5 Corporate Team-Building Experiences To Spark Joy

Here at Roaming Hunger we’re passionate about helping you hype up your team members. So, we sat down with our Director of People and Culture, Jill Fitzpatrick, to come up with some great post-pandemic team-building activities and ideas. She shared some awesome and affordable tips and tricks that’ll help inspire your office.

Once we were all allowed to gather again, she knew the first thing she had to do for our crew was connect in-person. She and her team brought everyone together for some joyful bonding moments, an awesome arsenal of icebreaker activities, and of course, great food.

Get the head honchos at work interested in building a supportive community with everything from fun introductory games and catered lunches, to powerful shared experience exercises. It’s essential to create these kinds of moments to break down barriers between strangers, reduce anxiety, and introduce new employees. Your time is valuable. So, why not spend it fostering an atmosphere of fun!

Okay, we’re throwin’ our soapbox away now. Let’s dig into some considerations for your next corporate get together so you can foster engagement and have one heck of a good time.

1. Share A Meal

Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile in San Jose

Why sharing a meal is great for team bonding: Food is the very fiber of the human experience. Every culture, every country, and everyone is connected through the magic of meals shared. Those moments were lost when the pandemic shut down offices and sequestered people. But, we can get them back!

The loss of learning and community-building that occurred can be overcome through bonding events that include food. Move past the challenge of getting team members to connect by bringing them inexpensive yet incredible meal options.

Food for Thought(fulness)

Sure, food is kinda our thing, but making it fun is something we’re more than fond of. Post-Covid, we found that simply getting everyone outside for a scavenger hunt and a food truck-provided lunch brought us together in unexpected ways. This community meet-up had the effect of starting conversations and using social skills many hadn’t used in months. Newcomers got to put names to faces for the first time and connections were found that may never have had a chance to blossom.

What better way to get to know people than experiencing taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound (we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to smacking our lips while snacking). Bond over a mutual love of amazing tacos, crispy pizza, or some tasty BBQ without feeling overwhelmed.

Here are just a few reasons why centering cuisine at the office can create camaraderie:

1. Use time wisely with food-focused events. Providing people a break from their desk to get up and get food together gives employees a mental break from work. This allows for natural conversation, shared excitement over favorite food types, and creative ideation.
2. It’s okay to be silly…and food can be quite silly. Scarfing down pork sliders isn’t always pretty, but letting down your guard while eating can be humanizing. Help make it easier for employees to see each other as imperfect. This is a natural (and delicious) opportunity to teach interpersonal and communication skills to individuals.
3. Having your favorite food trucks come in every week, once a month, or even every quarter becomes a ritual that employees look forward to. They may even offer suggestions and ask to get involved!
4. A catered lunch will get people out of their seats much quicker than snacks or a cold, boxed lunch. It will also keep team members on site rather than going their separate ways and breaking for lunch off-campus.

A tasty food truck is the biggest icebreaker around. Develop your team’s sense of community through a mutual desire to share an amazing lunch altogether. Food is an artform after all, and art inspires innovation. Rally your team around great food and book a food truck today!

why company lunch is a great team building activity - corporate food truck catering

2. Think Outside the Box

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Why getting outside the office is great for team bonding: Going to the office can feel stressful for employees who are used to working from home. Getting people on their feet and outside of your building’s 4 walls is essential to energize your team so they not only can but want to make it through the workday.

1. SUNSHINE! Vitamin D not only boosts your immune system, but it also boosts your mood. Isn’t it better for managers, directors, and your bottom line if team members not only do good work but feel good while doing it?
2. Nothing says post-pandemic like a full company, off-site retreat each month that gives everyone the chance to casually hang out and let loose. Let the jeans, cocktails, and queso flow as you bring the whole team together. Pop-up food event anyone?
3. Getting outside means getting a break from the dreaded iPhone, Android, and computer screens. We all need screen breaks, so put down the black mirror and soak up some sun!
4. Not only can you bring in healthy food trucks that energize your employees to strive and thrive (yup, everything for us comes back to food), but combining your lunch breaks with a walk downstairs or around the building, gives your team a reason to stretch and move their bodies. Added bonus, exercise is preventative care…healthier employees mean happier employees.

Give and Get with Swag

Give your company the return on investment they didn’t know they needed. You gotta give a little to get a lot. At Roaming Hunger we’ve had great success with out-of-the-box, multi-team activities. Nothing like bringing in food truck catering, breaking people into teams, giving every team different supplies, and asking each to design a new piece of company swag. We then vote on the winning design and it gets turned into real swag that everyone gets to enjoy. Yup, we do this, and you can too!

3. Break That Ice

Why icebreaker games are great for team bonding: Icebreaker games are wonderful for reducing tension and inhibitions. This is another great way for employees to see one another as peers—human, fallible, and funny.

These games give your inhibitions the kick in the pants they need to get ‘em out of the way. Let your corporate team show their offbeat side with light-hearted play! Try these whacky games:

1. Use the paper airplane game or balloon pop to liven things up while helping people learn names and facts about their new coworkers. There’s something about paper airplanes flying around the room and balloons popping that creates just enough chaos for relaxed team-bonding.
2.The Toaster Game is a clever icebreaker that lets team members put kooky condiments on a literal piece of toast. Whoever is speaking when the toast pops up is then challenged to eat that piece! Funny icebreakers do best with a group of people who are all up for a little silliness—so make sure everyone is on board when doing these in order to see the best results. And maybe have ‘em wear gloves!
3. Prep some food trivia to get to know your coworkers’ taste! Create a list of questions like: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten? How do you like your eggs cooked? What’s your favorite sweet treat? If you had to eat one food everyday for a month, what would it be? Get creative!

The benefits of icebreakers are that they help foster creativity because they require being imaginative. The kookier the better! For building an innovative team, these crazy contests are the way to go. The next great multimillion dollar idea could very easily be generated by breaking the ice.

4. Discover Shared Experiences

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Why figuring out shared experiences is great for team bonding: Shared experiences create compassion and empathy between teammates. When someone realizes they have more in common than they expected, better working relationships and collaborations are possible.

One of the best ways we’ve found to break that ice and figure out what coworkers have in common is the ‘10 Things in Common’ game. This game lasts for 10-15 minutes:

1. Divide your participants up into groups of 4 of 5 people.
2. Tell each group to find 10 things in common with all the other members of their group. Try not do the obvious like “we all breathe air,” “we all drive cars,” etc.
3. Have 1 person from each group read their list of ten things outloud to everyone else. This experience will result in laughter and a spark that will further discussion and interest.

Allow people to share a few details that make them special—they’ll discover similarities between themselves and their colleagues. This game is especially important in the post-pandemic world. Support your company by bringing people together with purpose. It’s essential to their, and your, long-term success.

Rockin’ Women at Work

For International Women’s Day we held a Roaming Women event. What better way to boost morale and create shared memories than all the female-identifying folks in your office heading out for a round of golf and a delicious lunch? Buck tradition, do something a little different, and give unique groups in your office a chance to meet different teams and bond in expected ways. The feedback and photos from the event were stellar all around, with our female coworkers feeling reinvigorated from a day of bonding while out on the town.

5. Make ‘Em Laugh

Why a good laugh is great for team bonding: If your company is happy to throw tradition out the window, then an all out, balls-to-the-wall, zany event may be right for you. Many employees are motivated to participate when they can share a laugh with one another and put the “fun” in how you function as a company.

1. Bring in an improv artist to set up scenarios for you and your team. Create your very own Saturday Night Live-style sketches and throw caution to the wind as you write, create, and improvise silly situations.
2. Hire face painters to come give everyone a ridiculous makeover. It’s impossible to take the day too seriously when Kevin from Account Management looks like a unicorn.
3. Try the ‘No Smiling’ game! This is a pretty simple and hilarious way to start your icebreaker game day. It involves, you guessed it, not being permitted to smile (for a certain amount of time). Folks will laugh at folks not laughing, others will try to break one another so they crack a smile. It’s hard to go wrong with this one.

There you have it! Icebreakers at your next corporate retreat, picnic, party, or meeting are a pretty easy way to relax employees and create a fun form of open communication. Get folks outside, feed ‘em (cause no one, literally no one, hates food), and expand everyone on your team’s ability to think critically, collaboratively, and compassionately.

Every company can benefit from a quick bite, a lot of laughter, and a large variety of ways to build your team’s sense of trust. That way, team members can succeed individually and the company can succeed as a whole. Letting people explore their most outrageous, funny, and extroverted selves could inspire the next big thing you’re working on. And…play!