Every now and then it’s good to step away from the office environment, to break with routine by taking your team somewhere completely different for a few days to boost collaboration, communication and morale. Get the right mix of work and fun group activities and you’ll be heading back to the office with newfound team spirit. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our 5 team building activities for a productive corporate stay.
Find the Perfect Venue for Your Team Building Event
A spacious, comfortable house like Heddinay sets the stage for a successful team-building stay
Picking the perfect venue for your team-building away days is important. There are designated activity and adventure sites, specialist conferencing centres, and exclusive-hire country hotels, but what works really well is a large holiday house with unshared use of leisure facilities like indoor pools, hot tubs, games rooms and BBQ lodges. You’ll have complete privacy, an informal and relaxed atmosphere, and everything conveniently under one roof.
Sleeps12 have beautiful houses for corporate stays, sleeping up to 32. Some have multiple houses on site – great for larger groups (see Beaverbrook20 and Churchill20). Most have good Wi-Fi connectivity, large screens for presentations, and big dining tables that can be utilised for brainstorming – the one at Cricklehaze in Somerset is something else!
What are 5 Good Team Building Activities for a Productive Corporate Stay?
Team building activities have to be fun, but not forced fun. Activities should be fully inclusive so no-one is left out regardless of their physical abilities or personality type. Activities should suit your team - active, sporty types will love adventures like hill hiking or kayaking, colleagues into wellbeing will enjoy yoga and meditation sessions, others might prefer slow-paced activities like craft workshops. Check out our ideas.
An Estate Treasure Hunt
Fern Manor has enough space for almost any corporate activity imaginable
If your team-building venue is a country manor, do an Estate Treasure Hunt. Divide your group into teams and send them off all over the estate to find a chain of clues and solve riddles. Give each team a clue sheet and a map with checkpoints for observing, decoding and problem solving. The final clue leads to a hidden treasure chest full of prizes – one for each team, in different places.
Base clues on a historic or fictional event linked to the estate, feature local trivia, and include physical challenges. Encourage your teams to take group selfies and videos along the way.
The unfamiliar territory puts everyone on a level pegging, the clues will draw on different team-member skills, the shared victory boosts morale and respect.
A Murder Mystery
A Murder Mystery is great fun! Pick a theme (country house, 1920s, 1980s dinner party), do fancy dress, maybe dress the room. Give each team member a character and a script; as the mystery unfolds everyone works together to establish who the murderer is.
This is a low-pressure activity that encourages problem solving, critical thinking, and healthy debate, with everyone working to a shared objective.
Sleeps12 trusted providers My Event Concierge can bring a murder mystery to your country house venue. They offer packages that include a 3 course dinner, cocktails and canapes.
Escape Room Challenge
At Cowslip Manor everyone will have peace and privacy, and heaps of space for team-building
An immersive Escape Room Challenge can easily be done at a large holiday house. Pick a big room, or rooms, where teams can be shut in; give them 60 minutes to find clues, solve riddles to find a hidden key and escape.
Pick a theme, or buy an escape room kit online - along the lines of:
- A Spy Mission
- Time Travelling
- An Art Heist
- Millionaire Rescue
Set the scene by reading an introductory script explaining the challenge. Ensure puzzles are diverse, allowing all team members to shine, featuring maths, word scrambles, science, and manual dexterity. Working in teams like this enhances communication, brings unknown skills to the forefront and fosters trust.
Yoga and Meditation
The yoga studio at Croftview can also be used for brainstorming or strategy sessions.
Yoga and meditation take the focus away from workplace hierarchies and stress to a quieter collective presence. At the forefront are relaxation and wellbeing, rather than collaboration and problem solving.
No-one needs to be good at yoga for this - a class can focus on gentle stretches and breathwork. Rounded off with a short meditation to leave your team calm and free of tension.
Sleeps12 work with yoga instructors and have large houses with yoga studios - see Croftview, Berry House and Cowslip Manor.
An Old School Sports Day
Utilise the garden of your group accommodation for a fun-filled ‘old school’ sports day. PE kits are essential, adding to the hilarity – shorts, gymslips, retro tracksuits and sweatbands. The host takes the role of strict PE teacher and splits the group into teams wearing colour-coded bibs. Each team has a ‘captain’ – selected not on athletic prowess, but because:
- They made coffee for the whole office last Thursday
- It’s their birthday
- They’re wearing the loudest socks
- They have the curliest hair
- They can balance a spoon on their nose the longest
Teams compete to win the sack race, egg and spoon race, bean bag balance, wheelbarrow race, three-legged race and obstacle course. Have a tug-of-war finale, followed by an awards ceremony, and a barbecue.
This will whip up competitive spirit, with teams solving problems and working out the best way of winning each race.
You can organise this activity yourselves or book My Event Concierge to bring the fun to your Sleeps12 team building venue.
Should we hire an outside event planner or run the activities ourselves?
It takes a lot of organising to run activities yourselves. Much easier is to hire specialist activity providers - each Sleeps12 property has an Extras page where these are listed.
Here’s to happy, productive teams and great memories!