Team building is a structured approach to improving how a group of people communicates, collaborates, and connects. This guide covers the core definition, proven benefits, activity types, real examples drawn from over 1,500 events, and the right moments to invest in your team’s cohesion.
Team building is a structured process of activities and experiences designed to improve communication, collaboration, trust, and cohesion among members of a group.
That’s the short answer. But there are important nuances worth understanding, because team building done well produces real, lasting outcomes. Done poorly, though, it’s just a forgettable afternoon.
Here’s everything you need to know to make it count.
Table of Contents
- What Does ‘Team Building’ Actually Mean?
- What Are the Benefits of Team Building?
- The 4 Main Types of Team Building
- 7 Real Examples of Team Building Activities
- When Should You Use Team Building? 9 Occasions That Fit the Bill
- When Team Building Isn’t the Right Solution for Your Workgroup
- How to Choose the Right Team Building Activity with 5 Questions
- Frequently Asked Questions About Team Building
- Building Better Teams Starts Here
What Does ‘Team Building’ Actually Mean?
The term gets thrown around a lot in professional settings, so let’s get specific.
Team building refers to intentional, structured activities with a defined goal: improving how a group of people works together.
It’s facilitated, purposeful, and designed to produce outcomes that carry back into the workplace long after the event ends.
That’s different from team bonding, which is informal social time.
Happy hours, casual lunches, and birthday celebrations build relationships, but they don’t systematically address communication gaps, trust deficits, or collaboration challenges.
Both team building and team bonding have value. They’re just not the same thing.
Professional development is another category that often gets confused with team building.
These sessions focus on skill-building, including:
- Leadership
- Communication frameworks
- Effective meeting habits
- Decision-making
- Conflict resolution
- Resiliency
- Organizational direction
- Emotional intelligence
- Performance management
Team building focuses more on the dynamics between people, while professional development skews more toward honing professional skills.
Many organizations use both, and they complement each other well.
The distinction matters because it shapes what you plan, what outcomes you measure, and whether the investment actually moves the needle.
| Term | What It Means | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Team Building | Facilitated activities designed to improve specific group dynamics | Stronger collaboration, trust, and communication |
| Team Bonding | Informal social time that builds relationships organically | Comfort and familiarity between colleagues |
| Professional Development | Skill-based training for individuals or teams | Leadership capability, communication, and competency growth |
What Are the Benefits of Team Building?
The case for team building isn’t abstract. When organizations invest in it consistently, the impact shows up in engagement scores, retention rates, and the way teams handle pressure.
Here are the benefits that show up most reliably, along with why each one happens.
Stronger Communication
Structured activities push teams out of their normal interaction patterns. They reveal communication gaps in a low-stakes environment, before those gaps become real problems back at work.
Accelerated Trust
Shared challenges, especially ones that require vulnerability or creative problem-solving, build trust faster than day-to-day work typically does.
There’s something about struggling through a problem together that changes the dynamic in a room.
Higher Employee Engagement
In our 2025 customer feedback data, team connection and collaboration were the single most common theme cited across all events, appearing in 57.3% of responses.
Employees who feel genuinely connected to their colleagues show up differently.
Reduced Conflict
Teams that understand each other’s working styles navigate friction more effectively. Awareness creates tolerance, and tolerance prevents escalation.
A Real Morale Boost
When we looked back at our internal data, fun and enjoyment showed up in 43.3% of customer feedback, making it the second most common positive theme.
That’s not a coincidence.
Morale affects retention and discretionary effort in ways that are hard to quantify but impossible to ignore.
Smoother Onboarding and Team Integration
Hybrid and remote teams frequently include people who have never met in person. Without structured shared experiences, relationships that would normally take years to develop organically may never fully form at all.
By the way, we’ve got a whole library of resources focused on employee onboarding. So, if you’re interested, you can learn more about onboarding activity ideas or read through our hybrid onboarding checklist.
A Stronger Sense of Purpose
Charity and philanthropy-based activities connect team experiences to something bigger than the event itself. They reinforce company values and give employees a genuine sense of shared mission.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of philanthropic team building, check out our resource on the topic.
Better Collaborative Problem-Solving
When groups solve challenges together under time pressure, they build habits of collaboration that transfer directly back to the workplace. You practice the skill by using it.
On that note, we’ve got a list of 30+ awesome team building activities for problem-solving you might like.
None of these benefits happens by accident. They require the right activity, the right format, and real intention behind the investment.
The 4 Main Types of Team Building
Team building isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right format depends on your group’s size, work arrangement, and what you’re trying to accomplish. Here’s how to think through your options.
1. Team Building by Format
The most fundamental decision is whether your team will be together in person, participating remotely, or split across both. Each format has distinct strengths, and all three see significant demand.
| Format | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| In-Person | Facilitated activities held at a physical location | Teams returning to the office, large company events, and high-energy experiences that benefit from physical presence |
| Virtual | Hosted online activities for remote or distributed teams | Fully remote teams, geographically dispersed groups, and ongoing engagement between in-person gatherings |
| Hybrid | Activities designed to include both in-office and remote participants at the same time | Hybrid work teams that need inclusive experiences regardless of where each person is located |
| Self-Hosted | Kits and guided activities that teams run themselves, without an external facilitator | Budget-conscious teams, smaller departments, and groups that want maximum flexibility on timing |
In 2025, we ran 386 in-person events, 736 virtual and hybrid events, and 384 self-hosted events across North America.
The demand is genuinely distributed across all three formats.
If you’re unsure which format to choose, that distribution is a useful signal: no single format dominates, which means the right choice is the one that matches how your team actually works day to day.
Generally, the biggest variables are group size, team distribution, and your goals.
2. Team Building by Activity Type
Within each format, the activity type determines the tone and purpose of the experience.
Some activities are high-energy and competitive. Others are collaborative and reflective. The best choice aligns with your team’s current dynamics and what you want to walk away with.
| Activity Type | What It Is | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Scavenger Hunts | App-based or physical challenges requiring problem-solving and movement | Outdoor events, city-based off-sites, and large groups that benefit from breaking into sub-teams |
| Escape Rooms | Time-pressured puzzle challenges requiring collaboration and creative thinking | Teams working on problem-solving culture and high-engagement events |
| Game Shows | Competitive, high-energy formats inspired by TV game shows | Large groups, company-wide events, and celebrations |
| Charity & Philanthropic Activities | Experiences built around giving back, such as building bikes or assembling care packages | Purpose-driven organizations, CSR initiatives, and events where impact matters as much as fun |
| Mystery Activities | Immersive collaborative storytelling experiences | Teams who enjoy narrative, roleplay, and deductive problem-solving |
| Professional Development Programs | Facilitated workshops on leadership, communication, and team dynamics | Teams with specific skill gaps, leadership cohorts, and post-survey action planning |
| Trivia and Knowledge Challenges | Competitive trivia formats spanning pop culture, history, and more | Casual gatherings, happy hours, and low-barrier events for mixed groups |
3. Team Building by Group Size
Group size shapes what’s logistically possible, and what type of experience will feel genuine.
In 2025, for example, our average group size was 48 people, which sits squarely in the sweet spot for most facilitated formats.
This range aligns best with mid-scale facilitated formats designed for active collaboration, where structure keeps everyone engaged without the event feeling like a production.
But the range spans from intimate team sessions to enterprise events with 600 or more participants:
- Small teams of under 20 benefit most from self-hosted or intimate facilitated experiences that allow for real conversation and genuine connection
- Mid-size groups of 20 to 75 have the widest range of options available to them
- Large groups of 75 and above need formats specifically designed for scale.
Activities like Pop Culture Trivia Time Machine, which averaged 90 participants per event in 2025, and Charity Bike Buildathon, which averaged 77, are built exactly for that purpose.
But we’ll dive deeper into those in the next section.
7 Real Examples of Team Building Activities
Definitions are useful, but real examples are better.
Here are some of the most popular team building activities that organizations from around North America book with Outback, along with what makes each one worth choosing.
Team Pursuit
This is a customizable challenge-based activity that blends trivia, physical tasks, and skill-based rounds.
It’s the kind of experience that works for almost any group because it’s well-structured and genuinely engaging without requiring a complicated setup from the organizers.
This was our most-booked activity in 2025, running 186 events with an average group size of 51, making it a reliable starting point for mid-size groups that want a structured, all-around experience without a complicated setup.
Available formats: In-Person, Virtual
Wild Goose Chase
This is an app-based scavenger hunt that runs on the smartphones your team already has.
The feedback we receive about this one is consistently about how easy it is to use. Participants get up and moving quickly, and the app handles most of the logistics.
It’s best for outdoor settings, city-based off-sites, and groups that want an active experience.
Available formats: In-Person, Self-Hosted
Clue Murder Mystery
This is a collaborative whodunit where teams analyze evidence, resolve challenges, and identify the culprit. Clue Murder Mystery rewards attention to detail and organized thinking.
Customers who book it describe it as immersive and satisfying in the way a great puzzle is satisfying: challenging, but solvable together.
Available formats: In-Person, Virtual, Self-Hosted
Friendly Feud
This is a game show-style activity with the energy of Family Feud. It’s fast, lively, and naturally inclusive.
Customer feedback on Friendly Feud uses words like “fun,” “lively,” and “crowd energy” more consistently than almost any other format.
It’s the right call when you want the room laughing.
Available formats: In-Person, Virtual
Charity Bike Buildathon
With this philanthropic team building activity, groups build bicycles that get donated to children’s charities at the end of the event.
What makes this one distinct is that the feedback consistently reflects two things at once: the energy of the competition and the weight of the outcome.
For organizations that want team building with a real-world impact, this is one of the most powerful options available.
It averaged 77 participants per event in 2025, making it a strong fit for larger groups where you want high participation alongside a tangible, real-world outcome.
Available formats: In-Person
Escape Room: Jewel Heist
If you like a hosted escape room with a narrative heist storyline, available in virtual and in-person formats, this one’s for you.
Time pressure keeps engagement high, and the collaborative puzzles require genuine teamwork.
Our customers consistently describe it as high-participation from start to finish.
Available formats: Virtual, Self-Hosted
Virtual Trivia Time Machine
This hosted trivia game works exceptionally well at scale. With an average group size of 90 participants per event in 2025, it’s a strong choice when your headcount is high and you need a format that’s easy to jump into, works across mixed audiences, and doesn’t require complicated facilitation.
It’s easy to jump into, immediately familiar, and reliably energizing for diverse groups.
Available formats: In-Person, Virtual
When Should You Use Team Building? 9 Occasions That Fit the Bill
Some organizations schedule team building once a year, check the box, and move on, but that’s not the approach that produces lasting results.
The organizations that get the most out of team building use it with intention, at specific inflection points, and as a consistent rhythm rather than a one-time fix.
These are the moments where team building delivers its greatest impact, including (but certainly not limited to) the following.
After Organizational Change
Mergers, restructures, leadership transitions, and layoffs all disrupt team cohesion. People who trusted the old structure need time and shared experience to rebuild trust in the new one.
Team building accelerates that process in ways that company-wide emails and conference calls simply can’t.
During or After Onboarding
This matters most for remote and hybrid teams. New employees in distributed organizations can spend months without experiencing genuine connection with their colleagues.
Structured team building closes that gap faster than organic relationship-building ever will on its own.
When Conflict Is Rising
Catching friction early, before it becomes entrenched, is one of the most valuable things a well-timed team building event can do.
A low-stakes environment gives people the space to interact more openly and less defensively than they would in a typical work setting.
It’s a lot easier to address tension during a scavenger hunt than during a performance review.
When Morale Is Low
High-workload periods, stressful quarters, and sustained remote work all erode engagement over time.
A well-timed team building event won’t fix structural problems, but it creates genuine space to reconnect and recharge.
As Part of a Regular Engagement Strategy
The organizations that report the strongest culture outcomes don’t treat team building as a reaction to problems. They build it into their annual calendar.
Quarterly or semi-annual events compound over time in ways that isolated one-off activities simply cannot replicate.
At Company Offsites and Kick-Offs
Team building works best as a complement to strategy and planning sessions, not a replacement for them.
When people feel genuinely connected and energized, they contribute more in the rooms where big decisions happen.
When Teams Have Never Met in Person
Many of our 2025 events were the first time participants had ever met face-to-face. That’s no longer an unusual situation. It’s the reality for a significant portion of today’s workforce.
Structured first-meeting experiences matter more than most organizations give them credit for.
When You Just Want to Do Something Fun
Not every team building moment needs a strategic rationale. Sometimes you have 20 minutes between meetings and want to fill it with something more energizing than small talk.
Sometimes your team is traveling together and wants to explore a new city or get out into the community. Sometimes you just want to do something enjoyable together because that, on its own, is worth doing.
Team building doesn’t have to be a planned event to be valuable. Some of the most memorable experiences happen in the smallest windows of time.
When Team Building Isn’t the Right Solution for Your Workgroup
We’re a team building company, but we believe it’s worth being direct about this:
Team building is not a substitute for HR intervention when there’s unresolved structural conflict, leadership misconduct, or systemic organizational dysfunction.
It’s also not the right call when teams are so overwhelmed that pulling them away from work creates more stress than it relieves.
Team building works when it’s paired with intention. Without that, it’s just an activity.
How to Choose the Right Team Building Activity with 5 Questions
With dozens of activity types across multiple formats, the options can feel overwhelming. They don’t need to be. Choosing the right fit comes down to five key questions:
- Start with the goal: Are you boosting morale, onboarding a new team, celebrating a milestone, or working through a specific challenge? The goal determines everything else.
- Determine the format: Is your team in person, fully remote, or split across both? That alone narrows the field significantly.
- Consider group size: Under 20 gives you maximum flexibility. Between 20 and 75 opens up most facilitated formats. Above 75, you need activities specifically designed for scale, and those exist.
- Think about time: Based on 2025 data, the average Outback event runs two hours, which is the window that consistently delivers high engagement without disrupting the full workday. If you’re working with less time than that, self-hosted formats give you the most flexibility to scale down without sacrificing the experience.
- Factor in budget: Self-hosted formats work well for cost-conscious teams. Facilitated virtual events sit in the middle range. In-person facilitated events scale up from there. There are strong options at every level.
If you want even more detail, check out our resource: How to Plan a Successful Team Building Activity in 11 Easy Steps.
Here’s the truth: the variables that determine the right fit, such as your group’s dynamics, your goals, your timeline, your budget, rarely line up the same way twice.
The most efficient path to a confident decision isn’t a checklist but a conversation.
Our Employee Engagement Consultants start every booking by listening before recommending, meaning you’ll walk away with a clear direction faster than you probably expected.
It’s a fast process, and it removes the guesswork entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions About Team Building
These are the questions organizations ask most often when evaluating whether team building is right for their group.
What Is the Purpose of Team Building?
The purpose of team building is to strengthen how a group of people works together. Well-designed activities improve communication, trust, collaboration, and morale by creating shared experiences that transfer back into the workplace long after the event ends.
What Are the Most Common Types of Team Building Activities?
The most common types include scavenger hunts, escape rooms, game show formats, trivia challenges, charity activities, murder mysteries, and professional development workshops. Activities are available for in-person, virtual, and hybrid teams, and can be run with a facilitator or self-hosted.
How Often Should Companies Do Team Building?
Most organizations benefit from at least one structured event per quarter. High-growth teams, newly formed groups, or teams going through significant change may benefit from more frequent investment.
Is Team Building Actually Effective?
When it’s well-designed and connected to specific goals, yes. Our average Net Promoter Score across 1,506 events in 2025 was 80, a score widely considered exceptional in any industry. More than half of all customer feedback cited improved team connection as a direct outcome of the experience.
Can Team Building Be Done Remotely?
Absolutely. In 2025, we ran 736 virtual and hybrid events, representing nearly half of total event volume. For distributed or hybrid teams weighing whether virtual is worth it, that number reflects a format that has matured well beyond workaround status. When chosen well, the outcomes are fully comparable to in-person.
What’s the Difference Between Team Building and Team Bonding?
Team building is structured and facilitated, with a defined goal tied to improving group dynamics. Team bonding is informal social time that builds relationships without a structured outcome. Both have value. They serve different purposes, and the best organizations use both.
Building Better Teams Starts Here
Team building works when it’s treated as a cultural investment, not a calendar obligation. The organizations that see real, lasting results aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the most elaborate events. They’re the ones that show up consistently, choose activities with intention, and treat connection as something worth protecting even when the workload is heavy.
After more than 1,500 events across North America in a single year, that’s the clearest thing the data tells us: the format matters less than the intention behind it, and the activity matters less than whether your team walks away feeling like they did something real together. The right fit for your group exists. Finding it just takes a conversation.
Have questions about the right team building option for your workgroup?
Get in touch with one of our Employee Engagement Consultants today.
