Spice Up Your Team Building Activities with More Flavorful Adventures

The term “team building” has been slung around by businesses for decades. Much like “synergy” and “proactive,” it’s a buzzword that tends to make employees cringe. Traditionally, companies employ trite tactics to attempt to motivate morale and boost productivity. These events are often planned over a weekend or even in a single afternoon and are filled with activities that many employees dread. rnIt’s not that team building is a bad idea, but rather, that companies need to start thinking outside of the box (hey, another buzzword!) to resonate with their employees. After all, that trust-fall exercise has been done to death. In a struggle to find common ground with their teams, managers and HR directors everywhere have been venturing into uncharted territory with splendid results. rnIt turns out that employees will actively and excitedly engage in team building exercises when they pique their sense of adventure and challenge them appropriately. The companies Facebook and Lyft both found unique ways to make team building fun. Facebook held a spy team building activity while Lyft hosted an event on a private San Francisco island. Lyft’s program premise was that employees were stranded and had to work together to create a device to contact the outside world. rnThat’s not your ordinary getting-to-know-you yawn-fest that most employees assume will be waiting for them when they’re marched into a team building event. As you may have guessed, this kind of challenge is happily accepted by employees. However, one enterprising company in Philadelphia has come up with an even tastier idea that is sure to bring every employee to the table. rnPhilly Hops makes team building experiences more delicious by infusing them with a culinary theme. It’s not just about gathering employees around good food and drink and hoping they’ll bond. It’s about challenging them to clever food-centric activities that get the teams thinking on their feet. Philly Hops Team Building has an extensive menu of these team building options. Among the most popular is the Chocolate & Wine Experience, which gives employees a delicious dose of healthy problem solving. The premise? While immersing the group within a fantasy company teams are tasked with creating a line of boutique adventure-hotels. These retreats are to be one-of-a-kind in theme and teams must also design the “ultimate hotel” all the while indulging in pure decadence with wine and chocolate. rnThe Guess The Chef program is a unique twist on team building that throws wine, cheese, charcuterie, and mystery into the mix. In another program, named Waterfront Tycoon, participants are immersed in a completely different scenario. They are slated to be elite taste-testers. These teams are to sample delicious confections and beverages that have been chosen to be used at a newly renovated luxury waterfront location. They are also challenged to create this “next French Riviera” by coming up with exciting ideas for restaurants, commercial establishments, and waterfront attractions. rnFor your next team building event, consider doing things differently to really spice things up. If you’re in Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC or nearby, contact Philly Hops to schedule a foodie-style team building event your employees will actually want to attend.