What are some of the weirdest, wackiest team building activities out there? We set on a quest to find them. While we understand wanting to be creative- some of these MAY just push the creativity just a BIT too far. You be the judge.
1.) Team…Bathing?
From a corporate company in Japan- this team building activity involves everyone stripping down to their skivvies in a hot spring and showering/washing your hair in a group. The mission is to make everyone feel free and able to talk and bond while in their naked state. (In this instance, everyone was same-sex which makes it MARGINALLY less inappropriate. But still.)
2.) Taking Cues from Mean Girls
This activity involves everyone going around the room stating things they don’t like about each other. Clearing the air is always a good thing, right? Well, not so much. As reported by a reader of Fast Track- the Intuit Quickbooks log, “We might have also had to add what we did like about each other but I honestly only remember the criticisms and the people bursting into tears. We went from simply not being able to work together to actively disliking each other in about 30 minutes. Then we ate a boxed lunch and ended the day by filling out personality tests.”
3. Revisiting your Inner Child
In this recount of a bizarre team-buildling experience, employees were taken to a diner for a meal of hamburgers and French fries, build gingerbread houses, and played Madlibs. Not THAT terrible, right? But here’s the kicker- participants were supposed to bring baby photos of themselves, which were then blown up on posterboard and worn around each person’s neck.
[from http://paralegalhell.com/2010/07/29/team-building-exercises/]
4.) Horsin’ Around
Another fine example from a reader of Fast Track- “My team did ‘horse whispering,’ where you work with horses to learn about effective communication. One of the horses got over-excited, galloped towards the center of the barn where we were being briefed, and nearly trampled one of my co-workers. It was a bonding experience to a certain extent, but only because we all thought we were going to die.”
Read more wacky team building exercises here: [http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2012/07/06/the-10-most-horrifying-team-building-exercises/]
