Epic Team Building Experiences for High Achievers

Guide

Problem-Solving & Collaboration
Physical Activities
Creative & Out-of-the-Box
Popular Activities Reimagined
Small Group Games
Personalized Team Building Activities

High-achieving teams thrive on challenge and growth, so team building experiences should complement their existing strengths and push them to even greater heights. If you’re looking to inspire your team further and hone the skills required for them to reach even greater heights, team building experiences tailored to their needs are vital.

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.

High achiever team building activity ideas

Problem-Solving & Collaboration

Hackathon:

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.

Team Building Games for High Achievers: Hackathons & More

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:

Excursion Adventure

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.

Sandcastle Competition

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

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:

Overcome physical and mental obstacles together, building trust and communication through shared experiences. This outdoor activity promotes teamwork, resilience, and leadership skills

Outdoor Team Building Activity Ideas: Kayaking

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

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:

Build a Cardboard City:

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:

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.

Team Building Experiences for High Achieving Teams

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

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.

eam Building Game Ideas for High Achievers: Sports Tournament Day

Magic Show

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

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

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:

Email Scavenger Hunt

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.

Mystery Dinner Party:

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

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:

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. See our Olympic team building games for inspiration.

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:

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:

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

Remember, the best team-building experiences are tailor-made to your specific team’s interests and dynamics. Whether you’re looking for team building activities in the Bay Area or in Dallas, 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.