Across the world, managers are looking to improve and inspire their workplaces by engaging in team building activities. Beyond some of the standard lunch outings and after-work drinks events, some creative-types have taken it upon themselves to create some of the most unique team building activities in the globe.
Humans vs. Zombies
Humans vs. Zombies is an activity played across the world by schools, military bases and summer camps as a team-building exercise. Every participant starts as a human bar one, who is chosen to be the ‘Original Zombie’. The Original Zombie ‘tags’ human players in order to recruit them as a zombie. If a zombie fails to tag a single human in 48 hours, they ‘starve to death’ (ie. out of the game).
To fend off zombies, humans are allowed to use a foam dart blaster (or just throw a sock) to ‘stun’ a Zombie for 15 minutes. To turn a human into a zombie, zombies must touch any part of a human.
To differentiate between humans and zombies, humans must wear a bandana on their arm while zombies have to tie a bandana to their head.
The game is over when all zombies starve to death or all humans are turned into zombies (or if you’re short on time, a pre-determined end time).
The People’s Tower
Another unique team-building activity is The People’s Tower, a tower construction project that is the brainchild of artist Oliver Grossetete.
A team is brought together to help create giant replicas of landmarks and local buildings out of cardboard boxes. Once the boxes are piled high to create the monument – which can reach 20 metres in height – the group is allowed to smash it down and watch the boxes topple.
The project ensures that teams are communicating and collaborating together to finish the task.
The event has appeared at Glastonbury Festival, where a replica of the iconic St Michael’s Tower was created, and at Torbay Festival where residents helped recreate Torquay’s Harbour Clock.
Mardi-Gras floats
When a team in the United States was offered to engage in a Mardi-Gras float building day, many participants were initially wondering what was the point of such an activity.
However, managers leading the time knew that building was a credible way to “get people from various disciplines to work together actually doing something,” according Executive Travel Magazine. Furthermore, the task required a number of skills including innovation, creativity, teamwork and communication.
Embarking in one of the most unique conclusions to a team building activity, the floats were then drafted into an impromptu parade complete with costumes, hats and masks to complement their creations. Furthermore, they also added brightly colored feather boas and tiny porcelain masks complete their ensemble while basic streamer and beads were adorned on the float. The efforts were then judged on their floats and the winners were handed full bragging rights over other teams.
As all teams were engaged in intense competition, a number of engagement targets were accomplished and benefits achieved to bring back to the workplace.
About the author:
Written by Blue Hat (www.bluehatgroup.co.uk). Bluehat Group is a multi-award winning team building organization. We specialize in live events with particular emphasis on communication, motivation, learning and performance related outcomes.