12 Culture Building Activities for Every Team

Company culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices that shape the behavior of people within an organization.

Today, we are going to learn how to improve company culture by exploring these 12 different culture-building activities for every team.

Why Are Culture Team Building Activities Important?

Company culture plays a pivotal role in fostering cohesive work environments for both in-person and remote teams. 

When a company prioritizes its employees and recognizes the significance of establishing robust values, team members feel a greater sense of appreciation, leading to improved productivity, as demonstrated by the following statistics:

• A survey made to more than 1,400 American CEOs and CFOs (Forbes) revealed that 92% of respondents said that improving their firm’s corporate culture would improve the overall value of their company. Moreover, 50% said corporate culture influences productivity, creativity, profitability, and growth rates;
• A paper published in Harvard Business Review (HBR) titled "The Leader's Guide to Corporate Culture" shows that companies with a strong corporate culture see a 4x increase in revenue growth compared to companies with a weak culture.
• Promoting a strong company culture also involves embracing diversity and understanding the different points of view of the entire team. According to LinkedIn, 76% of employees and job seekers said diversity was important when considering job offers, showcasing the importance of culture building for fostering a positive work environment and professional development.

How to Choose Remote & In-Office Culture Building Activities

Culture building events in the workplace are a chance for team members to understand the different points of view in our world.

However, before choosing a single culture-fostering activity, it is important to follow these three quick steps:

1. Understand Your Team's Preferences and Needs: Before choosing remote and in-office culture-building activities, understand the preferences and needs of your team. Consider factors such as the size of your team, their interests, and more. If you want your team members to feel heard and appreciated, conduct a small survey to gather insights about their needs and preferences.
2. Align Activities with Company Values and Goals: Choose activities that align with your company's values and goals. Whether remote or in-office, the activities should reinforce the desired cultural aspects of your organization. Not all organizations want to showcase the same values and goals, so it's important to understand your company's core focus before choosing fun activities to build culture;
3. Offer a Mix of Virtual and Physical Activities: Recognize the diversity of your team's work arrangements and preferences. Provide a mix of in-office and virtual team building activities that cater to the needs of both in-office and remote company members. This way, it's easier to promote team bonding and enhance your company's culture through in-person and online games.

12 Culture Building Activities

Instead of engaging in classic board games or brainstorming sessions, we will focus on inclusive activities that educate team members about the importance of having a great company culture.

These 12 culture building activities will get your team ready to strengthen interpersonal connections, boost collaboration, and cultivate a positive and unified work environment.

1. Go On a Team Outing Activity

Team outing activities can help team members break daily routines and foster a positive culture by going outside and celebrating our world.

Spending all day inside an office setting thinking about work can have negative effects on the mental health of your team members.

Choose activities that can be performed outdoors, such as camping, going on a field trip, and playing laser tag at a local venue. If you are having trouble trying to figure out the ideal outing activity for your team, let Teamland's experts handle it for you.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 3 hours, depending on the activity.
• Best For: In-office teams of all sizes.

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2. Around the World Cooking

One of the best ways to learn more about the cultural differences in our world is by trying various iconic dishes from different places.

Around the World Cooking is a cooking class imparted by Teamland's experts where all team members will learn more about the different cooking styles in our world.

Fostering diversity through meals helps us connect more with our team while also understanding the importance of inclusivity and creating a strong company culture. 

• Activity Duration: From 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized hybrid teams.

3. City-Focused Team-Building Activities

The cities we live in breathe a unique cultural setting that is waiting to be discovered by you and your team members.

Let's explore the mysteries and uniqueness of your city by choosing team culture-building activities that celebrate its cultural diversity.

Teamland's location-based activities can help promote company culture in cities from all around the world, including cities in America, Europe, Asia, and more.

It's time to stop being a tourist in your own city and discover new perspectives of the world by unleashing the secrets that surround your team members.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized in-office teams.

4. Virtual and In-person Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger Hunts is a classic team building game that consists of participants searching for specific items, solving clues, or completing challenges within a time limit and within a certain area.

Playing this game helps teams enhance teamwork and collaboration, fostering a more united work environment for everyone.

There are two main ways to play this game: Virtual Scavenger Hunt, which gathers remote team members from all over the world, and City Hunt, an in-person scavenger hunt activity that lets you discover interesting things in your team's city.

Additionally, you can also try Teamland's most original scavenger hunt activity, Teamopoly, an outdoor adventure that integrates the dynamics of a city-wide scavenger hunt and monopoly.

As you can see, there's no shortage of scavenger hunt options for teams of all types and sizes - it's time to choose the one that best aligns with your team's goals, interests, and preferences, and embark on an engaging and collaborative adventure that will help build company culture.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 3 hours.
• Best For: All team types and sizes (hybrid, remote, and in-person teams).

5. After-hour Gatherings

Sometimes, all we need to break the routine and enhance company culture is to relax for a while as a united team.

Both in-person and remote teams can participate in after-hour gatherings - find a nice spot (or a good video platform), get a few drinks, and talk about life.

There's no clear objective in this activity other than to unwind for a few hours and create authentic connections among team members.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized hybrid teams.

6. Diversity and Inclusion Training

Diversity and Inclusion Training is a Teamland workshop hosted by experts, specifically made to educate team members about the importance of inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

Creating a more equitable work environment brings positive benefits to the office, as team members learn more about microaggressions and cultural competence.

This quick workshop helps create belonging in your team and improve leadership skills, resulting in many benefits that contribute toward company culture.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 5 hours.
• Best For: All team types and sizes.

7. Ice Cream Tasting and Baking Class

Tasting the sweet flavors of our world is a great way to connect with culturally diverse team members and create a sense of belonging.

Ice Cream Tasting Social is a simple yet effective activity where the goal is to simply taste ice cream flavors made by an expert chef. As simple as it may sound, this quick activity helps everyone understand the cultural significance of ice cream in our world.

Moreover, if you feel like learning a new skill or making something even sweeter, then Baking Classes are exactly what you need.

Teamland will take your team members on an unforgettable journey where the sweet flavors of different countries are the protagonists. 

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized in-office teams.

8. Birthday Build Challenge

Local children need your help, and now it's time to give to the community. Birthday Build Challenge is a Teamland game focused on helping children in need during their birthdays.

Every kid deserves happiness and joy on their special day, and that's exactly what Birthday Build Challenge promises.

Get ready to complete a series of challenges and channel your team's creativity to create unique and lovey songs, gifts, and more, for local homeless kids.

It is also worth noting that birthday celebrations are important, as it has been demonstrated that birthday activities for employees can help boost morale and increase employee retention in different industries (BPM).

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
• Best For: All in-person group types.

9. Cultural Movie Night

We all love to watch movies, but what if instead of choosing fun, mainstream films, we go for something more cultural and thought-provoking?

Hosting a Cultural Movie Night allows us to explore diverse narratives and open meaningful discussions with the team while also learning about the ideocracy of other cultures.

Gather your team (remote, in-person, or hybrid), select a culturally rich movie, and watch it together.

Once the movie ends, perform a small trivia or a movie character competition so everyone can discuss their favorite movie elements. This entertaining game tests the creative limits of your team, improving company culture and enhancing team unity.

• Activity Duration: From 2 to 3 hours.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized hybrid teams.

10. Trivia Time

It's time to test your team's knowledge on an unforgettable trivia night! Trivia Team by Teamland is a virtual and hybrid team building event that consists of classic trivia questions with a twist.

Team members will partner up to correctly answer questions as they come and declare victorious in this competition. 

Trivia Time not only enhances team communication but also promotes a great company culture by helping all participants learn something new while collaborating together and creating meaningful bonds.

• Activity Duration: From 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Best For: Small and medium-sized hybrid teams.

11. Professional Workshops

Most companies that care about their corporate culture often ask team members to participate in workshops that help them in professional and personal development tasks.

Learning new skills, connecting with a company's value, and improving professionally is one of the best ways of creating a team that excels in productivity and stays sharp to face the new challenges that lie ahead.

Teamland's wide range of workshops includes Belbin Team Roles Training, to learn the importance of company roles, Change Management Training, to overcome evolutions of organizations, and Conflict Resolution Workshops to learn how to handle conflicts in the workplace.

All of these workshops focus on providing team members with professional development opportunities while also fostering a healthy work culture that positively contributes to productivity and engagement.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 5 hours, depending on the workshop.
• Best For: All team sizes and types.

12. Personal Team Lunches and Dinners

Sometimes, it's better to opt for simplicity. Sharing a meal with your team members is a standard activity that brings amazing benefits, such as creating authentic bonds and promoting the culture of your company.

Organize a nice lunch or dinner with your team, and use it to learn more about their personal lives, passions, future team goals, and more.

If you are struggling to find a good place to have a meal or a nice dish for the whole team, let Teamland host the amazing lunches your team deserves.

• Activity Duration: From 1 to 3 hours.
• Best For: All in-person group sizes.

Summary: 12 Best Culture Activities for Team Building

Focusing on improving your company culture will lead to enhanced employee engagement, increased productivity, and a more positive work environment, ultimately contributing to long-term organizational success.

This is a summary of the 13 best culture-building activities for different teams:

1. Go On a Team Outing Activity: Team outing activities break routines, fostering a positive culture through outdoor celebrations and team bonding.
2. Around the World Cooking: Learn about global cooking styles in Teamland's cooking class, fostering diversity through meals and strengthening team connections;
3. City-Focused Team-Building Activities: Explore your city's cultural diversity through location-based activities, unraveling the mysteries that surround your team members;
4. Virtual and In-person Scavenger Hunts: Scavenger hunts enhance teamwork and collaboration, with virtual and in-person options, including the innovative Teamopoly for a city-wide adventure;
5. Afterhours Gatherings: Relax and unwind with after-hours gatherings, fostering authentic connections among team members in both in-person and remote settings;
6. Diversity and Inclusion Training: Teamland's workshop educates about inclusion and diversity, creating a more equitable work environment and improving leadership skills;
7. Ice Cream Tasting and Baking Class: Taste ice cream flavors to understand cultural significance or join a baking class to explore sweet flavors from around the world;
8. Birthday Build Challenge: Channel creativity to create songs and gifts for local homeless kids, fostering team collaboration and community support;
9. Cultural Movie Night: Explore diverse narratives with a cultural movie night, encouraging meaningful discussions and learning about the ideocracy of other cultures;
10. Trivia Time: Test team knowledge with Trivia Time, a virtual and hybrid event enhancing communication and promoting a great company culture;
11. Professional Workshops: Participate in workshops like Belbin Team Roles, Change Management, and Conflict Resolution for professional development and a healthy work culture.
12. ‍Personal Team Lunches and Dinners: Share a meal to create authentic bonds, learn about team members' lives, and promote the culture of the company.