Cohesion guidebook
What Team Building Can Offer Companies
Plan a shared team experience, ask for feedback and keep workplace follow-up specific rather than promising business results.
A company team activity can give colleagues time to play together outside their usual work tasks. Choose it for the experience you want the group to have, not as a promise of higher productivity or lasting trust. The planning prompts below separate what can happen during a session from what needs follow-through at work.
1. Try clear game instructions
For a team game, ask players to agree on a simple plan and a way to share updates during the round. Laser Tag and Bubble Soccer give the group a shared game to discuss. Afterwards, ask what made the instructions clear or confusing. A game does not by itself show that workplace communication has improved.
2. Separate play from work outcomes
If your aim concerns work, name the specific issue before the event: for example, an unclear handoff or a decision that keeps getting delayed. An outing can be a separate shared experience. Address the work issue through agreed owners, time and a review, rather than assuming a game will improve productivity.
3. Respect choices and feedback
Before the session, explain the format and ask about access needs and preferences. Afterwards, invite honest feedback, including from people who did not enjoy it. Respecting those choices matters more than labelling an event a trust-building exercise.
4. Review a game plan
You could ask a group to discuss a game plan, try it in a round and then change one part. Keep the reflection specific: what information was missing, and who needed it? Any link to a workplace problem should be discussed and tested at work, not claimed as an automatic result of playing.
Choose a session that fits the group, ask for feedback and keep any workplace follow-up separate and specific. A useful review records what people actually experienced, including mixed feedback, without turning a good day out into a claim about business performance.