team expertise, grow skills organically
Team size: Five to 20 people
Commitment level: Low to moderate

In this team-building exercise, employees take turns leading short, informal sessions on a skill they know well. The idea is everyone has something they’re good at and can teach others about. It could be work-related, with topics like “creating an amazing slide deck” or “intro to effective AI prompts,” or just a skill or hobby that helps coworkers grow their interests.

It’s a low-lift way to build trust, highlight internal expertise, and encourage learning without adding formal training. Plus, giving people a chance to step into the teacher role builds confidence and creates a sense of ownership.

▶︎ Tip: Create a rotating calendar of sessions and allow team members to opt in based on interest. Record and list sessions on a Slack canvas so others can revisit them.

11. Two truths and a lie

Goal: Break the ice, spark a casual connection
Team size: Any size
Commitment level: Low

Whether you’re onboarding new hires or just need a moment of levity, this classic team-building game lets people share two surprising facts about themselves while also inventing one almost-believable lie. Guessing and revealing which ones are true and which one isn’t sparks conversation, surfaces common ground, and usually creates a few laughs.

▶︎ Tip: This game tends to be more interesting when you give people advance notice and some preparation time (at least 15 minutes). You can set a theme of travel, childhood, hobbies, or anything else to make it easier for people to come up with details about themselves.

12. Scavenger hunt

Goal: Encourage movement, build problem-solving skills
Team size: Groups of four to six people
Commitment level: Moderate to high

Getting outside for a team-building activity can break the routine and boost creativity, and an outdoor scavenger hunt does both. It combines movement, inventiveness, and collaboration — plus fun and friendly competition. You can design the hunt to involve collecting items, visiting nearby sites, or completing tasks.

It works for hybrid teams too: remote employees can participate with photo or video submissions from their own neighborhoods, then regroup with everyone to share highlights.

▶︎ Tip: Use a Slack channel to post clues, track progress, and keep things organized. For extra engagement, include small prizes for creativity, speed, or teamwork.

13. Wellness challenges

Goal: Boost physical or mental health habits and connect with others
Team size: Any size
Commitment level: Low to moderate

Maintaining well-being is often easier with a support system. Encourage individuals or teams who are interested in participating in a wellness-based challenge to set simple, measurable goals for healthful habits like tracking distance traveled, minutes of activity, hydration levels, time spent meditating, or screen‑free breaks. Try a variety of inclusive and adaptive challenges so anyone can be involved.

The idea isn’t to crown a winner but to give teammates options for activities to bond over and a way to celebrate progress of any kind. It can be a way for coworkers to find common interests and for the company to promote self-care and work-life balance — all of which can contribute to a team feeling stronger together.

▶︎ Tip: Make participation optional, and set a timeframe so the challenge has a clear end. Individuals can continue if they want, but ongoing wellness shouldn’t feel forced upon the group.

Different types of team-building activities

Your team is unique, so different types of team-building activities might be more or less effective depending on who’s participating and what your goals are. These categories can help you narrow down which kind of activities suit your team’s style, structure, and current needs.

Communication activities

Improve team collaboration with a communication-based activity. These group-building exercises encourage team members to learn more about each other, both personally and professionally. Communication-focused team-building might involve debate, negotiation, or personal shares.

Problem-solving activities

The strongest teams know how to solve problems effectively as a group. You can help build these skills through problem-solving activities, which tap into participants’ teamwork and critical thinking abilities. Unlike communication activities, problem-solving exercises might be more physical, such as an escape room or a scavenger hunt.

Trust-building activities

Many professionals spend 40 hours per week collaborating with their teammates. When you clock that much time with your coworkers, trust really comes in handy. Similar to problem-solving, trust-building team activities tend to be more physical, requiring participants to rely on each other to complete a task. A few examples include trust falls, eye contact activities, and obstacle courses.

Icebreaker activities

Get your team warmed up for the workday with an icebreaker activity. These team-building activities work particularly well for introducing new employees and kicking off new projects. An icebreaker can be as simple as asking each teammate to share a fun fact, or it might be more involved, such as a game of truth or dare, or two truths and a lie.

Tips for planning company team-building activities

Team-building works best when it’s intentional. Maybe you’re organizing a quick icebreaker or a full-day off-site — either way, a little structure goes a long way in helping your team feel engaged, not obligated. Thoughtful planning also helps you meet your goals, whether you’re trying to build trust, solve communication challenges, or just have some fun.

Here are a few smart tips for planning:

• Start with clear goals. Are you trying to break silos, welcome new hires, build cross-functional trust, or spark creativity? Knowing your “why” shapes everything else.
• Match the activity to your team’s format. Consider team size, location (in-person, remote, hybrid), and how much time people can realistically give.
• Assign roles and set expectations. Even casual events run smoother when someone owns the agenda, timing, and communications.
• Use Slack to organize. Polls can help you choose activities, huddles are great for checking in with each other, and dedicated channels with pinned notes and canvases can keep everyone coordinated.
• Ask for feedback afterward. A follow-up survey with a few questions and an open comments section can help you improve the next activity and show your team their input matters.

Find the right team-building activities

There’s a place for traditional team-building activities such as scavenger hunts and paintball matches. However, these off-site events might not foster the sort of trust and collaboration that meaningfully influence team dynamics.

The next time you organize an event, consider the unique makeup of your team. What would they get a kick out of? By providing an environment in which employees can laugh, open up, and support one another, you give colleagues the opportunity to build genuine friendships in the workplace — and perform better in their day-to-day roles, too.

Company team-building activities FAQs