As part of a team-building event, an Escape Room is a fantastic way to build teamwork, communication skills, and problem-solving abilities. They’re also a lot of fun! If you’ve never tried one before, it might be time to give them a go.
TEAM BUILDING VS. TEAM BONDING
To be more effective, we need the two departments that spend most of their time in conflict to work together. So what if they did this by spending a couple of hours on a soccer field by having team-building or team bonding? Escape rooms are often the gamified solution used for team building and team bonding to resolve departmental conflicts.
But what exactly are team building and team bonding? Team building is an essential part of any workplace. Whether in the office, on a construction site, or at home with your family, teambuilding has several benefits. For example, trust-building and better communication skills to share ideas more efficiently and feel confident about yourself are significant advantages that should lead to patience when things don’t go according to plan.
Team bonding is an ongoing process that helps to increase loyalty among the team members. One way of achieving this objective, which many companies use, is by addressing past experiences in a positive light through fun activities like giving each other compliments or joining together for lunch.
Escape rooms offer both team building and team bonding. When you enter an escape room, the first thing that your group has to do is work together on little tasks to move along through a storyline toward the big goal – escaping!
You’ll find yourself at highs and lows of feeling like you never can get out when one person opens up another door for someone else who was stuck. The experience brings people closer together than they ever would have been before.
What is an excellent team-building activity?
An excellent team-building activity is fun for the team and challenging.
Escape rooms are an excellent way to get everyone on your team working together, solving puzzles to escape from an unknown room before time runs out. This type of activity requires teamwork skills such as communication, analytical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. All while you have some suspense and thrills thrown in for good measure.
The American Management Association published a study that found that 91% of those surveyed who participated in team-building activities reported improved communication, problem-solving, and creativity.
In the same survey, it was determined that 82% of participants said they would participate again to get another opportunity to use teamwork skills learned. In contrast, others see team building as a chance to build rapport among coworkers.
Suppose you would like your team-building event or company offsite to be memory and budget-friendly. In that case, escape rooms are an excellent option since they’re typically sold at a flat rate for time slots of one hour. They can accommodate any number of employees with different levels of experience.
What are examples of team building?
An example of team building is an escape room built for team plays. This type of activity uses gamification, and it can be done anywhere with any group size.
Another example of team building may include scavenger hunts or treasure hunt activities where teams have to find clues hidden in different places around the city. One could also incorporate these games into marketing products and services to customers by making them a part of the overall experience.
What are the excellent escape room themes?
The must-try escape room themes are horror, mystery, and technology-themed.
Horror Escape Room
A horror escape room theme is always a good option for team building. This theme features a zombie, a vampire, and other terrifying creatures. The team is in constant need of solving puzzles to escape the scary room.
Mystery Escape Room
A mystery escape room theme has clues that will lead your team of players to solve different riddles and puzzles as they explore the story unfolding within this virtual world. They must gather all the necessary pieces to solve the why’s of the escape game.
Technology-themed escape game
Technology is the future of team building, and it’s good to keep up with the news so that this one will be a favorite for most people. The latest gadgets and devices have been used in gamifying these escape rooms for your team-building adventures. Most of the technology-themed escape rooms use AR technology, allowing for a more immersive experience.
Under-the-Sea theme
Another great team-building escape room theme is the ‘undersea’ theme which offers a fun and different experience from what your team may be used to. This one will be perfect for those looking for something out of the ordinary, such as an underwater adventure with beautiful sea life images all around them.
Superhero theme
For an escape room that involves children or teenagers, a ‘Superhero’ escape room is perfect for this type of team building. This one will have your team working to save the day, and it’s up to them to be superheroes themselves!
Hopefully, these ideas helped you find something that may work out well for your next event or team-building session.
Top Places to Setup Your Escape Game
If you’re setting up an escape game for your corporate events, the best places are:
#1 In a rented event space or office building
It is because escape rooms are usually designed to have six people at the most, so you will need plenty of room for all team members and no distractions from other workers around them as they try to solve puzzles.
#2 Indoor facility of escape game provider
You can also find many companies that provide these games on location, which could be in your area or state. These companies will typically have a team of people who travel around to set up games in different locations and can customize the game to your company’s theme or message if you wish them to.
#3 Meeting rooms for events and conferences in Hotels
Some other great places offer their meeting rooms for events and conferences because they often come equipped with escape room kits already there!
#4 Classrooms
Other rentable rooms that might be a good option are classrooms. The classrooms are great because they are already set up with desks, chairs, and whiteboards for any meeting you may have. You could also use the classroom to hold team-building activities requiring a little more room than your office provides, like dodgeball or other physical games!
#5 Theme Parks
The theme parks are optional for team building because it has the perfect escape room experience without traffic and parking hassles. Also, theme parks have lots of open spaces where you could set up pop-up escape rooms and create a team-building event that is interactive and engaging.
#6 Museums
Museums often have areas where they display interactive exhibits that are team-building in nature, or you can rent out one of their meeting rooms to host your event! Likewise, museums give off the mystery vibe that escape rooms are known for!
The options for this type of team-building adventure game depend on your needs, so consider how many people you want to have in the room at one time and what kind of environment will work best for them!
Just make sure that the venues follow COVID safety protocols. Here are a few things you should do before and after your escape room experience to go smoothly!
- Inspect the rooms to make sure they are clean and COVID safe before letting people enter.
- After every game, sanitize all surfaces in each room with a disinfectant wipe or spray suitable for cleaning hard surfaces.
- Check all ventilation and airflow systems before and after every game. COVID safety protocols must be followed during each team challenge.
- Ensure that you have an escape route for players in case of emergency by checking your fire exits and ensuring they can open from both directions (outward and inward).
In Conclusion
The best way to ensure your escape game is a success is by considering what themes are suitable for the age group you’re targeting and ensuring that the concept relates to your company’s objectives. You should also think about how many participants will be joining in on the fun so you can pick an appropriate size room with enough clues and puzzles.
If all this sounds too difficult, or if you just want someone else to handle everything from start to finish, we have experts who specialize in setting up custom-tailored escape games as part of our suite of corporate event services. Contact a Cluetivity specialist today!
