If you’re looking to strengthen bonds amongst your team members while having some fun, a corporate team outing is just what you need. Team outings are a great resource for businesses and one you should take advantage of. There are numerous benefits and reasons for team building via a corporate outing; they can help you bring your team together, ultimately creating a stronger team.
However, successfully planning and executing a corporate team outing isn’t as simple as it might seem. There are a multitude of things to consider when planning an event, and coming up with fun ideas can be a challenge too.
But don’t worry; in this blog we’re going to provide unique and enjoyable corporate outing ideas. We’ll also cover how to make your corporate team outing a memorable experience, that way your outing is as impactful and successful as possible.
How to Plan a Team Outing
The first step to a corporate team outing is planning it. Planning is incredibly important, and it will determine how your event turns out. Because of that, you need to purposefully and carefully plan your outing. There are a lot of things to consider, so let’s go over some of the most important aspects of planning.
One of the first things you want to do is define your objectives. Do you want to build comraderie? Learn more about your team members? Do you want to improve cooperation? You need to figure out what you want to achieve through the team building outing. Having a goal in mind lets you focus on that and tailor your event around, making success much easier.
Another thing you should consider is aligning your goals and activities with your company’s values and goals. If your team outing supports who you are as a company, it will be much more effective. So if your company places a heavy emphasis on the environment, an outing that focuses around the environment makes sense.
You should also keep your team’s size and dynamics in mind. Every team is different. What you would do with a small team isn’t the same as what you would do with a large one. Some teams like to joke around with each other, while others are more serious and prefer to stay focused. You should know your team well and pick activities that fit their dynamic and preferences.
Lastly, you also need to be conscious about your budget. Your budget can have a big impact on how you plan your event. If you have a huge budget, you might rent a conference hall and pay for an event. If you have a lower budget, you might use your office space and host the event yourself. There are many different places for corporate team outings, and budget will play a role in your choice. So just keep your budget in mind while you’re planning your event.
Innovative and Fun Corporate Outing Ideas
Now, let’s move onto innovative corporate outing ideas. The events and activities you choose for your event will play a big role in your event, so you want to pick the best ones possible for your goals and team. So let’s go over some fun activities and ideas you can use for your event.
- Culinary competitions. Cooking and competing with your coworkers can be a great idea for an outing. Teams get to compete, work together, strengthen their cooking skills, build comradery, and more. Take a look at some of our culinary events and see if any of them would be a good fit for your team.
- Escape rooms. These have become a popular event in recent years because they are fun and effective. Escape rooms let employees bond and have fun while working together and improving their creativity. Our Escape the Mob event is a good choice if you want a fun and puzzle filled outing.
- Holiday celebrations. Team outings can be as simple as celebrating a holiday. This is a great choice if you are on a tight budget and want to do your event all by yourself. Having a big holiday party is a great way to encourage team bonding while letting loose.
- Virtual events. Even if your employees are working remotely, you can still have a fun and impactful team outing. There are tons of virtual events that you can implement in an all-digital corporate outing. Even though they’re remote, they can be just as memorable and effective.
- Corporate retreats. This is one of the more expensive and involved options on this list, but they can also be exciting and unforgettable. There are a whole range of options for corporate retreats, and they can be tailored to your specific needs and goals. If you have the funds and really want to have a memorable experience, consider a corporate retreat.
Team Outing Suggestions for the Best Experience
We’ve talked a bit about this already, but you want your team outing to be an inclusive and memorable experience. It’s one of the most challenging aspects of putting together a corporate outing, and it’s something you should prioritize. So let’s go over some strategies and techniques you can use to craft a memorable experience.
Customizing Activities
This one is probably obvious, but customizing your activities is one the best ways to make your event memorable. It can be the difference between an event that is forgotten about and one that people remember for the rest of their lives. A little bit of customization can go a long way.
For example, say your team really loves the beach. Customizing your event so it’s beach themed can make it a bit more special and memorable. You could do beach themed trivia, use palm tree decorations, and serve beachy drinks. That can go a long way in making your event more unique so it stands out.
You can also incorporate company specific elements into the outings. This can help tie into company core values, increase company appreciation, and make the event feel like it was custom designed just for your team. You should try to work elements of your company and who you are as a company into your events and activities.
Emphasizing Collaboration
Another good idea for your outing is to emphasize collaboration. For starters, collaboration is a key part of any business. You can always improve your collaboration skills, and a company outing is a great opportunity to do so.
Focusing on collaboration will also help you build relationships within your team, which plays a big role in teamwork. You can use your company outing to your advantage for team building and to better teamwork, which will ultimately help you create a more efficient and productive team.
Collaboration also makes your event more memorable. People will remember the time they spent with their coworkers, how they worked together, struggles, victories, etc. That all adds up and makes your event more memorable in the end.
As far as specific strategies to focus on collaboration, there are a lot of options. Group challenges and team competitions can be a great way to get people working together towards a goal. And since it’s competitive, your teams will have to work together as efficiently as possible to win.
Problem-solving games can also be a great option. These will get your team collaborating and working together, but you’ll also be improving upon things like time management, problem solving, creativity, and more.
Encouraging Communication
This one ties into collaboration, but team communication is a big part of making your event memorable. Again, people will remember those conversations and experiences they shared with their coworkers, so you want to go out of your way to encourage communication.
And as with collaboration, improving your communication skills has business benefits as well. Teams that communicate more freely and effectively work better together, work more quickly, and provide better quality output.
Thankfully, encouraging communication is relatively easy, and it’s something that you can work into every aspect of your outing. For example, you could start your outing with a drink/snack bar that encourages people to mingle. That’s a simple and effective way to encourage communication.
You can also incorporate it into your events and activities. Icebreakers are a great way to get people talking, and they’ll also help your team learn more about each other. Open forums are another option. They’re perfect for getting conversations started, and they can serve as a platform for more serious discussions as well.
Reflecting and Celebrating
Finally, reflecting and celebrating also play a huge role in how memorable your event is. Simply taking the time to reflect on the fun you had, what you learned, and the experiences you had can help that outing be much more memorable.
The easiest way to go about this is by having a celebration of some type at the end (such as drinks, food, prizes, etc.), while also including time for reflection. That could be a group discussion, having people give feedback, or having everyone share what they learned.
Another option is to include takeaway lessons at the end of your outing. This one is also pretty simple, and it can help ensure that everyone takes something away from your outing. Making everyone reflect on what they learned and giving them a few things to implement will help that outing stick in their minds and be more memorable.
Plan a Company Outing with Team Bonding
Team outings can be incredibly fun, but they are also a great way to boost your team’s spirit, build relationships, improve communication, collaboration, creativity, and productivity. They are a valuable resource for business, and you should take advantage of that by planning company outings in the future. And if you need help planning an outing, TeamBonding is here to help. We have been doing memorable and exciting corporate events for over 20 years, and we have a wide array of events that are perfect for your next outing. So get in touch with us today and plan a company outing with TeamBonding.
