Epic Team Building Experiences for High Achievers
Planning for high-achieving teams requires more than just a calendar—it requires a corporate event planning timeline built on infrastructure and brand stewardship. Whether you are managing a 5,000-person flagship conference or a high-end 1,000-person gala, success is dictated by your ‘Anchor Points.’ At the enterprise level, these non-negotiable deadlines must be secured 12 to 24 months in advance to guarantee access to the world’s most exclusive venues and resources.
Remember that high achievers tend to overexert, so it might be beneficial to encourage them to slow down and host a corporate retreat.
Either way, keeping your team’s tenacity in mind, this article will present some of our best team building experiences tailored for high achievers.
Problem-Solving & Collaboration
While standard icebreakers have their place, high achievers respond best to themes that feel cohesive and curated. We saw this firsthand when we reimagined classic tabletop challenges for a luxury setting…
The Art of Thematic Customization
We transformed a holiday gathering into an immersive Parisian street scene. To elevate the experience, we reimagined “Minute to Win It” games with a culinary twist: a high-stakes Croissant Eiffel Tower build and a “Mad Macaron” challenge featuring hidden spicy surprises.
View BAZIC Case Study
Hackathon:
Lead Time
2-4 Months
Cost
$$$
Groups
20-100+
Focus
Collaboration
Encourage innovation by organizing a hackathon where teams tackle a real-world or internal company challenge. Participants engage in rapid prototyping and creative problem-solving, fostering a culture of innovation within the group.
Race to Space Thinking Workshop:
Dive into a structured workshop that guides participants through the design thinking process of creating the best rocket. Teams compete to see whose rocket flies the highest while fostering a culture of creativity and user-centered solutions.
PRO TIP: Use a drone to get high-viewing clips of the rockets to help definitively identify the winner.
Email Scavenger Hunt
Lead Time
1 – 2 Weeks
Cost
$
Groups
10 – 500+
Focus
Communication
An email scavenger hunt is a great way to get your team amped up for your event. High achievers will love spotting the easter eggs and clues within each email leading up to the event. Whether it’s a hidden message found in the capitalized letters or a hidden object within the graphics, this scavenger hunt lends a sense of anticipation and promotes creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Check this event idea come to life for Children’s Aid in New York.
Build a Rube Goldberg Machine:
Unleash engineering creativity by tasking teams to construct a Rube Goldberg Machine—a complex contraption that performs a simple task through a series of chain reactions. This activity encourages collaborative problem-solving and showcases participants’ ingenuity.
For the Physical High Achievers:
Going on an excursion adventure (like BEHR did during their conference) is a great way to excite your high achievers. Whether it’s in the desert or in the mountains, a good excursion focused on exploration is sure to be a blast. We have plenty of great excursion ideas and find that these adventures are always full of fun. Your team will experience team bonding like never before, and make plenty of exciting memories that will last a lifetime.
Physical activities shouldn’t just be about the exertion; they should be about the shared environment and the thrill of a new perspective. A prime example of this is how we utilized the coastline to challenge a team of elite performers…
Collaboration Beyond the Office
Trading track shoes for water shoes, Nike Running took to the California coast for a high-octane Paddleboarding Relay Race. This outing balanced intense physical competition with luxury relaxation, featuring private shuttles and a custom campfire reception at Marina del Rey.
View Nike Case Study
Sandcastle Competition
Lead Time
3 – 5 Weeks
Cost
$$
Groups
15 – 80
Focus
Coordination
Showcase your staff’s creative side by holding a sandcastle-building competition! Kern Pharma brought in a professional sand sculpture artist to give teams a quick lesson, then tasked them with building their own sand sculptures in a timed competition. This activity is great for showcasing creativity and honing your team’s artistic side.
Paddleboarding
Reconnect your team with nature by taking them paddleboarding! Whether you race across a body of water or simply task teams to explore, unwind, and bond, this activity is great for those who like a unique and challenging experience. This activity promotes collaboration, team bonding, and teamwork.
Fishing Expedition
Lead Time
4 – 6 Weeks
Cost
$$
Groups
6 – 20
Focus
Coordination
Whether you’re on the Pacific Ocean or at one of the Great Lakes, fishing is a beloved pastime nationwide. Take your team out on the water to see who can catch the most, or the biggest, fish in a set period of time. This activity promotes team bonding, friendly competition, and patience. Consider planning a trip to the best fishing in the world. Our destination management company can handle the logistics for you.
PRO TIP: Combine with another activity to make it even more exciting, like writing a jingle (see below) while waiting for a catch.
Skeet Shooting
Skeet shooting is a fun way to promote team bonding and get outdoors for an afternoon with your colleagues. Physically inclined high achievers will love the challenge of seeing who can shoot the most clay pigeons.
Challenge Course/Ropes Course:
Lead Time
4 – 8 Weeks
Cost
$$$
Groups
8 – 40
Focus
Collaboration
Overcome physical and mental obstacles together, building trust and communication through shared experiences. This outdoor activity promotes teamwork, resilience, and leadership skills
Cooking Class:
Learn a new skill and work together to prepare a delicious meal. Sushi cooking classes, for example, are one of our top ideas for San Francisco team building events. Celebrate collaborative achievement through this hands-on activity that emphasizes teamwork, communication, and creativity
Baking Competition
Lead Time
3 – 5 Weeks
Cost
$$$
Groups
12 – 36
Focus
Coordination
Feel like you’re on the Netflix show NailedIt! Players will work as teams to bake their best confections and are judged based on creativity, tastiness, and other rankings. This activity is not just enriching but strengthens creativity, communication, and teamwork.
Creative & Out-of-the-Box:
Creative expression allows high-performers to flex a different set of mental muscles. By bringing in experts to guide the process, you turn a simple beach day into a high-level masterclass in collaboration…
Kern Pharma Seaside Picnic
For Kern Pharma, we brought in professional artists to lead a Structured Sandcastle Competition on Will Rogers Beach. By blending technical instruction with competitive play, we gave high-performing employees a creative outlet that resulted in “living sculptures.”
View Kern Pharma Case Study
Build a Cardboard City:
Lead Time
2 – 3 Weeks
Cost
$
Groups
20 – 100+
Focus
Collaboration
Provide limited materials and let imaginations run wild as teams design and build a cardboard metropolis. This creative and collaborative activity encourages innovative thinking and teamwork.
Cardboard Boat Race
To play this game, teams are given cardboard boxes and duct tape to waterproof them. A timed assembly of the boats adds one layer of excitement, and then a boat race across a pool or pond adds another. This team building activity promotes collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving skills and serves as a memorable experience for any event.
Movie Making Challenge:
Lead Time
3 – 5 Weeks
Cost
$$
Groups
12 – 60
Focus
Communication
Write, shoot, and edit a short film within a set time limit. Showcase storytelling and collaboration skills as teams work together to create a compelling cinematic experience.
PRO TIP: Top off the experience by featuring the top videos in your next all-hands meeting or holiday party.
Board Game Design Workshop:
Channel strategic minds and creativity to design a new board game. This workshop encourages innovative thinking, collaboration, and the development of a unique and engaging game.
PRO TIP: Have the final board games printed and branded then sent out to the company as gifts.
Create a Jingle
Lead Time
1 – 2 Weeks
Cost
$
Groups
10 – 100+
Focus
Communication
Challenge your team’s musical skills by tasking them with writing, performing, and filming a jingle about a given subject. Showcase the most creative ones at your next holiday party! This activity challenges your team’s creativity, ingenuity, and imagination while being a memorable experience for everyone.
Tree Planting Competition
Give back to the environment during team building by holding a tree-planting competition! Teams are given a set number of trees to plant, and whichever team plants them the fastest wins. This game promotes eco-consciousness and environmental stewardship as well as teamwork.
Magic Show
Lead Time
2 – 4 Weeks
Cost
$
Groups
20 – 500+
Focus
Communication
Give your staff a chance to take center stage by trying their hand at magic tricks! Instructions and props should be handed out at the beginning of this activity, and teams given a chance to become familiar with them. Winners can be awarded or this game can simply be used to kick off your team building session with some fun. This activity encourages creativity and showmanship.
Fashion Show
Bring in plenty of garments and task your team to put together the best outfit they can imagine! Some players can assume the role of model, others as designer. Have judges select winners based on creativity. This activity promotes creative thinking, imagination, and resourcefulness.
Solve a Problem Using Models
Lead Time
2 – 3 Weeks
Cost
$$
Groups
15 – 60
Focus
Coordination
Task your team to solve a real-life problem using models, like creating earthquake-proof structures out of paper or popsicle sticks. The team whose model stands the test earns a prize. This game focuses on problem-solving skills, thinking outside of the box, and deductive reasoning.
Pumpkin Launcher
Task your teams to build the furthest-throwing pumpkin catapult and compete to see whose pumpkin flies the furthest! If this game is played within a park, nature preserve, or forest area (with permission, of course!) the pumpkins can serve as food for wildlife after the game. This activity isn’t just fun for high achievers, its use of engineering skills boosts problem-solving abilities and communication.
Robot Build
Lead Time
4 – 6 Weeks
Cost
$$$
Groups
12 – 40
Focus
Coordination
Task your teams to build a robot using a kit in a specified timeframe. Making an already fun activity into a competition ensures this game will be a hit! This activity is amazing for collaboration skills as well as creativity.
Gamification of Networking
Use a mobile app or tablet to gamify networking. Teams are assigned and awarded points according to how many people they interact with at your event. Perfect for large-scale events like all-hands meetings, expos, and conferences, this game is as delightful as it is useful. We dive more into this in our article about promoting networking at business events. This activity promotes networking, communication skills, and increases your event ROI.
Popular Games Reimagined:
Mystery Dinner Party:
Lead Time
4 – 6 Weeks
Cost
$$$
Groups
8 – 30
Focus
Communication
Make a mystery party even more exciting by making the activity last over the course of several days. Whether this takes place at a resort during your team’s destination trip or nightly during a multi-day expo or conference, your team will be even more engaged due to the long session. This activity enhances communication and deduction skills as participants work together to unravel the mystery while staying in character.
Charity Team Building:
Give back to the community and bond over a shared cause through charity team building activities. High achievers will thrive in unique charity activities like timed bicycle assembly, managing and distributing a Toys for Tots Run, or seeing which team can build the most care packages in a certain timeframe. This activity fosters a sense of social responsibility and teamwork.
Scavenger Hunt by Geocaching
Lead Time
2 – 4 Weeks
Cost
$
Groups
12 – 60
Focus
Coordination
Geocaching is a wonderful spin on a scavenger hunt for high-achieving teams. Whether it takes place throughout an entire county or in your own city, this activity is as competitive as it is rewarding. This active and engaging activity promotes teamwork, problem-solving, and a sense of adventure and explores a company culture event centered around high achievement and collaboration.
Escape Room Challenge:
Make an escape room all the more exciting by tailoring it to your team! Have puzzle solutions be tied to their skillset or duties in the workforce or based around your company’s details (like year of founding). This activity promotes teamwork, problem-solving, and effective communication.
Sports Tournament Day:
Lead Time
3 – 6 Months
Cost
$$$
Groups
40 – 500+
Focus
Coordination
Organize a day full of friendly competition in volleyball, basketball, or another team sport. Teams compete in different sports throughout the day for one ultimate prize. This fosters healthy competition, teamwork, and team spirit, promoting physical activity and camaraderie.
Scaling competition for thousands of people requires more than just a field and a ball; it requires a modular approach to engagement that keeps every attendee involved in the ‘win’…
Champion-Level Logistics for Massive Crowds
When your guest count reaches the thousands, “games” become an Olympic feat of organization. We designed a multi-sport arena featuring everything from Human Sprocket races to professional-grade sports challenges.
View Olympic Picnic Case Study
Minute to Win It
Minute to Win It games are popular due to their quick time frame as well as their fun. They’re also incredibly customizable due to their nature and can be tailored to be high-intensity for determined teams. Tailoring these games to your high-achieving team is a great way to make them even more exciting. Whether it’s frosting cupcakes blindfolded or seeing who can eat the most spicy macarons like this company did, these games promote team bonding, problem-solving, and having fun.
Small Group Games:
Improv Games:
Lead Time
1 – 2 Weeks
Cost
$$
Groups
10 – 40
Focus
Communication
Foster spontaneity and adaptability through improvisation games like “Yes, And…” or scene building. This promotes effective communication, creativity, and the ability to think on one’s feet.
Blindfolded Maze Walk:
Guide a blindfolded teammate through a maze, relying on clear communication and trust. This activity emphasizes the importance of effective communication, active listening, and building trust within the team.
Reverse Charades:
Lead Time
1 Week
Cost
$
Groups
10-100+
Focus
Collaboration
Act out a concept together, with each team member building on the previous clue without knowing the full word. This activity promotes teamwork, communication, and adaptability in a fun and creative way.
Group Feedback Circle:
Facilitate open and honest feedback on individual and team performance. Focusing on growth and continuous improvement, this activity strengthens communication, trust, and a culture of constructive feedback.
Personalized Team Building Experiences
At the enterprise level, the complexity of the ‘Timeline’ becomes just as important as the event itself. Coordinating thousands of moving parts requires a multi-year strategy, as evidenced by our work on one of the largest corporate summits in the industry…
Mastering the Enterprise Planning Horizon
Managing 1,200+ attendees requires a massive corporate event planning timeline. For Behr, we architected a business summit integrated with seven simultaneous excursions—from Baja Chases in Red Rock Canyon to Hoover Dam tours.
View Behr Case Study
To see how we map out the logistics for events of this scale, view our Corporate Event Planning Timeline Guide.
Remember, the best team-building experiences are tailor-made to your specific team’s interests and dynamics. Whether you’re looking for San Francisco excursions, picnics at Brookside Park in Pasadena, or event companies in Phoenix, our agency has connections across the nation.
Our event management agency and specialized team building event planners will collaborate with you to create the perfect team building experience for your high-achieving team. Fill out the form below to get started.
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