Are you looking for some fresh team-building adventures for your work colleagues or hobby group? Engaging in exciting activities and sharing new experiences with your group helps build good relationships, by having fun together and forging shared memories. They offer an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other better, or in a different light, and promote teamwork.
The better the experience, the better the bonding and team building, so it’s a great idea to choose an exciting and unique activity. Maximise the positive effect on your cohorts by choosing a compelling option for your team-building day. And what better way to shake things up and do that, than by getting them outdoors and well away from their usual base of operations?
The following list has got some exciting ideas for your next team-building day, out in the great outdoors. Let’s jump in!
A day out at an assault course is a classic option for your team-building activity. It gets everyone moving, having fun, encouraging each other, and engaging in friendly competition. You don’t need to go far or spend a lot to enjoy one, either. Nor do you need to contend with a fear of heights or familiarise yourself with safety equipment. All anyone needs is themselves and their drive and determination. Even in inclement weather, the challenge may simply be more invigorating and rewarding and ultimately increase the bonding experience.
Less muddy and intense but easily as fun, is a sports day. Sports days can bring some very welcome comic relief alongside their active objectives, as well as a chance for some creative thinking. The tasks, games, and activities you can throw into your sports day are endless and only limited by your imagination. There are tons of original ideas out there on the web, too. Having said that, you can’t go wrong with the classics:
To enhance the silliness and fun, why not make it a fancy dress affair? What could be a better icebreaker than seeing Dave sprinting the relay in a tutu, or Priya shrieking her support in a judge’s wig?
Rock climbing is the ultimate team-building experience. You have to push your fear factor, your problem-solving skills, and your fitness to the limit. At the same time, you’re tethered to and supporting one another, both physically and emotionally. It requires great communication and trust – and the rewards? Great bonding, great team building, a fantastic sense of achievement, and some stunning views! Rock climbing will clear out the sinuses, providing your team with a sheer blast of the great outdoors whilst they work together.
A canyoning experience offers the same perks as rock climbing, in terms of challenging oneself, communicating, and requiring a certain level of physical endurance. It also offers some unique and upfront views or experiences of otherwise hard-to-reach landscapes.
If you don’t know, canyoning is the sport of following a river system through a canyon, in a very hands-on and direct way. It may involve climbing, abseiling, sliding, or even jumping, to traverse the rocky, waterfall formations. It’s a sport for those that don’t mind getting wet and navigating sometimes challenging climbs in the same activity.
Climbing or specialised prior experience is not always necessary. Honister Slate’s canyoning adventure is available to anyone over the age of ten. As long as they have the necessary physical fitness and the nerve!
For a more grounded, even centring experience, why not consider sharpening your focus with some archery? Archery is open to a broad range of participants, requiring no high level of physical fitness, no death-defying heights or challenges, and no special safety equipment (though a brief overview of safety and some common sense may prevent any nasty accidents!).
Archery provides a more soothing, but no less fun and no less cordially competitive activity for you and your group. It’s a relaxing and unique sport that is especially welcome for a sunny day out if you don’t want to break too much of a sweat.
Another spectacular sport in terms of teamwork and team building is orienteering. Pit teams against one another and test them against the clock to navigate cross-country to the finish. This tests and develops problem-solving abilities, decision-making, leadership, communication, and more. All while getting some fitness and fresh air in.
Orienteering was originally developed to train Swedish military personnel, in case of navigating unknown landscapes with nothing but a compass and perhaps a topographical map. Its combination of mental and physical application has been likened to running while playing chess.
In a way, a scavenger hunt is like orienteering, but perhaps less challenging and more amusing. It’s orienteering meets escape room. Participants must work together to find designated items, sometimes scattered across an entire city, before their competitors. Each group’s teamwork will be put to the test, alongside their mental and emotional mettle when working together under pressure.
Some scavenger hunts may require solving clues to find each object, amping up the problem-solving side of a hunt. Communication is key, so teams will have to utilise their social skills to win!
Back up a couple of notches on the intensity scale, white water rafting is a hell of a way to bring people together. If extreme circumstances forge quick bonding, white water rafting has got to be the quickest on the list. There are varying levels of intensity for white water rafting runs, but on the more extreme side, you’ll barely have time to catch your breath from one fall to the next. The rapids of a fast-moving river provide an exciting opportunity to band together and really battle the fiercer side of nature and the great outdoors.
You don’t get much more high-pressure circumstances to test your team’s enduring communication, teamwork, and ability to follow directions. Not whilst also enjoying such high levels of fun and excitement.
With hiking, we find a happy medium, a sweet spot on our list for team-building days out. Hiking isn’t too intense (depending on your trail of course), but isn’t too leisurely either. It provides ample opportunity for coworkers, teammates, or hobby companions to catch up in a whole new setting and get some exercise at the same time.
Hiking still stimulates our comradery, communication, and often navigation/problem-solving skills as a group. However, it won’t be at as much risk of pushing emotions and fears to the limit.
Via ferrata means ‘iron path’ in Italian, and refers to challenging climbing passes around the world. Depending on the path, you may not need to be an experienced climber to take it. And if you can’t afford to get the team to the Alps, there are a few within the UK.
Via Ferrata Xtreme, for example, is Honister Slate’s ‘iron path’ in the Lake District. It’s a challenging experience including mountain edge exposure, vertical ladder climbs, overhang descents, and a sky bridge. However, you don’t need prior experience for this challenge, just a good level of fitness and a supportive group!
If you need some quick, easier-to-organise activities on the fly, why not take the team out for simpler sports and activities? From high-octane circuits to miniature golf shenanigans, there are a number of sports-esque activities that could be arranged even the day before. You’ll still get the same benefits of group bonding, teamwork, and communication, in a wholly different environment that will leave everyone feeling refreshed.
We have a variety of team-building activities available at Honister Slate in the Lake District. From our Via Ferrata (classic or Xtreme) to canyoning, cliff camping, and more. Alternatively, embark on less strenuous adventures with tours of the mine, or scenic hikes around Buttermere with stunning views.
For more information on all-inclusive Away Day packages that can be tailored to your needs, get in contact with Honister Slate today. Or, take a look around our website.
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