You can use a treasure hunt to strengthen and build your team

Being successful in the workplace requires contributions from all team members. A strong team is important to meet company goals and function more efficiently in the workplace. That’s why it’s important that a team of employees perform as they are named, as a team. There are many ways to develop and build a team atmosphere in the workplace. A great way is to sponsor a team scavenger hunt.

What is a treasure hunt?

I’m sure you know what a scavenger hunt is, but to refresh your memory, it’s just a challenge to find specific items within a specific set of limits. A list of items is given to each team and they must find the items and return them by a specified deadline. The team that returns with the most items found from their list in the designated time is the winner. Scavenger hunts can be done on an individual basis with a winner, or for team building purposes, can be done in teams. They are a fun way to get your teammates to work together.

Go on a scavenger hunt in the office or on the go to build the team

You can make the hunt business related by selecting items that relate to your business or market or you can make it more fun and select random items that will be harder to find. If you have time to do the scavenger hunt outside of the office, it can be even more fun and challenging.

To do an office scavenger hunt, spend a day (possibly the weekend before the event) and hide certain items (or find existing items) throughout the office building. Be sure to list them all. You can make it more challenging by adding very specific items to the list, like a paperclip that has a red cord attached to it. If you have a tub of paper clips that people go to when they need more, place the paper clip tied with string in the bottom of the tub, so it won’t be easily noticed when looking in the trash can. If there are plants in your office, you can place small objects, such as small glass beads or perhaps a pin, in the soil at the base of the plant. Be sure to be specific in listing what you are looking for. If you want them to find the glass bead that is in the dirt, write “a clear glass bead covered in dirt.” This will cause them to search for a specific item.

Team Building Scavenger Hunt Guidelines

Before you begin your scavenger hunt, be sure to set some general guidelines. Make sure they know what the boundaries are to look at. Make sure they understand that the idea is to work as a team to collect the items on their list. You can add additional rules and requirements to force groups to work together as a team, i.e. everyone must stay together, etc.

Choosing equipment for the treasure hunt

As you begin your scavenger hunt, you may want to assign people to the teams they will be working with. This gives you an opportunity to split up office clicks that may be in your place or bring together certain people who need to become a more cohesive team. You can also choose to put participants who are already nearby on opposite teams so they can get to know the other people who work in your office but don’t communicate with often. Your teams should be chosen based on your goals for the treasure hunt.

Each team will have to decide their strategies and how they will work together to complete the treasure hunt. Regardless of their strategy, they will have to work together to come up with a plan and execute the task.

Choose prizes for your Team Building Scavenger Hunt

You can decide to tell the participants what the prize will be or, to make it more intriguing, not tell them at all. Just tell them that they will really like the prize that the winning team receives. The mystery will probably make them work harder to win.

The prize for the treasure hunt must be thought out carefully. You have to make sure that it is something that the majority of the staff in the office want. It’s virtually impossible to please everyone with the prize, but you can definitely find something that most people will enjoy. It can be a pizza party that the administration staff organizes for them. If possible, paid time off is always a great reward. You could offer the winning team a half day off with pay. If time off is not feasible due to workload or other reasons, consider other options, such as a signed certificate of completion. This should be signed by high-level people in the company, not just your immediate supervisors. This will have more meaning if senior management has a part in your recognition. A large reward for all participants may also be in order. You should not tell the teams that everyone will be rewarded before the treasure hunt is over. This will work against you because it will demotivate them. If they know everyone will be rewarded, they probably won’t put as much effort into the task.

treasure hunt report

Without any additional input, the activity itself will serve to bring the team together in a fun way that carries over to your work. But you may also want the teams to report on some of the behaviors that take place during the scavenger hunt. While the scavenger hunt is underway, watch how the employees relate to one another. You will definitely be able to see the leadership possibilities in certain employees. You will also see which employees follow the instructions the best. Many strengths and weaknesses are likely to be revealed, and management staff can make full use of the information gained from this exercise. Some strategies and behaviors will be more successful than others.

To highlight these points, you may want to have a basic team briefing right after the scavenger hunt is over. Ask participants to discuss some of the following questions:

• What happened?
• What was the results? Because?
• What was successful? What could have been done better?
• What individual strengths were discovered? What skills and strengths were not fully utilized?
• How could you compensate or overcome any weakness?
• What could have been done differently?
• What did you learn from the others on the team?
• How can what you learned from each other be useful in the workplace?

Team Building Benefits of a Scavenger Hunt

Going on an office treasure hunt is a great idea. Not only will it be a fun break from day-to-day responsibilities, but it will give you a chance to practice teamwork. There are benefits for the participants as well as for the management staff. Administrative staff will be able to observe and recognize traits in their employees that they may not have noticed without the scavenger hunt. Homework is office friendly and fun for everyone involved.

Need some ideas?

You can get ideas for specific scavenger hunts at CreativeScavengerHunts.com