When was the last time you had fun and learned something meaningful with colleagues outside the office?

Break the pattern of interacting with your workmates in the same way, every day. It may be time to spend some time outside!

Try these ideas! When you come back to the office, you may feel more inspired, more connected to your colleagues, and more ready to contribute in enhanced ways.

1. Watch An Inspiring Movie

Organise for the team to watch a movie that encourages the kind of values you want to build in the team. Some  movies like The Lego Movie  have very  direct workplace/leadership lessons. Other movies may not look like workplace movies, but may still have great value. I have shown Happy,  a documentary on happiness, to groups, and it usually gets positive feedback as people love the science and real-life stories in it.

Alternatively, you could ask team-mates to watch the movies themselves, and then have a discussion as a group on its  lessons for your team. I asked participants of one of my workshops to watch Finding Dory, about a fish with a disability to think through their responses   to   some   questions   on   diversity.   Because   they   had   ample time to contemplate, they shared powerful, deep, and inspiring reflections.

2. Escape!

In escape rooms, teams  are  given puzzles  to  solve  to  get  out  of  a  locked  room. This helps the team problem-solve using their strengths.  Do your research so that you are able to book an escape room that has a level of difficulty suitable for your team.

For  one  company that I brought  to  an  escape  room,  we  started  the  day  with  helping  the team   understand   themselves through the award-winning Drake¹ P3 personality instrument, then went to the escape room, and then debriefed the game the morning after, using the awareness they had gained about their personalities.

3. Get Through Darkness

Dialogue In The Dark or Lunch In The Dark at Ngee Ann Polytehnic offer teams opportunities to spend an hour in darkness, where they are guided by vision-impaired persons.  There  is  also  time  to  ask  the  vision-impaired  persons  questions.  Almost everyone  I  have  brought  to  these  have  had  powerful  experiences  and insights.  These can be linked to themes you may want to highlight, such as resilience and adaptation.

4. Do An Act Of Service

Right  under  your  nose,  someone  in  your  work  community/locality  could  need  your kindness.  Go in the spirit of service, instead of helping. Dr Rachel Remen  distinguishes the two:  Service is a relationship between equals; our service strengthens us as well  as others.  Fixing  and  helping  are  draining,  and  over  time  we  may burn  out,  but  service  is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will renew us. In helping, we may find a sense of satisfaction; in serving  we find a sense of gratitude.

For example, I suggested to an organisation to do a project to listen to the life stories of elderly in a drop-in centre near their office. Each participant then created/co-created a memento  to  depict  the  life  story  and  give  it  to  the elderly person.  This  was  beneficial not  only  to  the  elderly,  but  also  helped  the  professionals improve  their  listening  skills and learn from the life stories.

You may also want to engage Big Heroes², an inspiring social enterprise that combines professional team-building with doing good through welfare organisations.

5. Get Up Close With Nature

Nature is an amazing teacher.  Hire a professional nature guide to bring your team for a walk. For one company I brought out into nature with a nature guide, we shared  how  specific  qualities  of  plants/animals  could  be  lessons  for  us  at  work.  For  example, there was one plant which had hollow stems to attract ants to use it as their home. In return, the  ants  would protect the  plant  from  herbivores.  The  plant and  ants  protect  each other! We then reflected on symbiotic relationships we have at work.

6. Patronise Conscious Businesses And Events

Look  out  for  interesting  restaurants,  businesses,  and  events that  are  strong  on  doing something for the greater good – and patronise these together.  For  example,  Green  Dot  is  a  health-food  restaurant  that  also  has an  ethic of  care towards its employees and customers.

7. Sweat It Out Together

Play a game with teammates, or take part  in sports events like marathons. This could take the form of a regular  basketball  session,  like  for  some  in  the  Drake  International team in Singapore.

When  you  train  together  for  a  sports  challenge,  you  learn to  encourage  and  support each other.

8. Go On Travel Adventures

If you want to go further, you could organise a trip out of Singapore. Wendy Wong, who heads Tusitala³, an e-book and  app-development company, says about a trip she organised for her team to Malaysia:

“You could climb mountains together, dive or trek.

When  you  train  hard  and  break through barriers as a team, they can help you as you climb mountains back in the workplace too.”

Don’t forget this. It’s the secret to getting more out of your outing. 

While  doing  these  things  together can be fun, the value lies in how the debrief is facilitated, and how you  connect it to the learning and growth of the team. You may already have someone in your team who can do this.  Activate this person’s strengths for the team. I also help teams debrief so that they grow personally and professionally and create great memories together. If I can be of support, let me know.

 Visit the JoyWorks page to find out more about Vadivu’s work.