If you are a team leader, if you do even a little research, you should be able to find many unusual team-building activities that you can use to boost, enhance, and motivate your team. While those three objectives we just mentioned are desirable, there are many other benefits that team-building exercises can produce.
As the team leader, this means that before you organise a team-building activity, even one that is considered unusual, you should first determine your goals and objectives for it. Obviously, you want it to be fun for your team, but more importantly, what benefits do you want the activity to produce, and what positive outcomes do you want for your team?
Without first establishing these and then arranging team-building activities that can facilitate your objectives, the activity will be nothing more than a day out, and whilst it may produce some positives, it may not have satisfied the needs of that team as you see it with regard to making it a stronger and more focused team.
To help you make a better choice, we are going to list 5 unusual team-building activities that all generate one or more positive benefits for a team.
1. Axe Throwing
Objectives: Team Bonding, Communication, Leadership
Imagine throwing a dart at a dartboard, and then multiply the thrill and fun by about 100-fold and you might just get to where axe throwing is at. This is a great way to bond your team and to give everyone a competitive edge as they compete in teams to score the most points by throwing an axe and hitting as close to the centre of the target as they can.
2. Blind Drawing
Objectives: Listening skills, Communication
Two players sit back to back and one of them is blindfolded. The one without a blindfold is shown a word and then has to describe it to their partner without actually giving away what it is. Their blindfolded partner now has to draw what is being described.
3. Birthday Line Up
Objectives; Ice breaker, Creativity, Problem Solving
This is even better if there are 10 or more players who may not know each other too well. The game is for them to line up in order of their dates of birth. The challenge is that none of the team can speak nor write anything down so they can only use facial expressions and physical movements to let the others know their date of birth.
4. Pencil Drop
Objective: Ice breaker, Bonding, Communication, Teamwork
You need an empty bottle, two pieces of string and two pencils. In pairs, the participants have one end of each piece of string tied around their waist and both the other ends of the pieces of string tied to the thicker end of the pencil. The task is for the pair to lower the pencil into the bottle without using their hands in any way. It is much harder than it sounds and requires great communication and coordination.
5. Web Talk
Objectives: Leadership, Cooperation, Persistence
This needs some setting up as you need to create a very large web between two posts or pillars using string and heavy-duty duct tape. The spaces within the web should be large enough for someone to move through, but not easily. With the group split into teams, their task is to try to pass through the web without touching any string. The twist is that once someone has passed through a space, it cannot be used again.