Mention team building in Dubai and this might seem familiar. “Ok, now it’s time for the team building activities”. Cue mass panic and thoughts turning to a swift exit. Sounds familiar right? That’s because we’ve all been there. The thing is though, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are witnessing that sort of reaction then it's probably not "them" but you!
Team building training has evolved at a phenomenal pace over the last few years, and a significant component of that progression has been in team building activities. No longer just embarrassment-inducing tasks with no real tangible benefit, team building activities have advanced into enjoyable pursuits that offer genuinely beneficial takeaways to the participants.
In recent years, numerous team building activities have been designed that participants the world over are actually enjoying and even clambering for more of. Learning experiences that encourage and reward participation. A new wave of team building activities was created to strengthen both specific and multiple skills. Here we have compiled a list of team building activities that achieve a specific objective that can be traced to the End Game that you want to achieve from the event.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the list
1. Team Building Activities To Improve Collaboration
Check out these team engagement activities that would help you bridge silos and improve collaboration within the teams.
- Beat the Box: Any wannabe detectives out there? Solve problems, crack codes and unravel mysteries to Beat the Box once and for all. A thought-inducing team building activity where teams are challenged to complete a series of escape room type challenges in order to unlock a series of cases within a locked metal box.
- Peak Performance: Ready for an adventure? Lead an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest! Teams are going to need collaboration and communication aplenty as, during a 20-day expedition, they aim to guide their clients up to the top of Mount Everest and then safely back to base camp!
- Arabian Market: Head back in time to the 1800s and the bustling trader markets of the Trucial States! Gather information, build trust, network and negotiate to maximise your returns. Teams negotiate to increase their wealth, trading in dates, camels, fish, spices, pearls, water, money and all-important information. Armed with a pouch of Arabian-themed trading goods, teams must rise to the challenge of maximising their wealth.
- Bean Around the World: It’s time for your transformation into a coffee trader! Enjoy fast-paced fun in this entertaining business simulation. Teams take the role of coffee traders in providing the supply chain from producer to outlet, and finally to the ever-fickle consumer. Teams make money by buying coffee from the suppliers, trading with other syndicates and then selling coffee blends to the customer….at a profit!
2. Unique and Innovative Team Building Activities
Below are some of the most innovative and unique team building activities that your teams will surely love.
- Creative Juices: Get those juices flowing with this fun, fast and furious business simulation that focuses on communication and logistics. Teams represent divisions of a global smoothie company that is faced with logistical issues. They are then tasked with sourcing ingredients from other teams, striking trade deals, planning international deliveries, hitting tight deadlines, and a whole lot more.
- Commercial Break: Taaaaake 32…..action! Design and film a commercial in this fun team building activity that has its teams utilising creativity, effective communication and strategic planning. The participating teams experience the fascinating world of digital advertising as they create an award-winning ad, from initial brief all the way through to final screening.
- Hole in One: Time to channel your inner championship golfer! Design, build and play a mini-golf course in this high energy activity where everyone gets involved in. With Hole in One, participating teams design and build a challenging mini-golf course which they will eventually play in a competitive and fun tournament. The big challenge is that each hole must be constructed to be fun, challenging and conceptually different.
- Chain Reaction Lifesize: Hands up who remembers loving the board game Mouse Trap? Well, here’s the chance to do it for real by designing and building a cascading series of devices from recycled materials. Participating teams must draw on their creativity and communication skills to design devices that work together to produce a domino effect in which activating one device triggers the next device and so on.
3. Team Building Activities To Improve Leadership Skills
Develop leadership skills in your individuals and teams in a fun and engaging way. These team building activities will encourage teams to develop ownership, accountability, and critical leadership skills.
- The Infinite Loop: Ready for a rescue mission? In this virtual reality team building activity, players exchange roles in the real world to save a young man trapped in the virtual world. Based around real-time collaboration and communication, your team is tasked with travelling back and forth between the virtual and synthetic worlds, finding clues that will help the prisoner return to the real world.
- CSI: Aspiring detectives, your time has arrived! Lead your team as they attempt to decipher a series of puzzles and solve a murder mystery! Teams analyse a realistic crime scenario and scrutinise all the evidence in this fascinating team building exercise. Will they have the skills to solve the multi-layered puzzles and successfully identify the killer?
- Escape the Island: How are your basic survival skills? Can your team survive the island long enough to be rescued? Participating teams are stranded on an island and must successfully pass through nine testing zones and challenges before signalling a passing ship to be rescued!
- Sky's the Limit: Ready to build your own Burj Khalifa? See who can design and build the tallest structure! A fun and fast-paced activity where teams compete to see who can build the tallest structure in just twenty minutes!
4. Team Building Activities To Improve Communication
Here's a list of our top team building activities specifically designed to improve communication and encourage open dialogue.
- Need 4 Speed: Give the world’s finest car manufacturers a run for their money as you create the ultimate production line! Faced with a jumble of model components, teams must switch into overdrive to assemble a range of ‘snap together’ concept cars in record time. Optimising flow is critical to success as teams are challenged to form ultra-efficient assembly lines and shave seconds off successive build times.
- iBuild: Take communication to the next level as your team builds an exact replica of a model without even looking at it! A highly engaging activity where the focus falls very much on communication and collaboration. Every single participant plays a vital role in the communication chain as teams attempt to build a model from very simple elements within a limited amount of time.
- Situation Room: Like the idea of being involved in a special operations task force? Now’s your chance, it’s time to investigate a powerful crime syndicate! Guided by video briefs, teams attempt to open a series of locked briefcases to uncover challenges as they set about bringing the evil crime syndicate to justice!
- Gold Rush: The rush to discover gold is on! Use strategy, planning and problem-solving to strike it rich! Teams collaborate and multi-task on eight different levels simultaneously in an effort to discover gold, become abundantly wealthy, and most importantly…win the game!
5. Team Building Activities To Promote Creative Thinking
Get your creative juices flowing with our wide range of team building activities that promote creative thinking.
- The Domino Effect: Time to get creative and design a giant Domino masterpiece! Who will have the steadier hand? The greater ideas for creativity and innovation? Will your team be able to ensure that every element is going to work? Your team is tasked with creating a Domino masterpiece of epic proportions!
- The Perfect Fit: Ever used conference themes and corporate messages to create a giant jigsaw? No? Not surprising….but Perfect Fit has you doing just that, and it’s a whole lot of fun. Participating teams create a bespoke design based on conference themes and corporate messages and then cleverly craft them into a complicated jigsaw puzzle. This fun team building activity is the perfect icebreaker that will get everyone thinking and stimulate open discussion.
- Out of the Box: Time to get that creative mindset going on by designing an innovative display Out of the Box is an ingenious way to generate fresh ideas and stimulate open and frank discussion as participating teams create a unique collaborative design that represents their views on a specific subject.
- Quickfire - Soccer: Calling all the undiscovered Lionel Messi clones out there! Use creativity and ingenuity to complete mental, physical and creative soccer challenges! A competitive app-based team building extravaganza designed to get everybody on the side and have maximum fun. Teams must work effectively together to weigh up risk and reward. A lot of laughs are guaranteed and teams will finish the game with a feeling of exhilaration and a sense of togetherness.
6. Team Building Activities To Build Problem-solving Skills
Here are our team building activities that help teams and individuals develop problem-solving skills.
- AR – Pyramid Quest: It’s time to go all Indiana Jones and solve the mysteries of an ancient Egyptian pyramid! A fun, table-based, team game that brings a whole new level of interaction. Teams will watch in amazement as an ancient pyramid seemingly builds from the middle of their table, before combining to crack an ancient Egyptian riddle.
- City Build: Think you have what it takes to create a sprawling metropolis? Get ready to plan, design and construct a giant model city! All participating teams design a section of a model city using a wide range of materials. The city doesn’t just have to be easy on the eye….it must also be fully functioning and cohesive. When time is up, teams join their sections of the city together and see if their common goal has been achieved.
- Escape the Mob: The mob are on your tail! Can you establish an alibi and find the stolen diamonds in time? Using the popular concept of escape rooms, teams have a limited amount of time to get their story straight and determine exactly where they were on the night of the robbery. They must also track down the real culprit….the thief who stole the diamonds!
- Heroes of Troy: Help Paris escape with his beloved Helena in this exciting strategy game! Set in the time before the famous Trojan war, teams must utilise their communication skills to help Paris and his beloved Helena escape from the mighty Agamemnon and Meneas armies.
7. High Impact Team Building Activities
The ultimate objective of a team building activity is to promote bonding and develop camaraderie within teams. This selection of team engagement activity will help you achieve just that!
- Robot Revolution: Time to get inventive as your team build robots and code them to complete collaborative tasks! In this thoroughly engaging and enriching learning process, teams represent a group of research scientists tasked with building and programming a prototype robot capable of changing the world!
- Discovery Challenge: Take an exciting and mysterious adventure through fascinating locations! In Discovery Challenge, teams rotate around a series of waypoints guided by the Go Team app. At each destination, there is a challenge or puzzle to solve that draws on the history, culture and landmarks of the city. This innovative team building activity generates a strong spirit of teamwork, competition and fun.
- Dragon Squad: You’re on fire! Get creative as your team designs and constructs a Chinese dragon before performing a dragon dance!
- Once participating teams have constructed their unique Chinese dragon, they collaborate to choreograph and perform a coordinated dragon dance.
- Great Big Game Show: We’ve all seen game shows on TV and have a few we secretly love…..well now you can be in one! Participating teams put their general knowledge on the line as they compete against each other in this high energy ice breaker. A huge variety of subjects are covered in the questions so everyone will be able to enjoy and contribute.
We have over 200 exciting, entertaining and engaging team building activities that we can stage at your conference venue or offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or anywhere in the Middle East. If you are looking to engage your team and participate in a fun, energising and unforgettable Teambuilding experience, please do get in touch with us.
