3 Fresh, Fun Ideas to Bring Your Team Together Admit it -- trust falls have gotten a little cliche.

By Amy Wilkinson

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Are your team-building go-tos stale? Likely. Freshen up with these action-packed adventures.


Kitchen Cookoff

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
After camera company Lytro restructured, employees needed some bonding time. The Mountain View, Calif.-based team headed to the Kitchen Challenge at Parties That Cook, a competition inspired by Iron Chef and Chopped. "It really played to so many different types of personalities," says Lytro HR manager Jenny Garcia. After judging, teammates feasted on their meals over wine. "It was one of the most popular things we've ever done."

Related: The Importance of Teamwork and Collaboration


Locked Up

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
Escape rooms -- those self-contained scavenger hunts in which puzzles are solved in order for participants to break free -- are good for more than just birthday parties: They're also a way for colleagues with diverse skill sets to collaborate. "Our brains all work in different ways," says research scientist Amanda Weidner, who took her team of faculty and staff from the University of Washington to Seattle's Puzzle Break. "Even if you weren't the puzzle solver, you still had a role and felt like you contributed."

Related: 6 Ideas for Healthy Team-Building Activities


Survivor: Corporate Edition

Degree of difficulty: Degree of difficulty
Patrón took employees to Las Vegas' Camp Rhino for an obstacle course, putting staffers through a gauntlet of challenges such as hanging rings, climbing walls and tire rolls. The intensity has its advantages: "If somebody couldn't do the monkey bars, another team member would hold their legs and help them," says Melissa Aupperle, VP of operations for Destinations By Design, who organized the activity for Patrón. "It was more strategizing how to get everyone through as opposed to finding their strongest players."

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Franchise

She Quit Her Corporate Job to Sell a Refreshing Summer Staple — Then Made $38,000 the First Week and $1 Million in Year 1

With nearly $40,000 in first-week sales and $1 million in her first year, DeSario Turner's story is a blueprint for success.

Business News

JPMorgan Will Fire Junior Bankers Over a Common Practice That CEO Jamie Dimon Calls 'Unethical'

According to a leaked memo, JPMorgan is telling junior analysts that they will be fired if they accept another job in advance.

Business News

Nvidia's CEO Says It No Longer Matters If You Never Learned to Code: 'There's a New Programming Language'

At London Tech Week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said even non-programmers can write code thanks to AI.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

These Are the 10 Most (and Least) Expensive States for Single People, According to a New Analysis

The report found that there are no U.S. states where a single person can live comfortably with a salary under $80,000.

Business Solutions

AI Tools So Good, You'll Think You Hired a Team

Design, write, edit, and build—faster and smarter.