The OffBeat #62: Getting in the Swing of Things — My 12 Favorite Team-Building Exercises
Including an editable game template
Team-building is hard. It takes time. It takes concerted resource investment, and thoughtful long-term dedication. It’s never complete; it’s not something you put on a 30-60-90 plan and check off the list.
But it matters—a lot. A team with a strong, intentionally cultivated culture can do most anything. And they feel better doing it. Work teams with strong culture are more engaged, productive, and less likely to leave their organization.
Let’s take a beat. What does team-building even mean? Here’s how I think about it:
The collective definition of the culture—shared values and ways of working—of a team hierarchically organized together
The collective ongoing cultivation of that culture through activities, events, and everyday operations
So there’s the “what makes this team a team?” part—undertaken at the outset of a new team forming, then fine-tuned and revisited on a semi-regular cadence—and the “let’s make sure this team stays a team” part.
The latter is what we’re talking about today. There are countless team-building exercises and activities with varying effectiveness depending on your leadership style, the nature of your team, and whether or not folks are remote, hybrid, or in person. I have tried *~a lot~* of them.
Below, I’ve curated my favorites. And I’m not talking about trust falls, “lunch & learns,” virtual escape rooms, or other cringey and cliched stuff (I’ve been subjected to those, too—yes, even the trust falls).
My inclusion criteria:
Minimal effort to prepare, and an hour or less to run
Contributes to fostering meaningful team relationships
Remote- or hybrid-friendly
Offbeat in some way: unexpected, surprising, compassionately contrarian
And please do canvas your team for their ideas, too; involving them in planning helps them buy in and allows you to tailor plans to match their tastes and interests.
My 12 favorite team-building exercises:
Random Question Roulette
I start my team's (hybrid) All Hands each month with a 5-minute round of "question roulette." We spin a virtual wheel and pose a random question to each person selected. I've learned more through question roulette about members of teams I've managed than I have through skip syncs or team lunches.
Conversation Cards
I like this “Teamwork” set from the School of Life. The deck’s got 100 questions in the categories of Flaws, Fears & Regrets, Character, Work, Likes & Interests, and The Past designed to help colleagues get to know each other as humans. If you have a large group, break up into groups of 5 and give everyone a stack of cards (or have someone distribute the questions digitally if the team is remote or hybrid).
Virtual Pictionary
Split into groups and cycle through illustrators, having the person running the game share a word with each illustrator they need to draw on-screen for their team in a blank Google Slide, or whatever tool is most accessible for your crew. You can select all the words based on a theme, or randomize it to make it harder. This is one that might sound dumb but in practice it gets people laughing and really does require collaboration and creativity.
Quarterly “Vibe Checks”
At the end of each quarter I have my direct reports facilitate an open dialogue among their respective teams to cover what’s working well, where our opportunities are, and what they’d change if they could wave a magic wand. It’s a chance to be vulnerable—which cultivates trust and mutual respect over time—as well as air grievances healthfully and foster a two-way conversation. I then run a similar session with these leaders, with them respecting the privacy of individuals who wanted to keep any commentary within the bounds of their own session. Based on the themes gathered across these meetings, we may make adjustments to how we’re running things, or bring feedback upward or outward, over the following quarter.
Community Service
If you’re all in person you can pick a project that’s accessible to everyone on the team; if you’re hybrid or remote check out Lemontree.
Team Bingo
Fill a bingo card (editable template below) with fun facts like “has performed in public” or “has run a triathlon” or “has 0 unread emails” and give people time to mingle and chat, in person or on Zoom, X-ing off each box once they meet someone for whom that fun fact is true. See how many bingos people can get over the course of the hang-out.
Superpowers
Management consultancy SYPartners’ Superpowers deck is a great exercise for core teams of 3-7 and can be revisited semi-regularly to reflect on how changing dynamics have impacted each team member’s usage of their superpower. The deck of 21 cards describes 21 superpowers, a.k.a. natural talents like Problem Solving and Peacemaking, and prompts personal reflection on which resonate most, and why. It’s like a live, interactive version of a personality test.
Strengths Test Discussion
I’m a big personality test nerd. Research is skeptical as to the accuracy of assessments like Myers-Briggs, but I think if you approach these questionnaires as a fun jumping-off point for understanding how your teammates think and operate, versus the be-all of those things, it’s harmless. And giving a team shared language is always a boon, providing a shorthand that fast-tracks collective understanding (that’s part of why I wholly endorse organization-wide, year-round leadership training). How this works as a team-building exercise: have everyone take an assessment—some favorites listed below—then use a team meeting or offsite session to share results and discuss implications. The smaller the group, the deeper you can dive into analysis.
Prioritization 2x2
A great way to leverage team-building time productively, particularly when things are nuts and people are overwhelmed, is to prioritize workload together. This works best in individual teams, or with a senior leadership team, so that prioritization decisions can actually be made. I’m a fan of this 2x2 matrix, which visually evaluates value against effort/cost. Draw the matrix on a whiteboard and use live discussion to plot projects in their appropriate quadrants, or use a slide or doc in a virtual meeting. For this activity I ask each participant to come prepared with a list of projects, as well as their thoughts on where each should fall in the matrix. But often those ratings shift based on the group discussion, which is great! At the conclusion of the session, make W-W-W commitments (Who’s going to do What, When) in order to implement prioritization plans.
Connect the Dots
This is one we used to play at Union Square Hospitality Group (parent company of Shake Shack). Have everyone sit in a circle, or keep their cameras on if they’re virtual, then give one person 5 minutes to introduce themselves, or—if the team’s already acquainted—share some additional color about their lives. This could include where they grew up, what their childhood hobbies were, any annual traditions they have, miscellaneous fun facts. Whoever has a “dot” to connect with one of the “dots” that person shared—for example, they also had a dachshund growing up, or they also love musicals, or also never miss an episode of Real Housewives—speaks up next. In this fashion the group makes its way through everyone present, daisy-chaining all the commonalities among the team.
Extreme Brainstorming
Using team-building time to think critically as a collective is beneficial. Consider these “extreme brainstorming” questions from Jason Cohen, Chief Innovation Officer of WP Engine. Spending time noodling on zany thought exercises (e.g. If you were forced to increase your prices by 10X, what would you have to do to justify it?) is a nice respite from the day-to-day grind of your real-world roles, and helps foster fresh, imaginative thinking among your group. You never know, it may also spark an actual idea to pursue following the session.
Team Directory
This one requires some prep work. I like to maintain a visual team directory, particularly in a remote or hybrid environment where folks don’t spend a ton of time in person together and may find it harder to get to know each other as humans. It’s a simple slide deck with the org chart at the front, followed by one-pagers for everyone by department. I ask everyone to include a photo of themselves plus other visuals that represent who they are, in addition to their location and working hours, best way to collaborate with them, some fun facts, and what they’re most likely to talk about in the break room. Here’s where the team-building exercise comes in: have each person share their slide at a team meeting, rotating through everyone, one per meeting, until all have gone. If the team’s small, have folks update their slide a few times per year and re-share. If the team’s huge, feature a few slides in a lightning round or else share in breakout groups.
*Wipes sweat from brow*—that was a ton. I’d love to hear from you if you’ve got a favorite team-building exercise not on this list.
Below, for paid subscribers, an editable template for team bingo.