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Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master

May 27, 2022 - 10 min read

Brianna Hansen

Some people see problems as roadblocks, others see them as opportunities! Problem-solving activities are a great way to get to know how members of your team work, both individually and together. It’s important to teach your team strategies to help them quickly overcome obstacles in the way of achieving project goals.

In this article, you’ll explore 15 problem-solving activities designed to enhance collaboration and creativity. Additionally, if you want to discuss the insights and outcomes with your team after the activities, you can use Wrike’s actionable meeting notes template. This template allows you to record meeting discussions, assign action items, and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

The importance of problem-solving skills in today’s workplace

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According to a 2019  report by McKinsey , soft skills are increasingly important in today's world — and problem-solving is the top area in which skills are lacking. A company or team’s success weighs heavily on the willingness of managers to help employees improve their problem-solving abilities. Team building activities targeting focus areas like communication and collaboration, adaptability, or strengthening decision-making techniques help.

All problem-solving processes start with identifying the problem. Next, the team must assess potential courses of action and choose the best way to tackle the problem. This requires a deep understanding of your team and its core strengths. A problem-solving exercise or game helps identify those strengths and builds problem-solving skills and strategies while having fun with your team.

quick team problem solving activity

Problem-solving games aren't for just any team. Participants must have an open mind and accept all ideas and solutions . They must also have an Agile mindset and embrace different structures, planning, and processes. Problems usually arise when we least expect them, so there's no better way to prepare than to encourage agility and flexibility.

Another aspect to keep in mind when engaging in problem-solving games and activities: There are no winners or losers. Sure, some games might end with a single winner, but the true goal of these exercises is to learn how to work together as a team to develop an Agile mindset. The winning team of each game should share their strategies and thought processes at the end of the exercise to help everyone learn.

Here’s a list of fun problem-solving activity examples to try with your team. From blindfolds to raw eggs, these problem-solving, team-building activities will have your team solving problems faster than Scooby and the gang.

Classic team-building, problem-solving activities

1. a shrinking vessel.

Helps with: Adaptability

Why adaptability is important for problem-solving: Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster , according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before . People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.

What you’ll need:

  • A rope or string

Instructions:

1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.

2. Slowly shrink the space over 10-15 minutes.

3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps with: Collaboration

Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline . We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team’s collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.

What you’ll need (per team):

  • 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
  • 1 roll of masking tape
  • 1 yard of string
  • 1 marshmallow

1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.

2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps people think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.

3. Egg Drop

Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making

Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn’t easy , but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team’s decision-making muscles and they will become more adept at problem-solving.

  • A carton of eggs
  • Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth
  • A parking lot, or some other place you don’t mind getting messy!

1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.

2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.

3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.

4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.

4. Stranded

Helps with: Communication, decision-making

Why communication is important for problem-solving: More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across  virtual teams . Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them solve problems more effectively when they’re apart.

Here's the setting: Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on ten items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the ten items and their rankings in 30 minutes.

Creative problem-solving activities

Helps with: Communication

What you'll need:

1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.

2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within ten minutes.

3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.

4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.

  • A lockable room
  • 5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)

1. The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.

2. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.

3. Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.

4. Give them 30 minutes to an hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.

7. Frostbite

Helps with: Decision-making, adaptability

  • A blindfold
  • 1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team
  • An electric fan

Instructions:  Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of four or five and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader’s hands have frostbite, so they can’t physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.

8. Minefield

  • An empty room or hallway
  • A collection of common office items

1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.

2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.

3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines."

4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.

5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.

9. Blind Formations

1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.

2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.

3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope — a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.

4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.

Quick and easy problem-solving activities

10. line up blind.

1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.

2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.

3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.

11. Reverse Pyramid

Helps with: Adaptability, collaboration

1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.

2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.

3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.

12. Move It!

  • Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)

1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.

2. Using the chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.

3. The goal is for the two facing lines of players to switch places.

4. Place these restrictions on movement:

  • Only one person may move at a time.
  • A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.
  • No one may not move backward.
  • A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.

13. Human Knot

1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly next to them.

2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle — without letting go of anyone's hand.

Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:

14. Dumbest Idea First

Helps with: Instant problem-solving

1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.

2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.

3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!

15. What Would X Do

1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.

2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were their chosen famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?

3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.

Looking for more team-building and virtual meeting games? Check out these virtual icebreaker games or our  Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.

Additional resources on problem-solving activities

  • Problem-Solving Model : Looking for a model to provide a problem-solving structure? This detailed guide gives you the tools to quickly solve any problem.
  • The Simplex Process:  Popularized by Min Basadur's book, The Power of Innovation , the Simplex Process provides training and techniques for each problem-solving stage. It helps frame problem-solving as a continuous cycle, rather than a “one and done” process.
  • Fun Problem-Solving Activities and Games : Looking for more ideas? Check out this list of interesting and creative problem-solving activities for adults and kids!
  • The Secret to Better Problem-Solving:  This article provides tips, use cases, and fresh examples to help you become a whiz at solving the toughest problems.

How to organize problem-solving activities with Wrike

If you want to make problem-solving activities more effective, consider using team collaboration software such as Wrike. 

Wrike’s pre-built actionable meeting notes template helps you keep track of meeting discussions, assign action items, and keep everyone in the loop. It’s an effective tool to streamline your problem-solving sessions and turn insights into real projects.

Brianna Hansen

Brianna Hansen

Brianna is a content marketing manager at Wrike. When she's not writing about collaboration and team building games, you'll find her in the kitchen testing out the latest recipes, sharing her favorite wine with friends, or playing with her two cats.

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Outback Team Building & Training

38 Fun Fast Team Building Activities You Can Do in 30 Minutes or Less

38 Fun Fast Team Building Activities You Can Do in 30 Minutes or Less featured image

Who says high-impact team building can’t be done quickly? In this article, we explore 38 incredibly fun, ultra-fast team building activities you can do in under half an hour.

In today’s fast-paced business world, time is a precious commodity. As business leaders, team leads, managers, and HR professionals, you understand the importance of team building but often find it challenging to allocate large chunks of time to these activities. And that’s where fast team building activities come into play.

In this article, you’ll discover 38 fun fast team building activities that can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

10 Ways to Use Fast Team Building Activities (And Why They’re So Beneficial)

29 icebreaker questions as fast team building activities, 10 icebreaker games as fast team building activities, 9 fast team building activities focused on boosting communication, 4 fast hosted team building activities, 8 fast team building activities focused on problem-solving, 6 trust-building fast team building activities.

how to do fun fast team building activities at work

Just like their more in-depth, longer-duration counterparts, fast team building activities offer a number of benefits, including:

  • Efficiency: Fast team building activities are time-efficient, making them suitable for short breaks, meetings, or virtual sessions. They offer immediate results without extended time commitments.
  • Flexibility: Whether you’re dealing with remote teams, tight agendas, or need to break the ice quickly, these activities provide flexibility to fit your specific needs.
  • Engagement: Short and engaging activities capture participants’ attention and keep energy levels high, making them ideal for energizing your team.
  • Learning: Despite their brevity, these activities are designed to impart essential lessons, such as communication, problem-solving, and trust-building.

But those aren’t the only benefits of fast team building activities—there’s also the fact that you can do them in a variety of different settings, such as:

  • Between Meetings: Insert fast team building activities in the gaps between meetings or during breaks. This helps refresh everyone’s minds, increase engagement, and foster a more positive atmosphere during the workday.
  • Over Lunch: Use lunchtime as an opportunity for team fast building. Choose activities that can be completed within 30 minutes or less to ensure you have time for both the activity and lunch. This approach promotes camaraderie and relaxation during meals.
  • At the Start of Off-Sites: Kick off your next off-site meeting , workshop, kick-off meeting , or company retreat with a fast team building activity. Icebreakers and communication boosters can help participants get to know each other better, setting a positive tone for the event.
  • Midway Through Long Sessions: When conducting full-day or multi-day training sessions, incorporate fast team building activities as energizers. These activities can re-energize participants and break up lengthy sessions, improving focus and retention.
  • Before Important Discussions: Use fast team building activities to build trust and rapport among team members before diving into critical discussions or decision-making processes. Trust-building exercises can create a more open and collaborative atmosphere.
  • To Boost Creativity: When working on creative projects or brainstorming sessions, quick problem-solving challenges can stimulate innovative thinking and encourage diverse perspectives within the team.
  • To Integrate New Team Members: When welcoming new team members , incorporate icebreakers and trust-building activities during their onboarding process to help them feel included and establish connections with existing team members.
  • During Team Building Days: Designate specific team-building days where quick activities are integrated into the schedule. This provides dedicated time for team development while ensuring minimal disruption to regular work.
  • As Part of Regular Team Meetings: Incorporate fast team building activities into regular team meetings as a recurring agenda item. This ensures that team building becomes a consistent practice and reinforces teamwork over time.

Now that we’ve explored the applications for fast team building activities, let’s explore some options you can consider.

a team of colleagues doing icebreakers at the conference table as a fast team building activity before their meeting starts

Icebreaker questions are prompts you include at the beginning of a meeting or other activity to help facilitate introductions.

They’re a great way to lighten the mood, get people engaged, and ensure people feel comfortable and ready to participate.

Your icebreaker questions for work can run the full spectrum, from fun to silly, serious, quirky, or otherwise.

Here are 29 you can consider.

  • Can you give a tour of your office space? 
  • Be honest, how often do you work from bed?
  • What does your morning routine look like when working from home?
  • How many cups of coffee, tea, or beverage of choice do you have each morning?
  • Do you have any pets as in-house colleagues?
  • Do you have houseplants in your office? 
  • What’s your go-to remote work outfit?
  • What’s your proudest professional achievement?
  • Who in your life has inspired you most?
  • If you weren’t in this career, what could you see yourself doing?
  • What is one thing on the very top of your bucket list?
  • If you’re not from this city, why did you end up here?
  • What is your guilty pleasure?
  • If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
  • What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?
  • What book did you read that changed your life the most?
  • If you could see one movie again for the first time, what would it be and why?
  • You have your own late-night talk show. Who do you invite as your first guest?
  • What would the title of your autobiography be?
  • What was your favorite band ten years ago?
  • If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  • If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  • What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now?
  • If you were setting off to Mars and could take only one luxury item with you, what would it be?
  • If you could become a supernatural creature at night, what would it be, and why?
  • Which fictional character would you want by your side during a zombie apocalypse?
  • If you were a cocktail, which one would you be?
  • If your home was packed full of golf balls, how would you remove them?
  • Would you rather talk like Yoda or breathe like Darth Vader?

Want even more ideas? Check out our full list of team building icebreaker questions for work which includes 400+ more options.

a team of colleagues playing icebreaker games as a fun fast team building activity while sitting in their office lounge

Questions aren’t your only option when it comes to icebreakers. There are also some great icebreaker games you can try out that serve the same purpose.

Here are a few of our favorites.

1. Two Truths and a Lie

Participants take turns sharing two true statements and one false statement about themselves. The group must guess the lie, promoting personal connections.

2. Human Bingo

Distribute bingo cards with interesting facts or qualities. Participants mingle to find someone who matches each criterion, encouraging networking and conversation.

3. Speed Networking

Set up short, structured networking sessions where team members discuss work-related topics, fostering communication and collaboration.

4. Office Scavenger Hunt

Create a list of office items or clues. Participants race to find and present the items, encouraging teamwork and quick thinking.

5. Emoji Reactions

Share a series of emojis and ask participants to respond with how they’re feeling. This icebreaker encourages emotional intelligence and empathy.

6. Name That Tune

Play short clips of songs and challenge participants to guess the song title or artist. This activity adds a musical twist to icebreaking.

7. Quick Pictionary

In pairs or small groups, participants take turns drawing and guessing words or phrases within a time limit, promoting creativity and teamwork.

8. Story Building

Each participant contributes one sentence to create a collaborative story. This icebreaker encourages creativity and cooperation.

9. Inspirational Quotes

Share inspiring quotes and ask participants to reflect on their meanings or share personal experiences related to them, fostering motivation and connection.

10. Office Trivia

Create a set of fun and light-hearted trivia questions about the office or industry. Participants compete individually or in teams to test their knowledge.

a man in a boardroom talking to his team as they do fast team building activities meant for boosting communication

Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful teamwork. These fast team building activities are designed to enhance communication skills, boost active listening, and encourage creative expression within your team. Consider them quick communication workouts for your group.

1. One-Word Story

Team members take turns adding one word to a story. The challenge is to create a coherent narrative, enhancing communication and creativity.

2. Two-Minute Show and Tell

Participants have two minutes to share an object meaningful to them, promoting concise and impactful communication.

3. Team Jigsaw Puzzle

Provide a puzzle and divide the team into small groups. Each group works on a section of the puzzle, emphasizing coordination and communication.

4. Quick Brain Teasers

Share brain teasers or riddles for participants to solve in pairs or small groups, enhancing problem-solving and critical thinking.

5. Photo Storytelling

Participants select a photo and create a brief story related to it. This activity encourages imaginative communication and storytelling skills.

6. Group Story Writing

Collaboratively write a short story or poem as a team, with each participant contributing a sentence or line. This activity promotes teamwork and creativity.

7. Sentence Completion

Provide sentence prompts, and participants complete them with their thoughts or feelings. This activity encourages self-expression and active listening.

8. Communication Relay

Teams relay messages by whispering, drawing, or acting them out. This exercise highlights the importance of clear communication and active listening.

9. Impromptu Speeches

Give participants a random topic and a few minutes to prepare a short speech. This activity enhances spontaneous communication and public speaking skills.

If you want to tap into impactful, fast team building activities but don’t have the bandwidth to plan them on your own, Outback offers some incredible options you can do in as little as 30 minutes.

1. Friendly Feud

If you’ve ever wanted to take part in your own Family Feud-style competition, this is your chance! With Virtual Friendly Feud Social, you and your colleagues will break out into teams to compete through survey questions focused on culture and human nature.

And, as an added social element within the game, each round of questions will be followed by a guided social mixer where you’ll have the chance to take part in a group discussion and more deeply explore the survey questions from the previous round.

2. Trivia Time Machine

Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century, through the decades, and all the way to the 60’s.

This exciting, fast-paced trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing.

Your remote game show host will warm up your in-person participants with a couple of “table hopper rounds” and split you out into teams.

Within minutes, your meeting space will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers!

3. Beach Staycation

Invite your team to hop aboard Captain Furling’s chartered yacht and transport them from your office directly to a gorgeous beach destination in Cancun.

Beach Staycation is loaded with delightful vacation destination footage, ocean soundscapes, and best of all, highly engaging social activities and trivia-style challenges.

If your team needs a vacation, some shared laughs, and social fun, this highly engaging activity is just what they need!

4. Happy Hour Trivia

Hamish’s legendary happy hour trivia features two rounds of trivia questions, featuring four themed categories of your choice. With 20 category options to choose from, you’ll be sure to find the perfect themes for your team’s happy hour trivia.

With pub soundscapes, visual surprises, and warm-hearted humor, Hamish McDuff makes your guests feel like they just had a memorable happy hour with friends in a real pub, while at work! Sorry, HR!

This pub trivia game experience is guaranteed to produce plenty of laughs and lift team “spirits.” It might even include a few special surprises.

a team of six colleagues sitting at a table doing problem solving fast team building activities together

When your team faces complex tasks, quick problem-solving activities can be invaluable. These challenges test your team’s ability to think on their feet, make decisions under pressure, and work together to find solutions. They’re like mental obstacle courses for your team’s problem-solving muscles.

1. Marshmallow Tower

Teams compete to build the tallest tower using marshmallows and spaghetti. This challenge encourages creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving.

2. Blind Drawing

Pair participants, with one describing a picture while the other draws it without seeing. This exercise improves communication and listening skills.

3. Escape Room Puzzles

Share quick online escape room puzzles and challenge teams to solve them within a time limit, fostering collaboration and problem-solving.

4. Balloon Tower

Teams build the tallest balloon tower using limited supplies. This activity promotes resourcefulness and teamwork.

5. The Problem-Solving Race

Present teams with a problem or challenge and a limited timeframe to find solutions. This encourages quick thinking and decision-making.

6. Marshmallow Tower

7. blind drawing, 8. balloon tower.

two colleagues sitting at a table together talking and doing a fast team building activity intended to boost trust

Building trust is fundamental for a cohesive and effective team. Trust-building exercises create an environment where team members feel safe, supported, and confident in each other’s abilities. They’re the bonding glue that fosters reliance on teammates and strengthens interpersonal connections.

1. The Personal Shield

Team members create a “personal shield” by drawing or writing positive qualities about themselves. They then share their shields with the group, fostering trust and self-awareness.

2. Mirror, Mirror

In pairs, one person mimics the actions of the other, promoting trust and non-verbal communication.

3. The Trust Walk

Blindfold one team member and have them navigate a course guided only by verbal instructions from their teammates. This exercise builds trust and communication skills.

4. Team Appreciation Circle

Team members form a circle, and each person takes a turn in the center while the rest of the team shares specific appreciations or positive feedback. This exercise fosters trust and appreciation within the group.

5. Team-Building Knot

Participants stand in a circle and extend their hands to grab the hands of two different people across from them. The group must then work together to untangle the human knot without releasing hands, promoting cooperation and trust.

6. Collaborative Storytelling

In teams, participants collaboratively create a story, with each team member contributing a sentence or paragraph. The catch is that each person can only see the previous sentence. This exercise highlights the importance of trust and teamwork in storytelling and problem-solving.

These fast team building activities can be customized and adapted to fit your team’s specific needs and objectives. Whether you’re looking to break the ice, improve communication, enhance problem-solving skills, or build trust, these activities offer a versatile toolkit for fostering a stronger and more cohesive team.

Learn more about fast team building activities you can do in 30 minutes or less.

If you’ve got questions about fast team building activities for any occasion, reach out to an Employee Engagement Consultant. 

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Problem Solving Activities to Improve Team Creativity

Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

“Every problem has a solution. You just have to be creative enough to find it.”                                                                                                               – Travis Kalanick

Problem-solving is a skill that undoubtedly comes into play to improve creativity, execute and deliver projects delightfully. Strong problem-solving skills to improve creativity is a crucial asset for any team. Whether you’re a manager or fresher, easy problem-solving tactics will help you glide over tough decision-making faster and approach problems smartly.

For example, in project management, your team might find itself questioning things like “How would we handle tight deadlines while maintaining the quality consistently?” or “How do we ensure that we effectively track progress on multiple projects?”.

These are common challenges that are bound to arise on the job. However, being prepared and having the ability to handle difficult or unexpected situations is what will guide you to the end.

Luckily, there are many ways to develop problem-solving skills to create innovative solutions. Here’s how one can rewire the brain for problem solving and creativity. Let’s start with the basics!

What Are Problem Solving Activities?

Simply put, problem-solving activities are activities that help in building the capability to solve problems and overcome challenges. While finding effective solutions to complex problems isn’t easy, a step-by-step process of solving the problem at hand ensures that you implement the most effective solution.

One can resolve almost any problem by using the right techniques learned through various problem-solving exercises. All processes of problem-solving begin with identifying and defining the problem. Thereafter, one evaluates the possible course of action and selects the best approach for solving the problem.

For example, if you are starting an online store and have listed down all possible problems that can arise in the process, with the right problem-solving techniques you cannot only eliminate those issues but also can bring out the best possible solution to help you scale and grow. 

Problem-solving activities are highly sought-after activities that help in imbibing key problem-solving skills.

Let’s take a look at these skills.

  • Analytical skills
  • Adaptability, Quick thinking ability
  • Logical reasoning
  • Communication skills
  • Perseverance, Motivation skills
  • Collaboration
  • Team skills
  • Cooperation
  • Decision-making skills, Leadership skills
  • Visual perception skills
  • Critical thinking skills, Negotiation skills

Read More: Excel in Project Execution With These 5 Surefire Tips

The Importance of Developing Problem Solving Skills in Today’s Workplace

You may question: How will I benefit from developing problem-solving skills in my team members? Are these skills important for my team to attain business goals?

Well, have you ever found yourself saying, “Let’s think outside the box for this project” to your team? We are certain that you have, and that is exactly why you need to understand what it takes to level up your team’s ability to convert problems into actionable solutions for the team to succeed together. After all, company performance is closely tied to improving team members’ problem-solving skills.

Good problem-solving skills encourage quick and creative thinking, leading to better decision-making and ultimately increased company growth. Teams and leaders who approach problems thoughtfully perform better and find realistic solutions.

Let’s take a step back and understand ‘ What it takes ?’ to level up your team’s ability to convert problems into actionable solutions.

The secret to a thriving business lies in solving problems effectively. This is where good teams outshine the mediocre ones, isn’t it?

So how do the good teams do it?

Good teams approach problems in a fresh and creative manner at every step of the way. They have learned how to generate ideas and come up with out-of-the-box solutions. 

Guess what they have mastered?

Yes, problem-solving skills!

Here are a few advantages that you should expect from your teams that have acquired problem-solving skills:

1. Better risk handling

Managing risk means acknowledging that undesired or uncertain events may occur at any stage of the process. Problem-solving skills help in being confident of your capability to turn risks into opportunities by going beyond the expected.

2. Better communication

Problem-solving skills equip you with solving issues in a way that minimizes accusations and brings about a resolution regarding the problem. This efficient approach helps foster intra-team communication eventually leading to better understanding.

3. Improved productivity output

Adopting problem-solving techniques at the workplace has a positive impact on total productivity . Problem-solving skills help in implementing solutions in an effective and timely manner without any hindrance.

4. A proactive mindset

A proactive mindset enables identifying and executing the solution to a specific problem. Defining, generating, evaluating, and selecting the best solution is possible only when one has mastered the problem-solving skill.

Remember that not all problems are the same. Moreover, it is unlikely that the same solution will work each time for a particular problem. Scope and type of problems will vary according to the size, type, and goals of an organization. Likewise, solutions will be different for each. Thus, problem-solving skills are absolutely invaluable at the workplace.

20 Fun Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

Problem-solving activities help in developing the skill of problem-solving by practicing exercises to equip a team or an individual with a convincing ability to handle and overcome problems and challenges. The below activities guide through the set of actions, approaches, and processes that one should undertake for devising strategies for solving a problem creatively.

1. Dumbest Idea First

Helps With: Creative problem solving

Why is creative problem solving important for problem-solving?

Creative problem solving allows you to relax your assumptions and approach a problem in an imaginative, unconventional way. The skill focuses on divergent thinking, thus redefining problem-solving.

What you’ll need: Nothing!

Directions:

Yes, this is an important activity for problem-solving. Encourage everyone to voice the absolute random and dumb solution to the problem in front of them. Who knows, you might just get an idea that can be shaped into an effective solution.

Come to think of it, most successful start-up ideas once seemed like the dumbest!

2. 40-20-10-5 

Helps With: Analytical skill

Why is an analytical skill important for problem-solving?

Analytical skill helps in assessing information and finding solutions using knowledge, facts, and data. This skill ensures that any solutions you implement are backed up logically and have been adequately thought out.

To apply this rule, explain your problem in 40 words. Cut it down to 20, then to 10, and finally to 5 words. This 5-word problem statement is the root of your problem and maybe even the solution!

3. Brainstorm Ideas

Helps With: Lateral Thinking

Why is Lateral Thinking important for problem-solving?

Lateral Thinking involves generating ideas using an indirect and creative approach that is not immediately obvious. It deals in insight restructuring and consciously coming up with alternative solutions for the given problem.

Brainstorming ideas is a powerful and one of the best problem-solving activities to get your team’s creative juices flowing.

The purpose of this activity is to produce as many new and creative ideas as possible.

Once the list of ideas is ready, you can then go on to explore the feasibility of each idea to arrive at the most suitable one.

4. Gamification

Helps With: Perseverance, Motivation skill

Why is perseverance important for problem-solving?

Perseverance is being absolute in purpose to continue in the pursuit of an idea or a goal despite setbacks and roadblocks. The quality is a given if you wish to develop the skill of problem-solving.

Why is motivation skill important for problem-solving?

Motivational skills can be defined as actions or strategies that elicit a desired behavior or response. To solve a problem, deriving self-motivation to get to the core of the problem is foremost.

We all have heard the phrase, “Work Hard, Play harder”. Guess it’s time to incorporate it into your work routine!

Gamification will turn ‘work’ into an entertaining and fun activity. You are required to set different types of rules and objectives for the team which they have to follow to earn desirable rewards that will let them win the game or should we say, solve the problem?

5. Shrinking Vessel

Helps With: Adaptability, Quick thinking ability

Why is adaptability important for problem-solving?

Organizations that can adapt quickly have an obvious advantage over their competitors as they have conditioned themselves to effortlessly adapt to changing circumstances while facing problems.

Why is quick thinking ability important for problem-solving?

If you are a quick thinker, that means that you act on problems easily, while being efficient and accurate in thought.

What you’ll need: A Rope/String

A Shrinking Vessel is a problem-solving activity with a simple concept. The idea is that you are in a situation of a sinking ship.

There is a predetermined space for the activity and the teams are divided equally. The entire team must work together to occupy a space, marked with a rope/string, that shrinks over time. It is the perfect game to bond with your teammates and craft a stellar creative strategy to be the last one standing.

6. Egg Drop Idea

Helps With: Logical reasoning

Why is logical reasoning important for problem-solving?

Logical reasoning measures your ability to reason logically by observing and analyzing circumstances. Logical reasoning aids in arriving at a rational conclusion about how to proceed.

What you’ll need: newspaper, plastic wrap, cotton, socks, and a handkerchief

The egg drop project involves designing a package or a container with everyday items that will keep an egg intact when dropped from a height.

Sounds fascinating, right?

It sure is! You can use whatever items or construction material you find around you and deem fit to save an egg. Some items that you may find around easily are newspaper, plastic wrap, cotton, socks, and handkerchief.

Reach out for these and more to save your egg!

Helps With: Communication

Why is communication important for problem-solving?

Being an effective communicator is essential to succeed and progress at the workplace. This is because one needs to successfully communicate ideas and recommendations for daily tasks and projects.

What you’ll need: Lego pieces

This is one of the most interesting team-building activities. This activity is all about observation and retention of design. For this activity, select an impartial individual to construct a random figurine using Legos in under 5 minutes.

Next, the competing teams have to replicate this structure in 10 minutes.

Sounds easy, right? Well, there’s a catch!

Only one person is allowed to look at the figurine at a time. The person has to then communicate the parameters like size, shape, color, etc. to his/her team members. Now, that’s some team-building activity!

8. Stranded

Helps With: Decision-making skill

Why is decision-making skill important for problem-solving?

Problem-solving and decision-making skills go hand in hand at work. Decision-making is an ongoing process in every organization whether big or small. Decision-making skills help in choosing between two or more alternatives to arrive at the best solution to implement.

What you’ll need: A room that can be locked

The setting is that your team will be locked in a room and will be given 30 minutes to choose 10 items that they will need for survival. Also, the items have to be chronologically listed.

9. Reverse the Pyramid

Helps With: Adaptability, Collaboration

Having adaptability skills means embracing problems with optimism. Adaptability reflects your willingness to respond to changing circumstances.

Why is collaboration important for problem-solving?

In the words of Peter Senge, “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individual”.

Collaboration facilitates the free exchange of ideas, knowledge, perspectives, and experiences leading to enhanced innovation.

This is one of the best problem-solving exercises for teams.

Make a team. Ask everyone to stand in the shape of a pyramid. Next, ask them to flip the base and the apex moving only 3 people.

Whichever team moves and forms the reverse pyramid fastest wins the activity.

10. Word on the Street

Helps With: Team skills

Why are team skills important for problem-solving?

Building strong team skills enables team members to come together for a common purpose. Employing team skills for problem-solving is a hallmark of high-performing teams.

It’s a fairly simple technique that involves interviewing all team members to gain their perspective on the solution that has been arrived at for a specific problem.

11. Human Knot

Helps With: Collaboration, Communication skills

Why are communication skills important for problem-solving?

When teams come together to solve a problem, no problem is big enough. Together, a team can overcome even the most difficult of obstacles. Active listening skills are an important element of communication skills.

Get ready for an entertaining problem-solving group activity!

Make everyone stand in a circle. Next, ask each one to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly standing next to them.

Now, ask them to untangle themselves and form a circle without letting go of anyone’s hand. Believe us, it’s going to be super fun watching them twist and turn to form the perfect circle.

12. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration

What you’ll need: Uncooked spaghetti, 1 marshmallow, tape, and a string/thin rope

In this activity, you simply have to make the tallest tower within the set amount of time.

You’re given a handful of supplies to work with. Your task is to build the tallest free-standing tower that supports a marshmallow at the top of the tower! You’re given 18 minutes to complete the challenge.

13. Minefield

Helps With: Team skill, Trust

Why is trust important for problem-solving?

A well-analyzed solution will fail if the team lacks trust while implementing the solution. Building trust within the team is the first step towards problem-solving.

What you’ll need: An empty room, blindfolds, common office items like table, chair, bag, bottle

Place some objects like a table, chair, bag, bottle, etc. on the floor to act as obstacles in this activity.

Divide teams into pairs and blindfold one of them. The person who is not blindfolded has to verbally guide the person in blindfolds to the other end of the room, avoiding the ‘mines’.

14. Bonding Belt

Helps With: Cooperation

Why is cooperation important for problem-solving?

Cooperation for problem-solving means being part of a cooperative team that identifies and listens to each other’s perspectives on the proposed solution and works together as a team.

What you’ll need: A firm rope

Make teams of 5-6 people. Tie them together by a firm rope, tightly wrapped around their waists. Ask them to move as one unit from point A to point B in as short a time as possible. The teams have to ensure they stay ‘bonded’ as one unit.

15. Frostbite

Helps With: Decision-making skill, Leadership skill

Why is leadership skill important for problem-solving?

Leadership involves keeping the team aligned, energized, and focused on a common business goal. The ability to stimulate, challenge, and inspire others to devise creative solutions is what adds up to leadership skills .

What you’ll need: An electric fan, a packet of construction materials like card stock, rubber bands, and sticky notes, etc, a blindfold

The scenario for this creative problem-solving activity is that your team is on arctic exploration. You have to separate everyone into different teams of 4-5 members. Each team will choose a leader among themselves who will lead them on this activity. The teams have to construct a shelter to protect themselves from the storm that will hit in precisely 30 minutes. The catch is that the team leaders will not work as they can’t move their hands due to frostbite. Further, all other team members are temporarily blind due to snow blindness. After the time is up, you can turn on the fan and see whose shelter can endure the high winds of the storm. Come on, let’s see which team withstands the snowstorm!

16. Idea Mock-Up

Helps With: Analytical skill, Decision making skill

In this activity, the solutions to your problems are supposed to be projected via mock-ups to ascertain the best solution for the given problem. This enables receiving the most accurate feedback on the proposed solutions.

17. Futures Wheel

Helps With: Visual perception skill

Why is visual perception skill important for problem-solving?

Visual perception skills are the ability to make sense of what the eyes see. It involves organizing and interpreting the information and giving it meaning.

What you’ll need: Pen and paper

If you’re looking to explore the structural consequences of a proposed solution, then this activity is your best bet.

You start with writing the name of the topic in the center. Next, you form the first layer of the wheel with consequences to the solutions. In the next layer, you may go deep into the consequences of these consequences themselves. Jot these down in the order of importance. Analyze each aspect and complete this activity within a time period of about 30 minutes.

This visual technique will make it easier for you to outline the best method to go ahead with to attain the desired outcome.

18. Be a Character

Helps With: Initiative

Why is initiative important for problem-solving?

Taking initiative is the ability to independently assess problems and initiate action to attain solutions. It is a self-management skill and requires rational persistence to be able to solve a problem successfully.

Fancied being an imaginary character from a movie or block? Or just fancied being a famous personality?

Well, now is the time to bring out your inner persona and approach the given problem with the outlook and the perspective of the character or person who you’ve always admired. Embody the character for 15 minutes and see how you approach the situation at hand.

19. End in Mind

According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey, all things are created twice – first in the mind and then in the real world.

Logical reasoning helps you reason through ideas and decisions following a series of steps to conclude. This approach leads to efficient problem-solving.

The end in mind activity allows you to question the ‘What’, ‘Why’, and ‘How’ of any problem. It brings purpose and clarity to the solution you seek. You basically backtrack your way into finding a solution.

20. Stop, Start, Continue

Helps With: Critical thinking skill, Negotiation skill

Why is critical thinking important for problem-solving?

Critical thinking refers to the ability to use knowledge, facts, and data to effectively share thoughts and make justifiable decisions. The skill includes analyzing information and formulating creative solutions to complex problems.

Why is negotiation skill important for problem-solving?

Having negotiation skills does not mean that you give in or instantly compromise every time someone disagrees with you. Having this skill means demonstrating open-mindedness to prospects and team members. Active listening is crucial to develop this skill.

A Stop, Start, Continue Approach is a feedback framework made up of three things that a team should stop doing, three things that a team should start doing, and three things that a team should continue doing as they move forward to achieve their problem-solving objectives.

The purpose of the above-listed activities is to train your mind to think about how to solve a problem in new ways and for greater success. The purpose is also to have some fun through these activities while upgrading your skills.

Read More: How to Solve Project Management Problems in The Modern Workplace

The 10-Step Process of Problem Solving Ability

This simple 10-step process will guide you in solving problems to improve creativity.

  • Define the Problem
  • Analyze the Problem
  • Specify Underlying Causes
  • Brainstorm Ideas
  • List Possible Solutions
  • Create Solution Mock-Ups
  • Measure the Business Impact
  • Establish the Best Possible Solution
  • Implement the Solution
  • Evaluate Progress

Read More: 16 Best Project Management Softwares for Creative Teams

The Four P’s to Problem Solving

The problem-solving process is cyclic in nature. This is because there are bound to arise new problems while managing a project that accordingly demands new solutions.

This is where you measure, understand, and diagnose the problem that you wish to solve. The activities 40-20-10-5 and Dumbest idea first help in initiating a problem-solving process.

This is where you organize everything and generate possibilities through activities like Brainstorming and Word of mouth .

This is where you visualize and execute your plan. Activities like Futures wheel and Stop, start, continue fall in this stage of problem-solving.

This is where you analyze the solution and check for further improvement. Stranded and Shrinking Vessel are the activities that develop decision-making skills leading to problem-solving.

Face Challenges Head-on With Quick and Easy Problem Solving Activities

Doesn’t it look like it’s all under control now? Well, to be perfectly honest, it takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver.

The way we approach problems at the workplace can be improved by indulging in proven activities that help build problem-solving skills to improve creativity.

Once you have covered the basics of how to go about the problem-solving process and have a can-do mindset, we are sure that there is absolutely nothing that can deter you from confronting problems head-on.

The listed activities are the easiest mechanism to follow to master the skill of effective problem-solving at the workplace. This course of action will enable you to exert full control towards sure shot success in improving creativity with constructive problem-solving activities.

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David Miller

About the author

David miller.

David is a Project Management expert. He has been published in elearningindustry.com , simpleprogrammer.com . As a project planning and execution expert at ProProfs, he has offered a unique outlook on improving workflows and team efficiency. Connect with David for more engaging conversations on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

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Team Building Exercises – Problem Solving and Decision Making

Fun ways to turn problems into opportunities.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

quick team problem solving activity

Whether there's a complex project looming or your team members just want to get better at dealing with day-to-day issues, your people can achieve much more when they solve problems and make decisions together.

By developing their problem-solving skills, you can improve their ability to get to the bottom of complex situations. And by refining their decision-making skills, you can help them work together maturely, use different thinking styles, and commit collectively to decisions.

In this article, we'll look at three team-building exercises that you can use to improve problem solving and decision making in a new or established team.

Exercises to Build Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Skills

Use the following exercises to help your team members solve problems and make decisions together more effectively.

Exercise 1: Lost at Sea*

In this activity, participants must pretend that they've been shipwrecked and are stranded in a lifeboat. Each team has a box of matches, and a number of items that they've salvaged from the sinking ship. Members must agree which items are most important for their survival.

Download and print our team-building exercises worksheet to help you with this exercise.

This activity builds problem-solving skills as team members analyze information, negotiate and cooperate with one another. It also encourages them to listen and to think about the way they make decisions.

What You'll Need

  • Up to five people in each group.
  • A large, private room.
  • A "lost at sea" ranking chart for each team member. This should comprise six columns. The first simply lists each item (see below). The second is empty so that each team member can rank the items. The third is for group rankings. The fourth is for the "correct" rankings, which are revealed at the end of the exercise. And the fifth and sixth are for the team to enter the difference between their individual and correct score, and the team and correct rankings, respectively.
  • The items to be ranked are: a mosquito net, a can of petrol, a water container, a shaving mirror, a sextant, emergency rations, a sea chart, a floating seat or cushion, a rope, some chocolate bars, a waterproof sheet, a fishing rod, shark repellent, a bottle of rum, and a VHF radio. These can be listed in the ranking chart or displayed on a whiteboard, or both.
  • The experience can be made more fun by having some lost-at-sea props in the room.

Flexible, but normally between 25 and 40 minutes.

Instructions

  • Divide participants into their teams, and provide everyone with a ranking sheet.
  • Ask team members to take 10 minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance. They should do this in the second column of their sheet.
  • Give the teams a further 10 minutes to confer and decide on their group rankings. Once agreed, they should list them in the third column of their sheets.
  • Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with their collective ones, and consider why any scores differ. Did anyone change their mind about their own rankings during the team discussions? How much were people influenced by the group conversation?
  • Now read out the "correct" order, collated by the experts at the US Coast Guard (from most to least important): - Shaving mirror. (One of your most powerful tools, because you can use it to signal your location by reflecting the sun.) - Can of petrol. (Again, potentially vital for signaling as petrol floats on water and can be lit by your matches.) - Water container. (Essential for collecting water to restore your lost fluids.) -Emergency rations. (Valuable for basic food intake.) - Plastic sheet. (Could be used for shelter, or to collect rainwater.) -Chocolate bars. (A handy food supply.) - Fishing rod. (Potentially useful, but there is no guarantee that you're able to catch fish. Could also feasibly double as a tent pole.) - Rope. (Handy for tying equipment together, but not necessarily vital for survival.) - Floating seat or cushion. (Useful as a life preserver.) - Shark repellent. (Potentially important when in the water.) - Bottle of rum. (Could be useful as an antiseptic for treating injuries, but will only dehydrate you if you drink it.) - Radio. (Chances are that you're out of range of any signal, anyway.) - Sea chart. (Worthless without navigational equipment.) - Mosquito net. (Assuming that you've been shipwrecked in the Atlantic, where there are no mosquitoes, this is pretty much useless.) - Sextant. (Impractical without relevant tables or a chronometer.)

Advice for the Facilitator

The ideal scenario is for teams to arrive at a consensus decision where everyone's opinion is heard. However, that doesn't always happen naturally: assertive people tend to get the most attention. Less forthright team members can often feel intimidated and don't always speak up, particularly when their ideas are different from the popular view. Where discussions are one-sided, draw quieter people in so that everyone is involved, but explain why you're doing this, so that people learn from it.

You can use the Stepladder Technique when team discussion is unbalanced. Here, ask each team member to think about the problem individually and, one at a time, introduce new ideas to an appointed group leader – without knowing what ideas have already been discussed. After the first two people present their ideas, they discuss them together. Then the leader adds a third person, who presents his or her ideas before hearing the previous input. This cycle of presentation and discussion continues until the whole team has had a chance to voice their opinions.

After everyone has finished the exercise, invite your teams to evaluate the process to draw out their experiences. For example, ask them what the main differences between individual, team and official rankings were, and why. This will provoke discussion about how teams arrive at decisions, which will make people think about the skills they must use in future team scenarios, such as listening , negotiating and decision-making skills, as well as creativity skills for thinking "outside the box."

A common issue that arises in team decision making is groupthink . This can happen when a group places a desire for mutual harmony above a desire to reach the right decision, which prevents people from fully exploring alternative solutions.

If there are frequent unanimous decisions in any of your exercises, groupthink may be an issue. Suggest that teams investigate new ways to encourage members to discuss their views, or to share them anonymously.

Exercise 2: The Great Egg Drop*

In this classic (though sometimes messy!) game, teams must work together to build a container to protect an egg, which is dropped from a height. Before the egg drop, groups must deliver presentations on their solutions, how they arrived at them, and why they believe they will succeed.

This fun game develops problem-solving and decision-making skills. Team members have to choose the best course of action through negotiation and creative thinking.

  • Ideally at least six people in each team.
  • Raw eggs – one for each group, plus some reserves in case of accidents!
  • Materials for creating the packaging, such as cardboard, tape, elastic bands, plastic bottles, plastic bags, straws, and scissors.
  • Aprons to protect clothes, paper towels for cleaning up, and paper table cloths, if necessary.
  • Somewhere – ideally outside – that you can drop the eggs from. (If there is nowhere appropriate, you could use a step ladder or equivalent.)
  • Around 15 to 30 minutes to create the packages.
  • Approximately 15 minutes to prepare a one-minute presentation.
  • Enough time for the presentations and feedback (this will depend on the number of teams).
  • Time to demonstrate the egg "flight."
  • Put people into teams, and ask each to build a package that can protect an egg dropped from a specified height (say, two-and-a-half meters) with the provided materials.
  • Each team must agree on a nominated speaker, or speakers, for their presentation.
  • Once all teams have presented, they must drop their eggs, assess whether the eggs have survived intact, and discuss what they have learned.

When teams are making their decisions, the more good options they consider, the more effective their final decision is likely to be. Encourage your groups to look at the situation from different angles, so that they make the best decision possible. If people are struggling, get them to brainstorm – this is probably the most popular method of generating ideas within a team.

Ask the teams to explore how they arrived at their decisions, to get them thinking about how to improve this process in the future. You can ask them questions such as:

  • Did the groups take a vote, or were members swayed by one dominant individual?
  • How did the teams decide to divide up responsibilities? Was it based on people's expertise or experience?
  • Did everyone do the job they volunteered for?
  • Was there a person who assumed the role of "leader"?
  • How did team members create and deliver the presentation, and was this an individual or group effort?

Exercise 3: Create Your Own*

In this exercise, teams must create their own, brand new, problem-solving activity.

This game encourages participants to think about the problem-solving process. It builds skills such as creativity, negotiation and decision making, as well as communication and time management. After the activity, teams should be better equipped to work together, and to think on their feet.

  • Ideally four or five people in each team.
  • Paper, pens and flip charts.

Around one hour.

  • As the participants arrive, you announce that, rather than spending an hour on a problem-solving team-building activity, they must design an original one of their own.
  • Divide participants into teams and tell them that they have to create a new problem-solving team-building activity that will work well in their organization. The activity must not be one that they have already participated in or heard of.
  • After an hour, each team must present their new activity to everyone else, and outline its key benefits.

There are four basic steps in problem solving : defining the problem, generating solutions, evaluating and selecting solutions, and implementing solutions. Help your team to think creatively at each stage by getting them to consider a wide range of options. If ideas run dry, introduce an alternative brainstorming technique, such as brainwriting . This allows your people to develop one others' ideas, while everyone has an equal chance to contribute.

After the presentations, encourage teams to discuss the different decision-making processes they followed. You might ask them how they communicated and managed their time . Another question could be about how they kept their discussion focused. And to round up, you might ask them whether they would have changed their approach after hearing the other teams' presentations.

Successful decision making and problem solving are at the heart of all effective teams. While teams are ultimately led by their managers, the most effective ones foster these skills at all levels.

The exercises in this article show how you can encourage teams to develop their creative thinking, leadership , and communication skills , while building group cooperation and consensus.

* Original source unknown. Please let us know if you know the original source.

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  • 45 team building games to improve commu ...

45 team building games to improve communication and camaraderie

Alicia Raeburn contributor headshot

Team building games bring everyone together without the added pressure of work. Here, we’ve listed 45 of the top team building activities broken down by icebreaker, problem solving, indoor, and outdoor games.

As Ashley Frabasilio, Employee Engagement Manager at Asana puts it, “Creating a shared experience for teams to build relationships is one of the best ways to increase trust and encourage collaboration."

Whether you’re looking for indoor or outdoor activities, quick icebreaker games, or activities to bond with your remote team members, we compiled a list of over 45 team building games that you’ll actually enjoy. 

How to make team building inclusive

Teams with an inclusive culture tend to be more transparent, supportive, and happy because everyone feels accepted. It’s essential to make any team activity feel productive and enjoyable for the entire group, regardless of personalities or skill sets. Whether you’re working on building an inclusive remote culture or want in-person teams to feel more comfortable together, consider the following for an inclusive team building experience:

Inclusive team building means including everyone. Depending on the type of team building activity, you may benefit from hiring an outside expert to facilitate a team building event that everyone can participate in. Plus, the activity may feel more authentic because a professional is guiding you.

If you have introverts on the team, they may not be as excited about an exercise that involves lots of social interaction and do better in small groups. 

Teammates with speech, sight, or hearing impairments may feel left out during a game that involves blindfolding players and communicating without looking at each other.

Physically active games could exclude physically impaired teammates. 

Before choosing one of the team building games from this list, take stock of everyone's abilities. Find an activity that everyone on your team can participate in. Maybe even send out an anonymous poll to see what kinds of activities your team would be willing to partake in. Ultimately, the best team building activity will be the one that everyone can enjoy.

Team icebreaker games

Icebreaker questions and activities are the perfect “getting to know you” games but they’re also fun to play with teammates you’ve known for a long time. You can play them to get everyone up to speed for a meeting (especially on those 8am calls) or use them to introduce new team members.

Team icebreaker games

1. Two truths, one lie

Team size : 3+ people

Time : 2–3 minutes per person

How to play : Ask everyone in the group to come up with two facts about themselves and one lie. The more memorable the facts (e.g., I went skydiving in Costa Rica) and the more believable the lies (e.g., I have two dogs), the more fun the game will be! Then, ask each team member to present their three statements and have the group vote on which one they think is the lie.

Why this exercise is great : This game is perfect for groups who don’t know each other well yet. The details you share can be used as building blocks for late conversations (“What else did you do in Costa Rica?”) to give you a better idea of who you’re working with.

2. Penny for your thoughts

Team size : 5+ people

How to play : You’ll need a box full of pennies (or other coins) with years only as old as your youngest team member (not the time to brag about your 1937 collector’s penny). Ask every team member to draw a coin from the box and share a story, memory, or otherwise significant thing that happened to them that year. This can be anything from learning how to ride a bike to landing your first job.    

Why this exercise is great : This is a fun twist on a stress-free and simple icebreaker that gives everyone the chance to share a personal story with their team. You can play multiple rounds if the stories are on the shorter side or let team members elaborate on their stories to gain deeper insight into their lives.

3. Mood pictures

How to play : Prepare a variety of images before you play. You can collect newspaper clippings, magazine cutouts, postcards, and posters or print out different images from the internet (Pinterest is a great spot). The images should show landscapes, cities, people, shapes, or animals in a variety of colors and perspectives.

Lay all the images out and ask team members to each pick one that resonates with their current mood. Once everyone has picked an image, ask them to share what they resonated with, how it makes them feel, and why they picked it.

Why this exercise is great : This exercise is a great way to get a meeting or a workshop started because it allows you to get a feel of the room in a creative and unexpected way. You don’t always have to ask your team to pick an image that reflects their mood—it can also be their expectations for a workshop, their feelings about a current project, or how they hope to feel at the end of the day. As they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words, so this exercise makes talking about feelings easier for a lot of people.

4. One word exercise

Time : 5–10 minutes 

How to play : Pick a phrase related to the meeting topic and ask everyone to write down one word that comes to mind on a post-it. Then, gather these words on a whiteboard or put them in a presentation. For example, if you’re hosting a meeting about your annual holiday event. Everyone would take a moment to respond with the first word that comes in their head. If the team is responding with words like stress or exhaustion, you might want to rethink your process.

Why this exercise is great : This is a way to collect opinions, thoughts, or feelings about a meeting that’s well within most people’s comfort zone. You’ll have the chance to read the room before diving into the topic and may uncover some concerns or questions to focus on, which will make the meeting more beneficial to everyone.

5. Back-to-back drawing

Team siz e: 4+ people 

Time : 5–10 minutes

How to play : Split your team into groups of two and make them sit back to back. Hand one person a pen and piece of paper and show the other person a picture of something that’s fairly simple to draw (e.g., a car, a flower, a house). This person now has to describe the picture to their teammate without actually saying what the item is so they can draw it. They’re allowed to describe shapes, sizes, and textures but can’t say, “Draw a lily.” Once the blind drawing is finished, compare it with the original to see how well you communicated.

Why this exercise is great : This activity is a fun way to polish your communication skills, especially your listening skills. It also gives your team a chance to get creative and innovative by thinking outside the box to describe the image to their teammate.

6. Birthday line up

Team size : 8+ people

Time : 10–15 minutes

How to play : Ask your entire team to form a line in order of their birthdays without talking to each other. You can encourage other forms of communication like sign language, gestures, or nudges. If you want to add a little bit of pressure and excitement to the exercise, add a time limit! 

Why this exercise is great : Besides learning everyone’s birthday (which can always come in handy as a conversation starter later on), this exercise encourages your team to learn to communicate towards a common goal without using words. Although this can be a challenge and get frustrating, this exercise promotes problem framing skills, cooperation, and non-verbal communication skills.

7. Charades

Team size : 8–10 people

Time : 10–25 minutes

How to play : Divide your team into groups of four or five people. The person who goes first is given or shown a random object (e.g., printer, stapler, keyboard) in private. They then have to demonstrate how to use the object without actually showing it in front of their team. Their team gets 30 seconds on the clock to shout out the correct word (you can adjust the time depending on the difficulty of the objects).

Then it’s the other team’s turn. You’ll keep playing until every team member has had the chance to demonstrate an object to their team. 

Why this exercise is great : This classic game is a nice way to break up a mentally taxing day and get your team to do a creative exercise that isn’t work-related.

8. Swift swap

Team size : 10–20 people

How to play :  Split your team into two groups and line them up facing each other. Team A gets a quick observation period (15–30 seconds) in which group members have to memorize as many things about the people in front of them as possible. Then team A turns around while team B changes as many things about their appearance as possible. 

Anything from changing the line up order to swapping shoes with someone or changing your hairdo is fair game. After about 45 seconds, team A turns back around and gets 5–10 minutes to find out what’s changed. You can adjust the time depending on the size of your group.

Why this exercise is great : This game is a great way to break up a long day and take everyone’s minds off work for a little while. Your team also gets to practice time-sensitive non-verbal communication during the swapping phase.

9. Code of conduct

Time : 20–30 minutes

How to play : This game is a great way to tune into a new project or workshop. Write the two categories “meaningful” and “enjoyable” on a whiteboard and ask the group to share what they believe is needed to accomplish these two things for your project or workshop. This can be anything from “regular breaks'' to “transparency and honesty,” which could fall under either category.

Everyone will choose ideas that they agree are both meaningful and enjoyable . Record these values in a shared tool to establish the code of conduct for your upcoming project or workshop. This list will function as a reminder for the team to uphold these values.

Why this exercise is great : Whether it’s the first day of a workshop, the beginning of a new project, or simply a Monday morning, this exercise is great to get everyone on your team on the same page. By establishing group norms and values early on and holding everyone accountable with a written code of conduct, you can create a sense of cohesiveness. If you’d like to do this exercise virtually, use our team brainstorming template to collect everyone’s thoughts.

10. Common thread

Team size : 10+ people

Time : 30 minutes

How to play : Divide your team into groups of three to five people. Then ask your team to find things everyone in their group has in common. This can be a favorite TV show, an ice cream flavor nobody likes, or a common hobby. Encourage your teammates to find common threads that aren’t too superficial or obvious. The more things they can find that everyone in the group has in common, the better! If you have the time, bring everyone together afterward and ask the teams to share their experiences.

Why this exercise is great : This fun game allows your team to find commonalities that they may not get a chance to discover otherwise. It’s also a great way to reunite teams that feel a bit divided. Talking about shared likes and dislikes can be helpful to reconnect you with teammates.

Remote or virtual team building games

Bonding with your teammates can be more difficult when you’re working remotely. Remote or virtual team building games can improve remote collaboration , motivate teams , and create a sense of community even though you’re physically apart. You can use Zoom to connect with your teammates or do quick team building exercises via your remote work software during the day.

Virtual team building games

If your team is located across multiple time zones, you may have to get creative with scheduling. Ashley Frabasilio, Employee Engagement Manager at Asana encourages leaders to schedule these activities during normal work hours. Ensure that the activity is appropriate for all participants in all time zones so no one feels excluded. Using work hours for these exercises can also increase the participation rate because you’re not interfering with personal time.

11. Show and tell  

How to play : Ask everyone in your team to bring something they’re proud of or that brings them joy to your next meeting. This can be anything from a pet to a plant, a painting they did, or a certificate they received. Everyone gets two to three minutes to show off their item and answer questions from the team if they have any.

Why this exercise is great : Show and tell isn’t just fun for kids, it’s also a great way to connect with your team. You’re probably going to learn something new about your teammates and may get a couple of conversation starters for your next meeting from this game.

12. Photo caption contest 

How to play : Collect a few funny photos—for example a few memes that have recently been circling the internet. Send these to your team before the meeting and ask everyone to submit their best photo caption for each image. You can put these together in a quick presentation and present them to your team during the call. You can have a good laugh together and even vote for the best captions.

Why this exercise is great : This exercise is a fun way to get creative as a team and have a good laugh together.

13. Morning coffee 

Time : 15–30 minutes

How to play : Schedule regular coffee calls for your remote team to give everyone a chance to get to know each other like they would in an office setting. You can schedule team calls with four to five people or randomly assign two people to each other that switch every time. You can offer these casual calls once a week, bi-weekly, or once a month, depending on your team size and the interest in this opportunity. 

Why this exercise is great : Remote teams don’t often get a chance to just chit-chat and get to know each other without talking about work or feeling like they’re wasting meeting time. By designating 15–30 minutes on a regular basis to a casual call, your team members will have a chance to bond with people they might not typically interact with.

14. Lunch and learn

How to play : Hold a weekly or monthly “lunch and learn” where one team member presents a topic to the whole team during their lunch break. This presentation can be on a tool everyone uses at work, on a lesson learned from a recent project, or even on a book they read that everyone can learn from. 

Why this exercise is great : These events are a great opportunity for your team to connect in a more casual yet educational setting. If your team budget allows, send restaurant gift cards to your team members so they can order lunch for the call.

15. Online group game  

Time : 30–60 minutes

How to play : Invite your team to play a game online together. This can be an actual video game if everyone happens to use the same console at home or you can download an interactive game (like Jackbox ) which you can screen share with the rest of the group. 

Why this exercise is great : Playing a video game or an interactive game that has nothing to do with work can be a fun way to switch things up, create a more casual work environment, and get to know each other better. It will also give people with great sportsmanship a chance to shine!

16. Trivia games 

Team size : 6–20 people

Time : 30–90 minutes

How to play : Start a meeting with a quick game of trivia or host a regular virtual trivia night at the end of the work day. You can play a game of office trivia (e.g., facts about the company) or pick random other themes like TV shows, music, or national parks. To mix things up, ask other team members to host trivia night.

Why this exercise is great : Whether you’re making the trivia game office-themed or creating a regular team activity that takes everyone’s minds off of work, you’ll get to spend time with your team playing a competitive, educational, and entertaining game that gives everyone a chance to bond.

17. Quarterly challenge  

Time : One month

How to play : Create an optional challenge for your team to participate in. The challenge can be centered around healthy eating, meditation, journaling, or reading. Create a chat or thread where your teammates can exchange their experiences, wins, and questions to keep each other motivated and accountable throughout the month. 

Make sure your team knows that participation is optional. It never hurts to ask for feedback to spark future team challenge ideas.

Why this exercise is great : Creating a challenge like this for your team shows them that you care about their work-life balance. By offering a quarterly challenge, you provide your team with the opportunity to share an experience together. Plus, it’s always easier to complete a challenge when you have a team who supports you and an incentive to work toward.  

18. Personality test  

How to play : Send a personality test to your team and ask everyone to share their results in a chat or during your next team meeting. This can be a formal test like the Enneagram or StrengthsFinder . For something more lighthearted, you can send a fun quiz like the Sorting Hat to find out which Hogwarts house you belong in or a Buzzfeed quiz (e.g., “ What Kitchen Appliance Are You? ”).

Why this exercise is great : Depending on the type of quiz your team takes, this can become a funny icebreaker before you start a meeting or turn into a discussion on your team’s combined strengths and challenges. 

Problem solving games

Playing problem solving games with your team helps them level up their teamwork skills, resolve issues, achieve goals, and excel together. Whether you’re using new brainstorming techniques or going out for a team adventure, these fun team building activities are the perfect way to improve your team's problem solving skills.

Problem solving games

19. Your first idea

Team size : 5–12 people

Time : 10–20 minutes

How to play : Ask everyone in your team to write down the first idea that pops into their head when they’re presented with the problem. Compile the list and review it as a team.

A fun twist on this game is to ask everyone to write down their worst idea. After reviewing with the team, you may realize that some ideas aren’t that bad after all. You can play this game with a real-life problem, a fictional one, or when you’re brainstorming new ideas to pitch.

Why this exercise is great : We often get too much into our heads about problems and solutions. By writing down the first solution that comes to mind, we can uncover new perspectives and fixes.

20. Back of the napkin

Team size : 6–24 people

Time : 15–20 minutes

How to play : Divide your team into groups of two to four and present them with a variety of open-ended problems. These can be work-related, imaginary, or even environmental problems. Every team gets a napkin and pen that they have to sketch or write their solution on after they’ve discussed the issue as a group. These will then be presented to the rest of the team.

Why this exercise is great : Some of the best ideas have allegedly been recorded on napkins (hey, when creativity strikes you’ll write on anything). This game imitates this scenario while challenging your team to collaborate on solving a creative problem.

21. Create your own

How to play : Each team member will create an original problem-solving activity on their own and present it to the group. Whether this entails a physical, mental, or creative challenge is up to your team. If you have the time, play some of the games afterward!

Why this exercise is great : Coming up with your own games is fun and a real creative challenge. It also allows your team members to showcase their strengths by creating challenges they’ll be prepared to tackle.

22. Spectrum mapping

Team size : 5–15 people

How to play : Present your team with a few topics that you’d like their opinions and insight on. Write them down on a whiteboard and give everyone sticky notes and pens. Ask them to write down their thoughts and pin them on the whiteboard underneath the respective topic.

Now arrange the sticky notes as a team. Try to group similar ideas together to the left of the topic and post outliers toward the right side. This will create a spectrum of popular thoughts and opinions on the left and more extreme ideas on the right.

Why this exercise is great : This game will help you map out the diversity of perspectives your team has on different topics. Remember that unpopular opinions don’t have to be wrong. Embracing this diversity can help you uncover new perspectives and innovative ideas to solve problems you’re facing as a team. 

23. What would “X” do? 

Team size : 5–10 people

Time : 45–60 minutes

How to play : Present your team with a problem and ask everyone to come up with a famous person or leader they admire. This can be a celebrity, a business person, or a relative. Challenge your teammates to approach the problem as if they were that person and present their solution (extra points for playing in character).

Why this exercise is great : Getting stuck in your own head can often keep you from solving a problem efficiently and effectively. By stepping into the shoes of someone else, you may uncover new solutions. Plus, it’s fun pretending to be someone else for a little while!

24. Team pursuit

Time : 1–3 hours

How to play : Form groups of two to six people that will compete against one another in a series of challenges. You can buy a team pursuit package online or create your own game, which will take a good amount of prep time. 

You’ll want to create a set of challenges for your team: cerebral challenges that test logic and intelligence, skill challenges like aptitude tests, and mystery challenges which usually ask for creativity and out-of-the-box thinking (e.g., come up with a unique handshake, take a fun picture, etc.).  

Why this exercise is great : A solid game of team pursuit will create a fun challenge that gives everyone a chance to shine and show off their talents. Whether you’re a good runner, a quick thinker, or a creative mind, everyone will be able to contribute to the success of the team. This game will bring your team closer together and show them new sides of their teammates that they may not have been aware of.

25. Code break

Team size : 8–24 people

How to play : This brain teaser is a fun activity that you can play indoors or outdoors to challenge your team. Outback Team Building offers self-hosted, remote-hosted, and on-site hosted events that include several codes your teammates have to find and break to make it through the course.

Why this exercise is great : This challenge requires creative thinking, creates a competitive environment, and works with large groups because you can break off into smaller groups.

26. Escape room

Time : 2–3 hours

How to play : Visiting an escape room is always a unique experience and a great way to spend an afternoon with your team. If you have multiple escape rooms nearby, ask your team if they have a general idea of what theme they’d like to explore (e.g., history, horror, sci-fi) and try to pick something you’ll think everyone will enjoy.

If you’re super creative and have the time and resources, you can put together an escape room on your own!

Why this exercise is great : Solving the mysteries of an escape room with your team will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates, foster communication and collaboration, build trust, and become a shared memory that connects you together.

Indoor team building games

Most of these indoor games can be played in an office, conference room, or a hallway with a small team, but you may need a bit more space if you’re inviting a larger group to join in.

Indoor team building games

27. Perfect square

Team size : 4–12 people

How to play : Divide your team into groups of four to six and ask them to stand in a tight circle with their group. Ask everyone to blindfold themselves or close their eyes and give one person a rope. Without looking at what they're doing, the teams now have to pass the rope around so everyone holds a piece of it and then form a perfect square. Once the team is sure their square is perfect, they can lay the rope down on the floor, take off their blindfolds (or open their eyes) and see how well they did. 

Why this exercise is great : This game is about more than perfect geometric shapes, it’s an amazing listening and communication exercise. Because no one can see what they're doing, your team members have to communicate clearly while figuring out how to create a square out of a rope. Besides, it’s often really funny to see how imperfect the squares come out.

28. Memory wall

How to play : You’ll need a whiteboard and sticky notes for this game. Write different work-related themes on the whiteboard such as “first day at work,” “team celebration,” and “work travel.” Hand each teammate a few sticky notes and ask them to write down their favorite memories or accomplishments associated with one or more of these themes. Invite everyone to share these with the team to take a walk down memory lane and post the notes on the whiteboard as you go.

Why this exercise is great : This is a nice way to end a week, long day, or workshop because you’ll share positive experiences with one another that will leave your teammates smiling. If you’re finishing up a work trip or multi-day workshop, you can also do a slimmed-down version of this by asking everyone to share their favorite memory or biggest accomplishment of the last few days.

29. Turn back time  

How to play : This team building exercise works best in a quiet atmosphere with everyone sitting in a circle. Ask your team to silently think of a unique memory in their lives. You can give them a few minutes to collect their thoughts. Then, ask everyone to share the one memory they’d like to relive if they could turn back time.

Not everyone may be comfortable opening up at first, so be sure to lead with vulnerability and make everyone in the room feel safe about sharing their moment.

Why this exercise is great : This exercise is a great way to help your team members remember their priorities and bond on a deeper level. In a team that’s facing disconnection or stress, sharing personal highlights that aren’t work-related can help create a sense of togetherness. Although the exercise doesn’t take too long, it’s best to do it toward the end of the day so your team has a chance to reflect on what’s been said.

30. Paper plane  

Team size : 6–12 people

How to play : Split your team into groups of two to four and hand out card stock. Give each team 10–15 minutes to come up with the best long-distance paper plane design (they’re allowed to do research on their phones or computers) and a name for their airline.

When the paper planes are done, have a competition in a long hallway or outside to see which plane flies the farthest. 

Why this exercise is great : This exercise requires team members to collaborate on a project with a tight timeline. It is a great activity to practice communication skills, delegation, and time management.

31. Build a tower

Team size : 8–16 people

How to play : Divide your team into groups of four or five and provide them with 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. Challenge each team to build the tallest tower possible using only the supplies you gave them. When finished, the tower has to support the marshmallow sitting on top. Set the timer for 20 minutes and ask everyone to step away from their masterpiece when it runs out so you can crown a winner.

Why this exercise is great : This challenge is a great way to improve problem solving skills and communication within your team. Your team members will have to prototype, build, and present the tower in a short amount of time, which can be stressful. The better they work together, the more likely they are to succeed.

32. Flip it over

Team size : 6–8 people

How to play : Lay a towel, blanket, or sheet on the floor and ask your teammates to stand on it. The goal is to flip the piece over without ever stepping off of it or touching the ground outside of the fabric. You can make the challenge more difficult by adding more people to the team or using a smaller sheet.

Why this exercise is great : This exercise requires clear communication, cooperation, and a good sense of humor. It’s a great way to find out how well your teammates cooperate when presented with an oddly difficult task.

33. Sneak a peek 

Team size : 4–20 people

How to play : Create a structure out of Lego pieces and hide it in a separate room. Divide your team into groups of two to four people and give them enough Legos to replicate the structure in 30 minutes or less.

One player per team is allowed to sneak a peek at the original structure for 15 seconds, then run back and describe it to their team. The person who gets to sneak a peek rotates so everyone gets to see the original at some point during the game. The team that first completes the structure as close to the original wins! 

Why this exercise is great : During this game your team gets to focus on teamwork and communication. Since only one person at a time is allowed to look at the original, team members may see and describe different things. The more complex the structure is, the harder this game will be.

34. Pyramids

How to play : Pick a large open area for this game like a hallway, a meeting room, or the cafeteria. Divide your team into groups of four to six and give each team 10 paper cups. Ask the teams to stand in a line with about 8–10 feet between the team members. Now it’s a race against time!

The first person in each line has to build a pyramid with four cups at the base. Once they’re done, the second player has to help them carry the pyramid to their station (this can be on the floor or at a table). They can slide it on the floor or carry it together but if the pyramid falls apart, the players have to reassemble it on the spot before continuing their journey. At the next station, the second player has to topple the pyramid and rebuild it before the third player gets to help them carry it to the next station. This continues until the pyramid reaches the last station. The team that finishes first wins the game

Why this exercise is great : This game is fun to play during a mid-day break, fosters communication skills, and promotes teamwork.

35. Shipwrecked

Team size : 8–25 people

How to play : The premise of the game is that you’re stranded on a deserted island and only have 25 minutes to secure survival items off the sinking ship. Place items like water bottles, matches, food, etc., in the “shipwreck area.” You can also print pictures on index cards to make things a bit easier. The quantity of each item should be limited, with some items having more than others (e.g., more water than food, fewer tarps than teams, more knives than ropes, etc.).

Divide your team into groups of two (or more if it’s a large team). Once the clock starts, they have to gather as many items as they deem worthy from the shipwreck and rank them in order of importance. Since the items are limited (some more than others), the teams will not only have to prioritize the items within their own group of people but also negotiate, trade, and exchange items with other teams. 

Why this exercise is great : This game will challenge problem-solving abilities, encourage collaboration, and enable your team to flex their leadership skills. Typically, teams with strong leadership qualities will have the most success in making these quick decisions.

36. Team flag

Time : 30–45 minutes

How to play : Divide your team into groups of two to four people and provide them with paper and pens. Each group now has to come up with an emblem or flag that represents their team. Once everyone has completed their masterpiece, they have to present it to the rest of the teams, explaining how they came up with the design. This exercise is also a great opportunity to discuss how each group identified their common values and created alignment during the design process.

Why this exercise is great : This is a great way to get the creative juices flowing. Your team will not only have to come up with a unique design that represents their collective identity but they’ll also have to collaborate on putting pen to paper and presenting their flag or emblem at the end of the game.

37. Salt and pepper  

How to play : You’ll need a list of things that go well together like salt and pepper, left sock and right sock, day and night, peanut butter and jelly, or yin and yang. Write these words on individual pieces of paper and tape one sheet of paper on every team member's back. 

Ask your team to mingle and find out what’s written on their back by asking questions that can only be answered with yes or no (e.g., “Am I sweet? Do you wear me? Am I cold?”). Once the participants find out who they are, they have to find their match!

Why this exercise is great : Your team can use this game to bond with one another and improve their communication skills. If you have a large team, this exercise also gives them a chance to interact with people they may not usually get to talk to.

38. Sell it

Time : 45–90 minutes

How to play : Ask your teammates to each bring a random object to the meeting. Everyone then has to come up with a logo, slogan, and marketing plan to sell this object. After 30 minutes, each team member has to present their new product to the rest of the team. If you have a larger team, divide them into groups of 2–4 people and ask them to collaborate on their product pitch.

Why this exercise is great : This game is great to switch things up if you don’t already work in marketing or sales. It’s also fun to play with others as it allows your team to get creative and have fun with everyday objects.

39. The barter puzzle

Time : 1–2 hours

How to play : Divide your team into groups of three or four people and give each a different jigsaw puzzle of the same difficulty level. Ask them to complete the puzzle as a team. The twist: each puzzle is missing a few pieces that are mixed in with an opposing team’s puzzle. The teams have to figure out ways to get the pieces they need from the other teams by negotiating, trading pieces, or even exchanging teammates. Every decision has to be made as a team. The first team to complete their puzzle wins.

Why this exercise is great : Every decision made will have to be a group decision which challenges your team to improve their problem solving skills.  

Outdoor team building exercises

If you want to get a larger group together for a team building exercise, why not take things outside? Outdoor team building is also a great way to get your teammates to interact without the distractions of screens or smartphones. Whether you want to catch a breath of fresh air or get some sunshine together, these exercises will help you bond with your teammates outside of the office.

Outdoor team building games

40. The minefield

Team size : 4–10 people

How to play : Create a minefield in a parking lot or another large, open space by sporadically placing objects like papers, balls, cones, and bottles. Split your team into groups of two and ask one person to put on a blindfold. The other person now has to guide the blindfolded teammate through the minefield only using their words. The blindfolded person is not allowed to talk and will be eliminated if they stop walking or step on anything in the minefield. 

The objective of the game is to make it to the other side of the minefield. The teams can then switch so another person will be blindfolded and guided through the field on their way back. You can also distribute pieces the blindfolded person has to pick up on their way through the field to add another difficulty level.

Why this exercise is great : This game is not just a trust exercise for your teammates but also a fun way to practice active listening skills and clear communication.

41. Earth-ball  

Team size : 5–20 people

Time : 15–45 minutes

How to play : You’ll need a balloon, beach ball, or volleyball for this activity. Ask your team to stand in a circle and keep the balloon or ball in the air for as long as possible. To make it a real challenge, no one can touch the ball twice in a row. The bigger your team, the more fun this game will be!

Why this exercise is great : This fun challenge is a great way to get your team moving. If you’re struggling to keep the ball up for longer, try to come up with a strategy to improve your time.

42. Scavenger hunt

How to play : Put together a scavenger hunt for your team. This can be in the form of a list of photographs they have to take (e.g., something red, all teammates in front of the company logo, the CEO’s car, etc.), items they have to collect (e.g., company brochure, yellow sticky note with manager’s signature on it, ketchup packet from the cafeteria, etc.), or other activities they have to complete on a designated route. 

Why this exercise is great : The more people that tag along, the more fun this game will be. You can group people together who don’t know each other very well to allow them time to bond during this exercise. Try to come up with company-specific quests for your team so they learn a few fun facts along the way. You can offer prizes for the most creative team or the first to finish the challenge to boost motivation.

43. Egg drop 

Time : 60–90 minutes

How to play : Divide your team into groups of two or three people and give each team a raw egg (keep some extras in case they break before the grand finale). Then put out supplies like tape, straws, rubber bands, newspapers, and balloons so the teams can build a structure for the raw egg that will protect it from a fall out of a second or third story window. 

Each team has 60 minutes to complete their structure. When the time is up, ask your teams to gather their eggs and egg cages to drop them out of the window. This grand finale will reveal which team engineered and built the best cage.

Why this exercise is great : Collaborating on a design and building a cage will challenge your team’s problem solving and collaboration skills.

44. Team outing

Team size : Any

How to play : Plan an outing for your team. You could attend a cooking class or go to a museum together. If you want to have something your teammates can work toward, plan to run a 5K together or host a ping pong tournament. You can also do something more casual like inviting your team to hangout at a bowling alley after work where you can play a few games in a casual and fun setting.

Why this exercise is great : Taking your team somewhere new will help break down some of the walls we often build in a professional setting. While you’re still at a company function, you’re more inclined to connect through casual conversation at a restaurant or park than you would at the office.

45. Volunteer as a team

How to play : Organize a team event during your regularly scheduled workday. This can be a charity event, yard sale, or fundraiser for a cause your team cares about. Even though these are enjoyable, scheduling them during work hours makes this feel like more of a perk than an obligation.

If your team members have a few causes they’re truly passionate about, consider making this a monthly or quarterly event. You can also rotate the charities that you’re helping out to accommodate your team’s different interests.

Why this exercise is great : Experiencing helper’s high can improve your personal health and mental state. Sharing this rush that doing good can give you will help your team bond on a deeper level. 

Benefits of team building

Team building is more than a fun break from your everyday routine at work. It also:

Improves communication, trust, and collaboration skills

Promotes a collaborative culture by bringing teammates together

Fosters agile decision making and problem solving skills

Boosts team productivity and morale

Uses creativity and outside-of-the-box thinking

Ashley Frabasilio believes that:

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A common goal is to create a memorable and meaningful experience for folks to connect. Some questions to consider when planning an impactful team-building activity include: What do I hope folks walk away with? I.e., a new skill, a deeper connection to one another, personal development, a moment of delight, etc.”

Ask yourself these questions before proposing a team building activity so you can reap the full benefits of the exercise.

Bring your team together, creatively

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to build your team’s confidence, connection, and teamwork skills. While team building is fun, it’s also important to connect with your team on an everyday basis. To build one of those connections in your day-to-day work, the right collaboration software is key. 

Looking for the right collaboration tool? See how Asana keeps your team connected, no matter where you’re working. 

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15 Team Building Problem Solving Activities

15 Team Building Problem Solving Activities

In this article you will find:

  • 15 problem-solving activities for your team to master
  • Frequently asked questions about team building

Here are 15 problem-solving activities for your team to master:

15 Problem-Solving Activities

1. a shrinking vessel.

Why adaptability is important for problem-solving:

Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster, according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before. People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.

What You'll Need:

A rope or string

Instructions:

1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.

2. Slowly shrink the space over a time period of 10-15 minutes.

3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps with: Collaboration Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individual,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline. We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team's collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.

What You'll Need (per team):

20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti

1 roll of masking tape

1 yard of string

1 marshmallow

1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.

2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps teams think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.

3. Egg Drop

Why decision-making is important for problem-solving:

Making decisions isn't easy, but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team's decision-making muscle and they will become more adept at problem-solving.

A carton of eggs

Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth

A parking lot, or some other place you don't mind getting messy!

1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.

2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.

3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.

4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.

4. Stranded

Helps with: Communication and Decision-Making Why communication is important for problem-solving:

More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across increasingly virtual teams. Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them better solve problems when they're apart.

Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on 10 items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the 10 items and their ranking in 30 minutes.

1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.

2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within 10 minutes.

3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.

4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.

Collaboration

A lockable room

5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)

The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.

Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.

Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.

Give them either 30 minutes or 1 hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.

7. Frostbite

Decision Making, Adaptability What You'll Need:

A blindfold

1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team

An electric fan

Picture this... Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of 4-5 and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader's hands have frostbite, so they can't physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.

8. Minefield

An empty room or hallway

A collection of common office items

1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.

2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.

3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines." 4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.

5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.

9. Blind Formations

1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.

2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.

3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.

4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.

10. Line up Blind

1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.

2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.

3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.

11. Reverse Pyramid

1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.

2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.

3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.

12. Move It!

Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)

1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.

2. Using chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.

3. The goal is for the two-facing lines of players to switch places.

Place these restrictions on movement:

Only one person may move at a time.

A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.

No one may not move backward.

A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.

13. Human Knot

1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren't directly next to them.

2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle without letting anyone's hand.

Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:

14. Dumbest Idea First

Instant Problem Solving What You'll Need:

1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.

2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.

3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!

15. What Would X Do

1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.

2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were a famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?

3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.

Looking for more team building games? Check out these virtual icebreaker games Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.

People also ask these questions about team building activities

Here are the answers to the most common questions about team building activities:

What is the team building process?

This process of learning to work together effectively is known as team development. Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, identified a five-stage development process that most teams follow to become high performing. He called the stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

What is team building?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines team building as: “The action or process of causing a group of people to work together effectively as a team, especially by means of activities and events designed to increase motivation and promote cooperation.”

How often should you schedule team-building activities?

One of the most important aspects of team building is that it is an ongoing process. One team-building session can be effective, but your team could benefit more from multiple sessions. In fact, it may be beneficial to make it a part of your regular program. For team building to be effective, you should repeat it as often as you feel it is useful. This largely depends on the activity you choose. You can do quick activities on a more regular basis since they don't interfere with the regular work schedule. You will probably conduct longer, more elaborate activities less frequently so the team can get work done.

What you should do now

More articles.

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12 Conflict Resolution Activities for Teams

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12 Charity Team Building Activities for Meaningful Impact

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12 Accountability Team Building Activities

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Sandeep Kashyap

7 Easy Problem Solving Activities – How Your Team Benefits From Them

Problem Solving Activities

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” – Robert Schuller

Let’s face it – we cannot expect life in the workplace (or in general) to be a short, smooth road without any bumps, potholes, and speed breaks. Problems, small or big, will be there while we work. 

The way we react to problems at the workplace says a lot about our problem solving skills, and this is one area where good teams outshine mediocre ones. We should be confident in overcoming challenges that we encounter in the middle of small or large tasks and projects.

Problem solving and decision-making go hand in hand at work, but the question is – “ Do we really know how to be good at problem-solving or how many of us have been trained for it? 

Generally, when faced with problems, many employees tend to: get nervous and wish it would go away, they feel they have to create a solution, and it has to be the right one, and they look for someone to put all the blame on.

Guess what happens? Dealing with a problem becomes a problem itself!  

Indeed, this is not how you would want problems to be handled within your team. As a leader of the pack, you have to take the initiative to make your team better at generating solutions when things will go haywire.

Problem solving activities can be a great way to know how team members identify problems, the way they react to them, how quickly they can find potential solutions, and then implement the best one. 

Start managing your teams and projects efficiently with ProofHub!

When working with a team, there is not one but several types of problems that might occur. Move on to the next section to understand some common problems that can crop up while you navigate your team at work. 

7 Of The Easiest Problem Solving Activities For Teams Of All Sizes

There are some amazing activities out there that can work really well for team building. These will help you put your team’s problem-solving abilities to test while they learn how to bring their best qualities forward for effective collaboration.

These problem solving games will break the monotony at the workplace and help you build a more inclusive and welcoming environment for the whole team. Here are some the easiest activities that will help bring substantial change to your team culture and the workplace as a whole.

1. Human Knots

Helps With: Collaboration & Communication Skills 

Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

Things You’ll Need: Nothing 

How To Do It: 

Make your team stand in a small circle. If your team is large, then you can divide it into smaller groups and make them stand in multiple circles. Each person should hold the hands of two other people standing in the circle, but not of those who are standing directly beside them. 

This should result in creating a “human knot.” The fun part (also the challenging) begins now. Ask each member of the group to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands. You can set a time limit if you want. You can watch your team members as they work out moves to untangle their bodies. 

This activity gives them a chance to communicate and collaborate with each other to solve the problem quickly. They may or may not fully entangle themselves but would have started to work together to solve the problem. 

Why Communication Is Essential To Problem Solving – 

When working as a team, no problem is big enough. A bunch of committed individuals can collaborate to overcome even the most difficult of hurdles. When all team members come together and put in a joint effort, the problem is likely to get resolved sooner than later.

Having problems communicating your ideas to the team? Use ProofHub discussions to keep track of ideas and important pitches.

2. A Shrinking Vessel

Helps With : Adaptability & Quick Thinking 

Estimated Time: 10-15 Minutes 

Things You’ll Need: A rope and a ball of yarn 

Take a rope and place it on the floor in a particular shape such that all your team members can stand inside it. If your team is large, you can use multiple ropes and divide your team into smaller groups. 

The challenging part starts when all team members are made to stand inside the rope, and you start to shrink the rope slowly. As space reduces, team members will have to make subtle adjustments to maintain their position as well as balance inside the shrinking circle. 

No one should step outside the circle. The challenge before your team is to quickly think together about how to keep everyone inside the circle. 

Why Adaptability Is Essential To Problem Solving – 

This amazingly effective problem-solving activity is for teams who are facing adaptability issues. Adaptability and cognitive diversity go hand in hand, which enables your team to work out things faster. People and organizations that can adapt quickly usually come out on top because they can condition themselves to change circumstances and environments and take on board new ideas and concepts.  

3. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration 

Estimated Time: 20-30 Minutes 

Things You’ll Need (per team): 

  • 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
  • 1 marshmallow
  • A yard of string
  • A single roll of masking tape  

Ask your team to utilize all the available materials to construct the tallest tower within a specific time period. The tower must stand on its own and be able to support a marshmallow. 

And the point behind this problem-solving activity is to train the team to think on their feet while encouraging prototyping and iteration. This activity also helps to promote and build strong camaraderie and leadership. 

Why Collaboration Is Essential To Problem Solving – 

Peter Singe, in the Fifth Discipline , writes, “ Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually .” This means we can solve problems better when working as a team than we can alone. 

This problem-solving activity puts emphasis on team collaboration, which is crucial for the success of any group, irrespective of its size. It also shows that success is dependent upon close collaboration between team members.

4. Frostbite

Helps With: Decision Making, Trust, Leadership

Things You’ll Need: 

  • An electric fan 
  • Construction materials (toothpicks, cardstock, rubber bands, sticky notes, etc.)

Divide your team into groups of 4-5 people each (applicable for large teams). Each team should have its leader to guide them. Remember, team leaders, are not allowed to use their hands in any way to help their respective groups. Now, the fun part of this problem-solving activity is that team members are blindfolded, so they can’t use their hands! 

Every team is given 30 minutes to build a tent. The time is set to create a sense of urgency within the team. For example, give your team a scenario where they have to make a tent to save themselves from approaching thunderstorms. The tent should be able to withstand high winds from the storm.

After the game is over, you can turn on the fan to see which tent is able to stand on its own even after withstanding winds blowing at high speed. 

This problem-solving activity aims to improve the listening skills of team members in order to execute the task as per the leader’s instructions. 

Why Decision Making Is Essential To Problem Solving – 

When managing teams and projects , team managers are burdened with the responsibility of making decisions that concern all. Decision-making is essential to problem-solving because if the right decision is taken at the right time, then it could lead to resolving the problem, which eventually benefits the entire team and the organization. 

5. Egg Drop

Helps With: Decision Making & Collaboration 

  • A carton of eggs
  • Construction materials (balloons, rubber bands, straws, tape, plastic wrap, etc.)
  • A place where you can let things get messy! 

How to Do It: 

Give a single egg to each team and let it choose randomly from different construction materials. The task that is to be assigned to each team is that it has to create a carrier for an egg that prevents it from breaking. 

Once teams are done with creating carriers, place an egg in them and drop them (from over a ledge or a balcony), one by one. The purpose is to find which team’s carrier (s) can save an egg from breaking.  

If multiple eggs remain unbroken, you can keep increasing the height of the fall to find out the last egg that survives even after falling from more height. The winning team is the one that created the most durable carrier that survived until the last.  

The idea behind this problem-solving activity is to encourage all members of the team to work together towards achieving the common goal. 

Why Teamwork Is Essential To Problem Solving – 

Joint efforts by a group of individuals to achieve the set target by utilizing limited resources can save valuable time, money, and resources for the organization. 

6. Dumbest Idea First 

How It Helps: Critical Thinking & Creative Problem Solving 

Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes 

Things You’ll Need: A piece of paper, pen, and pencil 

As the name of this problem-solving activity suggests, the idea is to present a problem to your team and ask them to quickly come up with the dumbest ideas for the problem at hand. This could be a real-world problem that your team is facing, or it could be an imagined scenario. 

Once all team members have written down the dumbest ideas, they could think of, evaluate every idea to determine which ones are most likely to work and which ones are least likely to be seen as a viable solution that can work. 

How Critical Thinking Is Essential To Problem Solving – Some problems need  to be solved by out-of-the-box thinking. Creative problem-solving ideas might sound unorthodox to work, but these give you additional options to consider. You can discover some solutions that might not be obvious to start with but can be incredibly effective in delivering expected results. 

Brainstorm these dumb (or not so dumb) ideas in ProofHub through online chat. And start your uninterrupted collaborative journey for FREE today. 

How It Helps: Communication, Problem-solving, & Management

  • A lockable room
  • 5-10 puzzles or clue 

Hike the key and a list of clues around the room. Ask team members to solve all the clues to find the key and unlock the room to escape within the allotted time. Hide the clues and, most importantly, the key around the room. 

Ask all team members to enter the room and lock the door. Give them 30 minutes or 1 hour to find the key using the clues hidden in the room. This problem solving activity can really get your team going up and running as they race against the time to find a solution to the problem in hand. 

How Putting Intensive Efforts Is Essential To Problem Solving – Complex problems require an intensive team effort. Your team can achieve specific, time-bound goals by collaborating closely and thinking quickly under pressure.

What Team Problems Are These Activities Going To Solve?

Lack of mutual trust.

Trust is the basis of strong relationships . No team can hope to achieve success if members do not want to engage with each other and make that human connection that is so vital for them for better collaboration.

Easy Problem Solving Activities

Team members should first know each other well, both professionally and personally, primarily before they are assigned a large, complex project where tensions will run high at some point. 

Not Having A Central Location For Information Sharing

When some team members do not get easy access to crucial information related to a project, it can lead to a dreaded information gap within the team. Scattered information makes matters worse for managers and team members.

Information Sharing 

  Having all the information stored and organized in a single location, in the form of files and folders, makes information accessibility easy for all team members. Team members can collaborate on them effectively , review, proof, and share feedback at one place , which saves a whole lot of time.  

Lack Of Transparency

“According to an American Psychological Association survey that spoke to more than 1,500 workers , it was found that 50% didn’t feel that their employers shared the information they required to be successful within their jobs.”

For any project to be a success, teams, managers, and clients must be on the same page. Without transparency, the trust will take a backseat within the team, and it can lead to a plethora of problems that can spell doomsday for the company. 

Transparency

The task of establishing transparency starts at the top. Project managers are responsible for setting a prime example for their team members in terms of the way they conduct themselves. Employees are likely to follow their leader’s behaviors, positive or negative, and it becomes your responsibility to inspire them through positive actions.  

Poor Communication 

“David Grossman reported in “The Cost of Poor Communications” that a survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees each cited an average loss per company of $62.4 million per year because of inadequate communication to and between employees.”

Poor Communication

Poor communication happens when it doesn’t happen regularly across the team, and not all members participate in it. It can also occur when team members interrupt one another, maintain silence, indicate problems but fail to address them formally. Some members may nod in agreement but may not agree in reality. 

Using different communication modes can bridge the gap between team members. At the same time, encouraging members to share their ideas and concerns openly can also help clear any misunderstandings, doubts, and confusion. 

Lack Of Purpose 

“ One in two employees report that their jobs lack purpose, and an equal number feel disconnected from their company’s mission.”

Lack Of Purpose 

If I think about the teams I least enjoyed working with, they were the ones that had a vague understanding of what exactly their purpose was and how they plan to achieve that goal . It’s hard to put in your best efforts when you don’t know the purpose behind the work you’re doing. The most satisfying teamwork occurs where the purpose is well-defined and team members are aligned with each other. 

Conflict And Tension 

“ $359 billion in paid hours or the equivalent of 385 million working days are lost each year due to workplace conflict.”   

Conflict And Tension

Conflicts and tension can be healthy and trigger useful debates if managed carefully. However, team members can cross the line often. The negative effects of workplace conflict include, but are not limited to, poor productivity, absenteeism, work disruptions, project failure , lower retention rates, and termination. Different opinions in the workplace are common, but it’s their mishandling that can spell troubles for an organization.

Team leaders can practice constructive criticism to make employees realize their shortcomings without making them feel humiliated. You can appreciate their strong points but should not hesitate in pointing out their weaknesses (in performance or conduct) in an affirmative tone.  

Uncertainty Of Roles 

This is a common problem, especially among large teams. Some team members are not clear of their roles; what are they supposed to do, and when. At the end of the day, the blame game happens. Team members blame their managers and vice versa, and it’s all due to poor task management. 

roles

By creating and assigning custom roles , managers can allow team members or clients to do things that fall under their work domain and job responsibilities. 

Lack Of Motivation 

“When managers recognize employees’ contribution, their engagement increases by 60%”.

Having demotivated employees working for you is probably the biggest misfortune of your organization. However, have you ever tried to find out the reason for some of your employees losing motivation? It can be due to not being appreciated at work , not feeling like a part of the team, personal reasons, etc. 

Lack Of Motivation 

Whatever the reason may be, a team manager should quickly confront the situation to solve it for good. Having one-on-one discussions with team members can go a long way in helping you to know about the exact reasons behind their below-par performance and come up with effective solutions. 

4 Reasons Why These Problem-Solving Activities Will Work For Your Team

“ But how problem-solving activities are going to help me, my team members, and the organization?” Many readers, especially team managers, must be having this question in mind while reading this article.  

I understand that readers want to know how problem solving activities can benefit them. So, I have prepared a list of pros of such activities to develop positivity at the workplace. Read on to know more about it. 

1. Better Thinking 

Problem-solving activities help in bringing about the best in every member of the team. Every member enthusiastically puts forth his unique idea of solving the problem. This helps team managers to weigh in different solutions for resolving a problem and then choose the most suitable one. In other words, this process stimulates better thinking. 

think

For example – A remote team with widely dispersed members was struggling with a lack of communication . Emails and texting were just not good enough. Mike was leading the team, and he asked all members to suggest ways to improve communication within the remote team . 

John suggested using online chat software for instant group or individual chat, Sid suggested using video conferencing software for daily team meetings, and Shane suggested using telephonic calls, texting, and emails for official communication. 

As a result of quick thinking and sharing of ideas, Mike and his team benefited greatly by using different communication modes to share information and feedback easily.  

2. Better Risk Handling 

Some people can handle a higher amount of risk. It’s because they have successfully dealt with difficult situations before. Team problem solving activities help in conditioning the minds of individuals so they can respond to stressful situations better. 

risk handling

3. Better Communication 

Regular communication between team members can help to solve problems efficiently. Problem-solving activities within teams foster mutual cooperation and intra-team communication, which eventually creates a better understanding between team members. 

Communication 

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4. Improved Productivity Output 

When a team works as a strong unit, the company or organization experiences improved productivity, which eventually leads to improved profit margins. The involvement of managers and team members in problem solving activities can have a positive result for the company in terms of overall growth and profitability. 

Improved Productivity Output

How Management Tools Can Help You Sort Out your Team Collaboration Problems:

Even though the aforementioned problem-solving activities can be amazingly effective in enhancing collaboration and communication within your team, there’s no denying the fact that using a top-rated team collaboration and project management software like ProofHub can help team managers solve quite a few problems efficiently. 

Whether you’re having trouble with delayed communication, poor organization of files and folders, poor time management, inadequate task management , or low control over teams and projects, ProofHub is your all-in-one solution to put an end to your managerial woes and help you and your team achieve more in less. 

Some Powerful Features of ProofHub Include: 

  • Workflows and Kanban Boards
  • Online Proofing
  • Gantt Charts
  • Online Discussions
  • Custom Reports
  • Timer and Timesheets
  • Third-party Integrations
  • Announcements
  • IP Restrictions 

Pricing –  Simple pricing for all team sizes. For information on our pricing plans, kindly visit our pricing page .

The Final Thought

Many organizations face a plethora of problems that haunt their teams consistently. These problems have a rippling effect on the team’s performance, hamper its productivity and cause delays in the organizational goals. 

However, problem solving activities can bring all members closer as a team and encourage them to contribute to resolving problems effectively while having fun. These easy problem-solving activities can improve your team’s solutions-generating capabilities, eventually benefiting everyone.

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quick team problem solving activity

5 and 10-minute team-building activities (Quick & fun games)

quick team problem solving activity

Sometimes, you don’t have the time or resources to organise a day-long scavenger hunt or an adrenaline-pumping weekend away with the team. 

But that doesn’t mean you need to neglect team-building entirely.

With these quick and easy team-building activities you can sustain your team-building efforts throughout the average workweek. 

Whether you’re energising your team before a meeting or breaking the ice during onboarding, it’s always useful to have some five to 10-minute team-building activities hidden up your sleeve.

Quick energising games

Capturing your employee’s attention at the start of a team-building event can be tricky. 

Often, employees arrive with their thoughts elsewhere. Perhaps they recently heard that their child is misbehaving in school, or maybe they’re wrestling with some negative feedback they recently received from their manager.

Distractions like these are perfectly normal, but it’s up to you to bring your employees back to reality and keep them engaged. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is by starting with a quick energising team-building game. ‍

Keep up the Balloons

As a child, was there anything more fun than playing balloon keepy-uppy with your friends or siblings? Well, it’s time to relive those memories in the office with this simple yet entertaining team-building game!

Great for: Energising your team

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Balloons in a variety of colours

How to play Keep up the Balloons

Setup: Divide your group into teams of three or more. Then, hand each team a set of coloured balloons. The number of balloons per team should be at least double the number of people in the team. For example, if team 1 has four people, they would get eight red balloons .

To play: When the referee sounds their whistle, the teams throw all their balloons into the air. The aim of the game is to keep the balloons from touching the ground for as long as possible. If any of the team’s balloons touch the ground, they are eliminated. The winners are any teams that make it to the end of the time limit without their balloons touching the floor. ‍

Alternative Application

Alternative Application is the game that challenges players to think outside the box—you’ll be surprised by the innovative ideas your employees will come up with!

Great for: Creative thinking  

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Various office items (at least one per player)

How to play Alternative Application

Setup: Before play begins, gather a variety of random office objects (at least one, preferably two, per player). Objects might include a stapler, flipchart, kitchen kettle etc.

To play: Taking turns, pass one of the objects to a player and ask them to mime an alternative use of that object. Meanwhile, the other players try to guess what action is being mimed. 

For example, the player with the flipchart might stand it on its legs, drape a sheet of paper over their head, and mime taking a photograph on a vintage view camera. Once somebody guesses correctly, play moves to the next player. ‍

Paper Plane Parade

Everybody knows how to build a paper plane, but who can do it the best? In this creative team game , employees go head to head to build the best paper plane!

Great for: Teamwork, creative thinking

Duration: 10 minutes

You’ll need: Various stationery supplies including paper, sticky tape and scissors

How to play Paper Plane Parade

Setup: Divide your group into even teams and hand each team a matching set of stationery supplies. Each set should include paper, sticky tape and scissors, but feel free to add other items such as glitter, googly eyes, etc.

To play: When the timer starts, the teams have five minutes to construct a paper plane using the supplies they were given. When the time is up, position the teams behind a line and ask them to throw their creations, one by one. The planes will be judged on three criteria: the plane that travelled the furthest, the plane that flew for the longest and the plane that looked the best. It’s up to you whether you inform your group of these criteria before or after the creation process. ‍

Word Association

You may have played Word Association to pass the time on long journies. Well, funnily enough, it also works brilliantly as a quick team-building game!

Great for: Quick thinking, communication

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Word Association

Setup: Position your group in a circle facing inwards. Players can be sitting or standing.

To play: To start the game, somebody starts with a one-word prompt. Then, play moves around the circle as each player replies with a work they strongly associate with the previous word. For example, if player one starts with the word “tree,” player two might say “leaves” and player three might follow up with “autumn.” Play moves around the circle until the time runs out. ‍

Caption This

You might have seen companies using the “Caption This” game as a way of driving engagement on their social media feeds. Interestingly, it also works well as a team-building activity because it’s fun, collaborative and creative.

Great for: Creative thinking, collaboration

You’ll need: Various funny/thought-provoking images

How to play Caption This

Setup: Compile various images in a folder on your computer or print them out.

To play: Divide your group into teams or pairs and show them one of the images. Then, give them a few minutes to think of a suitable or funny caption for the image. When the time runs out, ask the groups, one by one, to present their caption. Groups can then vote for the caption they liked the most! ‍

John: Hey, what’s your favourite superhero movie?

John: Really? Batman’s my favourite too!

If you’re like John, you won’t be any good at the Emoji Quiz. But if you’re like the other 99% of the population, capable of deciphering emojis without a second thought, then we have the perfect game for you!

Great for: Creative thinking, problem-solving

You’ll need: A list of movie, book or song titles written in emojis

How to play Emoji Quiz

Setup: Before playing Emoji Quiz, you need to create a list of movie, song or book titles written in emoji form. Here are a few examples:

  • ⚫ 🦅 ⏬ = Black Hawk Down (film)
  • 🍍 🚄 = Pineapple Express (film)
  • 🐦 🐦 🐦 = Three Little Birds (song)

To play: Separate your group into equal teams. Then, display each title (written in emojis) on a screen and ask the teams to write down the name of the movie, song or book. Once you’ve asked all your questions, go back and reveal the answers. The team with the most correct answers wins! ‍

You’ll need quick reactions if you want to stand a chance at winning this game! Ninja is a quick, light-hearted activity that’s great for energising your team.

Players: 3-8

How to play Ninja

Setup: Arrange your group in a circle, facing inwards, with about a metre distance between each player.

To play: The game starts when the players scream “ULTIMATE NINJAAA!” in unison. Upon hearing this, all players strike a dramatic, ninja-like pose. The first player then has two options: try to strike the hand of the player next to them, or make a movement (e.g. move their arm above their head). If a player attempts to strike your hand, you are allowed to evade the attack. If your dodge is successful, you must remain in the position you landed in until your next turn. If you are struck, you are eliminated from the game. The last person remaining is the winner and is awarded the coveted title of “Ultimate Ninja.” ‍

Frustration

DISCLAIMER: sushi-lovers will have an unfair advantage.

Frustration is a fun, interactive game in which players race against the clock to transfer as many sweets as possible into their bowls using only chopsticks.

Great for: Energising your team, remaining calm under pressure

Players: 3+

You’ll need: Bowls, small sweets (e.g. M&Ms, Skittles, etc.), chopsticks

How to play Frustration

Setup: Place one large bowl of sweets (something small like M&Ms or raisins) in the centre of the table and position the players in a circle, at equal distances to the bowl. Give each player a small bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

To play: When the time starts, players attempt to transfer as many pieces of candy into their bowl as they can. The players can ONLY use the chopsticks—their free hand must remain behind their back. The winner is the person with the most pieces of candy in their bowl after the time runs out. ‍

Pirate’s Treasure

Can you creep up on the pirate and steal his treasure without being spotted? This game will push your employee’s sneaking skills to the limit.

You’ll need: A chair, a random object (small enough to easily pick up and carry)

How to play Pirate’s Treasure

Setup: To prepare for Pirate’s Treasure, position your players in a circle, facing inwards, and place a chair in the centre. Request a volunteer and ask them to sit on the chair. Blindfold the volunteer and place the object under the chair.

To play: To start the game, the players in the circle (the pirates) start walking around the chair. When they stop, they silently pick one person to attempt to steal the object from under the chair. If the pirate manages to steal the object undetected they win the game. However, if the volunteer hears the pirate approaching and points at them, the pirate is eliminated and play starts again. ‍

Looking for a quick team-building activity to refine your group‘s listening skills before a meeting? Then Stop-Walk is the game for you!

Great for: Listening skills

Players: 8+

How to play Stop-Walk

Setup: Find a large room and delegate one person to be the “leader.”

To play: The game starts simply. The leader introduces two basic instructions: “stop” and “walk.” When the leader says “walk,” everybody starts walking around, and when he/she says “stop,” everybody stops. Then, the leader announces that the meanings of these phrases have now been reversed, so “stop” means “walk” and “walk” now means “stop.” Once the group has got to grips with these commands, the leader can slowly introduce new pairs of commands such as “clap” and “jump,” now and again reversing the meanings. Whenever somebody performs the wrong action, they are eliminated from the game. ‍

Lightening Scavenger Hunt

Just finished onboarding some new recruits? This is how you test if they were paying attention during their tour of the office!

How to play Lightning Scavenger Hunt

Setup: Gather your group somewhere in the office. This game also works perfectly for remote teams.

To play: Make sure your group is paying attention. When everybody’s ready, announce the item that they need to retrieve. This could be something like “find something beginning with the letter ‘R’” or “bring me something blue.” The moment you finish talking, the players rush to find something in the office that matches your description. The first player to return with a valid item is the winner. ‍

Guess the Emoji Board

What do your “recently used” emojis say about you? It’s time to find out with this fun and simple energising game!

You’ll need: A screenshot of each player’s “recently used” emoji board

How to play Guess the Emoji Board

Setup: Before playing, ask each player to send you a screenshot of their “recently used” emoji board. Name the file after the sender so you know who it belongs to.

To play: Once you’ve received a screenshot from each player, you’re ready to start. One at a time, display a screenshot to the rest of the group and ask them to guess who it belongs to. There isn’t a winner per se, but it’s a fun way of energising your group and getting to know each other! ‍

Quick communication games

Poor communication leads to unnecessary revisions, mistakes and wasted resources. These side effects create an unpleasant working environment where employees are regularly engaged in conflict and battling with simple tasks.

The following team-building games are designed to put your team’s communication skills to the test. During the games, pay attention to the dynamics of each group—who’s taking the lead? Who seems nervous to speak up? 

These insights will help you to uncover the biggest communication barriers that currently exist within your workforce. 

Classification

If your group are struggling to come up with team names, this quick team-building activity might help! Classification encourages players to find common ground and get to know one another quickly.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

How to play Classification

Setup: To prepare for Classification, separate your group into even teams. Before the game starts, make it clear that consolidating people into groups or perpetuating stereotypes isn’t useful. Players should avoid classifications based on gender, race, sexual preferences, or any other theme that could be perceived as prejudicial or discriminatory.

To play: After forming teams and explaining the basic rules, you’re ready to start. When you say “Go!” the players can start to exchange basic information about themselves. Perhaps they like to wake up early? Maybe they like to grab a coffee every morning? Based on these preferences and characteristics, the players will attempt to find common ground and classify themselves. You can expect results such as “The Early Birds” or “The Caffeine Addicts.” ‍

Sneak a Peek

Do you have a keen eye for detail? Are you a spot-the-difference wizard? Then Sneak a Peek could be the game for you. In this game, your employee’s observation and communication skills will be put to the test as they attempt to recreate a structure with their team.

Great for: Observation, communication

You’ll need: A few sets of building blocks i.e. Lego Duplo

How to play Sneak a Peek

Setup: Using your building blocks, start by constructing a complex structure. The structure should be hidden from the players and positioned at an equal distance from each team. Then, divide your group into even teams and provide them with the necessary building blocks to recreate your structure.

To play: When the game starts, one player from each group will approach the hidden structure and observe it for 10 seconds. Then, upon returning to their teams, the observer has 25 seconds to explain how to recreate the structure. After one minute of attempting to recreate the structure, another observer gets up and looks at the hidden structure for a further 10 seconds. The game continues in this pattern until one of the teams successfully replicates the structure. ‍

Asking the right questions is a valuable skill. Cutting straight to the core and homing in on what’s important boosts productivity and efficiency. Who am I? Is a well-known party game that encourages employees to consider their questions carefully.

Great for: Communication, problem-solving

You’ll need: Sticky notes, pens

How to play Who am I?

Setup: Hand out a sticky note and pen to each player and have them write down the name of a famous person, or—if your team is already well acquainted—the name of a colleague. Then, ask the players to swap notes and, without looking, stick them to their foreheads.

To play: The players start to mingle with other players, asking questions that can only be answered with “yes” or “no.” The answers to these questions should help the players to decipher which name is written on their forehead. For example, players might ask things like “Am I a celebrity?” or “Do I wear glasses”? If you want the game to be shorter, try separating players into smaller groups of three to four.  ‍

Show and Tell

Show and Tell has been popularised by schools as a way of boosting confidence and public speaking skills. But the importance of these skills doesn’t waver as we get older, in fact, they become more important.

Great for: Public speaking, communication

Players: 5+

How to play Show and Tell

Setup: To keep this game quick and simple, you might want to schedule this game as a recurring weekly event with just one or two speakers. Design a schedule and ask the upcoming speakers to bring a cherished item to the office.

To play: On the day of their presentation, the speakers must stand before the group and talk about the item they bought with them. They might talk about the history of the item, how it came into their possession, why it’s important to them, etc. You can also create themes for the talks to make it easier for the speakers such as “something that motivates you” or “your most prized possession.” ‍

The devil is in the detail, they say. At the workplace, misinterpreting instructions or being unclear with your instructions can have detrimental knock-on effects. Copy Cat teaches your employees to listen more carefully.

Great for: Listening skills, comprehension

Players: 2+

You’ll need: Various sets of identical office items, something to use as a barrier i.e a flipchart.

How to play Copy Cat

Setup: To prepare for Copy Cat, separate players into pairs and position them on either side of a solid barrier—the players should be able to see their partner. Hand each player a set of matching office items. You can use things like a wastepaper basket, stapler, pens, sticky notes, etc. In each pair, one person needs to be the Leader and the other needs to be the Copy Cat.

To play: When the timer starts, the Leader begins building his structure with the materials provided. The Leader is allowed to iterate his actions, saying things like “I’m going to lay the wastepaper basket on its side,” and “I’m sticking two sticky notes to the bottom of the basket.” Based on these comments, the Copy Cat must attempt to create an identical structure to that of their Leader. The Copy Cat cannot ask any questions, forcing the Leader to be precise with their commentary. ‍

Quiz Question of the Week

A quick brainteaser or trivia question is a simple way to engage your team at the start of the week. This is a particularly useful strategy for encouraging engagement in remote teams. You can create a dedicated channel in Slack for employees to discuss the answer.

Great for: Facilitating interaction

You’ll need: A thought-provoking riddle, trivia question or brainteaser

How to play Quiz Question of the Week

Setup: Establish a day of the week when you’ll pose a head-scratching question to your team. When the time comes to ask the question, you can display it in any way you see fit. Write it up on a whiteboard in the common area, drop it in an email, or—if you’re working remotely—put it in a dedicated Slack group.

To play: Once you’ve asked the question, allow some time for your employees to wrestle with potential answers/solutions. It’s up to you when you choose to reveal the answer, but the idea is to encourage your employees to engage with the question as a group. If you like, you can start a leaderboard with a prize at the end of the year for the person who answered the most questions correctly. ‍

Blind Retriever

One wrong move and you’re out of the game! Blind Retriever hones your employee’s listening skills as they attempt to retrieve the object and avoid objects while blindfolded.

Great for: Listening and communication

You’ll need: One blindfold per team, various soft-edged obstacles

How to play Blind Retriever

Setup: Find a large open space. At one end of the space, place the object that your teams will need to retrieve and at the other end indicate some sort of start line. Then, position various soft-edged obstacles between the start line and the object. Avoid using any objects that could cause harm if somebody were to walk into/land on them. Finally, divide your group into small teams of about 2-4 players, allocate one person per team to be the Retriever and position everybody behind the start line. The Retriever is then blindfolded. 

To play: When the game starts, the non-retrievers of each team must guide their blindfolded retriever to the other end of the room to collect the object using only verbal commands. If a retriever makes contact with any of the obstacles in the room their team is eliminated from the race. The team whose retriever collects the object first without touching any obstacles wins. ‍

3-Question Mingle

3-Question Mingle bypasses the small talk and cuts straight to the nitty-gritty. It’s a simple game that helps employees get to know each other in a short space of time.

You’ll need: Pens, sticky notes

How to play 3-Question Mingle

Setup: Hand each player a pen and a sticky note and ask them to write down three open-ended questions. Examples include questions like “Who’s the most important person in your life right now?” Or “If you could have more money or more time, which would you choose and why?”

To play: Set a time limit and ask the players to start mingling with their colleagues. Once the players find a partner, they take turns asking one of their questions. Once they’ve both asked a question, they swap those questions with each other and find a new partner. This process continues until the time runs out. To debrief, ask your group what interesting things they learned about one another. ‍

The Communication Game

Inspired by the classic game “Telephone,” The Communication Game requires players to accurately pass a physical message from one end of the line to the other.

Great for: Communication, observation skills

How to play The Communication Game

Setup: Ask your group to stand in a single-file line, about arm’s reach apart, facing in the same direction.

To play: Ask the person at the back of the line to come up with a short movement sequence. Once they’ve created the sequence, they tap the shoulder of the person in front of them, asking them to turn around. The player turns around and observes the movement sequence. Then, they turn around, tap the shoulder of the player in front of them and perform the same sequence. This pattern continues until the movement sequence reaches the person at the front of the line. Hopefully, the sequence will be somewhat preserved! ‍

Blind Drawing

Learning how our colleague's minds work enables us to see things from their perspective. Blind Drawing tests your employee’s abilities to interpret the instructions provided by their partner.

Great for: Communication, observation, listening

You’ll need: Pen, paper, reference images

How to play Blind Drawing

Setup: Divide your group into pairs and ask them to sit back to back. Give one player from each pair a reference image and give the other player the pen and paper.

To play: The player with the pen and paper must attempt to draw the reference image by listening to the instructions provided by their partner. The drawer cannot speak or communicate in any way—they must do their best with the instructions they’re given. When the time runs out, ask each team to present their drawing. The team whose drawing most resembles the reference image wins. ‍

Quick trust-building games

For a team to function optimally, there must be trust between its members. Your employees need to feel confident in their colleagues. They need to feel supported, and safe in the knowledge that somebody is there to catch them should they fall.

One of the best ways to build trust is to provide plenty of opportunities for your employees to connect. The following trust-building games encourage employees to share personal information and experiences that strengthen interpersonal bonds and promote trust. ‍

Two Truths, One Lie

Looking to build deeper connections between your employees? Two Truths, One Lie is the faster way to learn surprising and interesting things about one another.

How to play Two Truths, One Lie

Setup: Ask your group to sit together in a circle, on chairs or on the floor.

To play: One at a time, players present three statements about themselves. Two of these statements are true and one is a lie. To make the game more difficult, the lie should be as believable as possible. It’s the job of the other players to listen to these statements and guess which one they think is the lie. Play then moves to the next player in the circle. ‍

These days, 99% of our written communication is digital. Assigning Pen Pals revives the art of the handwritten letter and provides your employees with an opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper level.

Duration: N/A

How to play Pen Pals

Setup: Start by assigning Pen Pals and determining the frequency of the letters. To encourage interdepartmental bonding, try pairing employees who wouldn’t usually cross paths.

To play: The game is simple. Employees will exchange letters with their pen pals at regular intervals. Through this process, your employees will develop lasting relationships that reinforce the company culture. ‍

Bucket List

Learning about your coworker's wants and dreams outside of the office is a great way of building stronger, lasting relationships.

Players: 4+ 

How to play Bucket List

To play: One by one, players tell five items from their bucket list to the rest of the group. This gives employees vital insight into the aspirations of their coworkers. ‍

Team Trivia

How well do your team really know each other? Team Trivia is a fun and simple game that will put your employee’s relationships to the test.

Players: 6+ 

How to play Team Trivia

Setup: Before you can play Team Trivia, you need to compile interesting facts about your employees. The easiest way to do this is to send out a survey designed to extract as many cool facts as possible.

To play: Team Trivia can be played online or in person, making it a great solution for remote teams. Bring your team together and start asking questions to your team. These can be things that they might already know, like, “Who is the tallest member of the team?” Or things they will need to guess at, like, “Who in the office has eight siblings?” The player with the most correct answers is the winner! ‍

Draw Your Mood

Nine times out of 10, asking your team “How are you guys doing?” returns this answer: “Good, thanks.” If you’re looking for an alternative way of checking in with your team, Draw Your Mood is a great solution. 

Great for: Expressing moods

You’ll need: Paper, pens

How to play Draw Your Mood

Setup: Draw your mood is another game that can be played in person or online. If you’re playing in person, hand each player a piece of paper and a pen. If you’re playing online, players can use the integrated whiteboard feature on their video conferencing software such as Zoom Whiteboard.

To play: Ask each player to draw a visual representation of their mood. They can use words, images and symbols—you name it! After 5 minutes or so, ask your employees to present their drawings one by one. ‍

Silver Linings

We all fall on hard times. But victimising ourselves and dwelling on the negatives can lead us to overlook growth opportunities. Silver Linings alters perspectives of apparent failures and misfortunes. 

Great for: Mindset development, positivity

How to play Silver Linings

Setup: Divide your group into pairs. You might wish to pair employees together who don’t often have the opportunity to interact.

To play: The first partner starts by sharing a negative experience. This could be something from their personal or professional life, as long as it’s true. Upon hearing the experience, the second partner attempts to reframe the story in a positive light. Then, the first partner retells their story, highlighting silver linings they may have missed the first time around. The players then switch roles and start again. ‍

Personal User Manuals

Tight-knit teams need to understand how their colleagues like to work. Who likes to work in silence and who likes to exchange ideas? Who likes to take phone calls and who prefers emails? By creating Personal User Manuals, new and existing employees gain a deeper understanding of their peer’s workplace preferences.

Great for: Onboarding, company culture

Players: 4-15

How to play Personal User Manuals

Setup: No setup required.

To play: Ask your employees to record a short video of themselves that can be used as a Personal User Manual. In the video, the employee should introduce themselves, tell an interesting fact and discuss their workplace preferences. Once everybody has recorded a video, you can upload them to your company intranet or knowledge hub. ‍

Quick decision-making games

Effective teams are autonomous. The problem is, how can employees take on this added responsibility if they don’t possess the confidence and conviction to make important decisions?

The following games are designed to inspire your employees to trust their get and build their confidence in making on-the-spot decisions. ‍

The One-Question Game

If you had just one question to determine the suitability of your future spouse, what would you ask? The One-Question Game pressures your employees to determine theoretical suitability for a given scenario with just one question.

Great for: Communication, decision-making

How to play The One Question Game

Setup: Start by dividing your group into pairs, leaving one person to act as the leader.

To play: The leader starts by posing a hypothetical scenario to the group. The leader could ask questions like, “What would you ask to determine the suitability of somebody to babysit your child?” Or “What question would you ask to determine whether somebody was capable of building your house?” This game encourages players to home in on what’s most important when determining the suitability of somebody to perform a given role. ‍

This or That?

This or That questions force your employees to choose between two equally appealing or unappealing scenarios. As each player explains their choice, you’ll gain insight into their values, moral code and priorities.

How to play This or That

Setup: Start by compiling a list of This or That questions that you can ask your employees.

To play: Playing the game is very simple. After hearing the question, players must vote for which option they would prefer. The questions could be serious, funny, thought-provoking or silly—it doesn’t matter, as long as they force the players to think. The best questions split the crowd and cause a debate. ‍

Birthday Line-up

Birthday Line-up is a quick team-building activity that requires very little setup and no equipment. If it’s early in the morning and your team is drowsy, this is the perfect warm-up for the body and mind.

Great for: Problem-solving, decision-making, communication

Players: 6-20

How to play Birthday Line-up

Setup: Ask your group to form a line, standing shoulder to shoulder.

To play: When the timer starts, players must arrange themselves into order from the earliest birthday to the latest birthday (month and day only). Under normal circumstances, this would be a simple task, but there’s one problem: Players cannot speak. Instead, they can use only hand signals and body movements to communicate their birthday. ‍

Paper Tower

Ready to put your employee’s engineering skills to the test? Paper Tower challenges your team to build the highest tower using nothing but a few sheets of A4.

Great for: Problem-solving, communication, collaboration

You’ll need: A4 paper

How to play Paper Tower

Setup: Divide your group into teams of about 4-6 players and give each team several sheets of A4 paper. It’s up to you how many pieces of paper you hand out, but make sure each team is provided with the same number.

To play: Teams have just five minutes to build the tallest tower possible using the paper provided. Teams are not allowed to use any bonding materials to strengthen their tower. Don’t forget to keep teams updated on the time by announcing how much time is left. Once the five minutes are up, measure the highest tower and discuss with each team what went well and what went wrong. ‍

Swedish Story

Challenge your team to think on their feet as they make up a story on the spot! In Swedish Story, the storyteller must make decisions quickly as they’re bombarded with random words.

Great for: Public speaking, decision-making

How to play Swedish Story

Setup: Divide your group into teams of about 4-5 players then ask each team to pick one person to be the storyteller. 

To play: The storytellers are given a topic to talk about. As they start to tell their made-up story, the other members of the team chip in with random words that the storyteller must incorporate into their story. For example, if the storyteller is talking about a hurricane, the other players might call out words like “cow,” “combine harvester,” or “Elvis Presley!” The aim is for the storyteller to maintain their composure as they incorporate irrelevant words and phrases. When the time runs out, you can end the game or play again with a different topic and storyteller.  ‍

In this game, players will need to work together to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands. It’s a fantastically simple game for improving communication and collaboration skills.

Players: 5-8 

How to play Human Knot

Setup: Ask your group to stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder, facing inwards. Then, ask each player to reach out their left hand and take hold of somebody else’s hand opposite them. Repeat this action with the right hand. Players should not take the hand of the person to their immediate left or right.

To play: Players must now work together to untangle the knot without letting go of each other’s hands. To do this, players will need to turn, twist and step through each other’s arms. ‍

Paper Chains

Paper Chains is a simple game that can be played by small or large groups . The aim of the game is for teams to build the longest paper chain without talking while using ONLY their dominant hand.

Great for: Communication, problem-solving, leadership

You’ll need: A4 paper, sticky tape, scissors

How to play Paper Chains

Setup: Separate your group into teams of 4-5 players and hand each team several sheets of A4 paper, a roll of sticky tape and a pair of scissors. Then, ask each team to allocate a team leader.

To play: Escort the team leaders from the room and explain the rules of the game in private. The rules are as follows: Teams must attempt to build the longest paper chain without talking while using only their dominant hand. Once the leaders understand the rules, they have 30 seconds to convey them to their team and devise a quick strategy. Then, teams have just three minutes to start building their paper chains. The team with the longest paper chain at the end of the three minutes wins. ‍

Bookmark this page and use your favourites at your next team-building event

Selecting the right activities is one of the more difficult aspects of organising a team-building event .

Get it right, and your team will remember the experience for years to come. But get it wrong, and you could find yourself amidst a tirade of bored, disengaged employees.

By bookmarking this page you can relax, safe in the knowledge that you’ve always got some fun and quick team-building games at hand. 

Looking for something a little longer?

Check out our comprehensive list containing 50 of the best team-building activities .

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></center></p><h2>13 Problem-Solving Activities & Exercises for Your Team</h2><ul><li>December 4, 2023</li><li>Project Management</li><li>21 min read</li></ul><p><center><img style=

Are you looking to enhance your or your team’s problem-solving abilities? Engaging in activities specifically designed to stimulate your and your team’s critical thinking skills can be an excellent way to sharpen your problem-solving prowess. Whether you enjoy puzzles, brain teasers, or interactive challenges, these activities provide an opportunity to overcome obstacles and think creatively.

By immersing yourself in problem-solving activities, you can develop valuable strategies, improve your decision-making abilities, and boost your overall problem-solving IQ. Get ready to unlock your full potential and tackle any challenge that comes your way with these exciting activities for problem-solving.

In this article, we will explore activities for problem-solving that can help enhance your team’s problem-solving skills, allowing you to approach challenges with confidence and creativity.

What Are Problem Solving Activities?

Problem-solving activities or problem-solving exercises are interactive games requiring critical thinking to solve puzzles. They enhance teamwork & critical thinking. Examples include building towers, navigating simulated challenges, and fostering creativity and communication.

For instance, imagine a team working together to construct the tallest tower using limited materials. They strategize, communicate ideas, and problem-solve to create the best structure, promoting collaboration and inventive thinking among team members.

Some widely practiced problem-solving activities include:

  • A Shrinking Vessel: Teams must fit into a shrinking space, testing their cooperation and adaptability.
  • Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower: Participants build a tower using marshmallows and spaghetti, promoting creative engineering.
  • Egg Drop: Protecting an egg from a fall challenges problem-solving skills.
  • Desert Island Survival: Teams simulate survival scenarios, encouraging creative solutions.
  • Rolling Dice: A simple yet effective game involving chance and decision-making.
  • Build a Tower: Constructing a stable tower with limited resources fosters teamwork and innovation, etc.

13 Easy Activities For Problem-Solving Ideas to Enhance Team Collaboration

Team building activities offer a great opportunity to test problem-solving abilities and promote effective collaboration within a group to problem solving group activities. By engaging in these activities, teams can break the monotony of the workplace and create a more inclusive and welcoming environment.

Here are nine easy-to-implement activities that can bring substantial change to your team culture and overall workplace dynamics.

#1. Crossword Puzzles

Crossword Puzzles

Objective: To enhance problem-solving skills, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities through engaging crossword puzzles. 

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes 

Materials Needed:

  • Crossword puzzle sheets
  • Pens or pencils
  • Distribute crossword puzzle sheets and pens/pencils to each participant.
  • Explain the rules of crossword puzzles and the goal of completing as many clues as possible within the given time.
  • Participants individually or in pairs work on solving the crossword puzzle by filling in the correct words.
  • Encourage critical thinking, word association, and collaborative discussions for solving challenging clues.
  • At the end of the time limit, review the answers and discuss any interesting or challenging clues as a group.
  • Enhanced Problem-Solving: Participants engage in critical thinking while deciphering clues, promoting effective problem-solving skills.
  • Vocabulary Expansion: Exposure to new words and phrases within the crossword improves vocabulary and comprehension.
  • Cognitive Stimulation: The mental exercise of solving the puzzle stimulates the brain, enhancing cognitive abilities.
  • Team Collaboration: If done in pairs, participants practice collaboration and communication to solve clues together.
  • Achievement and Motivation: Successfully completing the crossword brings a sense of accomplishment and motivates individuals to explore more puzzles.

Tips for Facilitators:

  • Provide varying levels of crossword puzzles to accommodate different skill levels.
  • Encourage participants to share strategies for solving challenging clues.
  • Emphasize the fun and educational aspects of the activity to keep participants engaged.

#2. A Shrinking Vessel

A Shrinking Vessel

Estimated Time: 10-15 Minutes

  • Materials Needed: A rope and a ball of yarn
  • Prepare the Setting: Lay a rope on the floor in a shape that allows all team members to stand comfortably inside it. For larger teams, multiple ropes can be used, dividing them into smaller groups.
  • Enter the Circle: Have all team members stand inside the rope, ensuring that nobody steps outside its boundaries.
  • Shrinking the Circle: Begin gradually shrinking the rope’s size, reducing the available space inside the circle.
  • Adapt and Maintain Balance: As the circle shrinks, team members must make subtle adjustments to maintain their positions and balance within the shrinking area.
  • The Challenge: The objective for the team is to collectively brainstorm and find innovative ways to keep every team member inside the circle without anyone stepping outside.
  • Collaboration and Communication: The activity promotes teamwork and open communication as participants strategize to stay within the shrinking circle.
  • Adaptability: Team members learn to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances, fostering agility and flexibility.
  • Creative Problem-Solving: The challenge encourages inventive thinking and brainstorming to find unique solutions.
  • Trust Building: By relying on each other’s actions, participants build trust and cohesion among team members.
  • Time-Efficient: The short duration makes it an ideal icebreaker or energizer during meetings or workshops.
  • Observe and Facilitate: Monitor the team’s dynamics and offer guidance to encourage equal participation and effective problem-solving.
  • Encourage Verbalization: Prompt participants to voice their ideas and collaborate vocally, aiding in real-time adjustments.
  • Debrief Thoughtfully: Engage the team in a discussion afterward, reflecting on strategies employed and lessons learned.
  • Emphasize Adaptability: Highlight the transferable skill of adaptability and its significance in both professional and personal contexts.

#3. Human Knots

Human Knots

  • Objective: Improving Collaboration & enhancing Communication Skills

Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

  • Materials: None required

Procedure: 

  • Organize your team into a compact circle. For more sizable teams, subdivide them into smaller clusters, with each cluster forming its own circle. 
  • Direct each individual to grasp the hands of two other people in the circle, with the exception of those positioned directly adjacent to them. This action will result in the formation of a complex “human knot” within the circle. 
  • Present the challenge to the group: to unravel themselves from this entanglement while maintaining their hold on each other’s hands. If preferred, you can establish a specific time limit. 
  • Observe the team members collaborating to unravel the knot, witnessing their collective effort to devise solutions and free themselves from the intricate puzzle.
  • Team Cohesion: The activity encourages team members to interact closely, promoting bonding and understanding among participants.
  • Effective Communication: Participants practice clear and concise communication as they coordinate movements to untangle the knot.
  • Problem-Solving: The challenge stimulates creative thinking and problem-solving skills as individuals work collectively to find the optimal path for untangling.
  • Adaptability: Participants learn to adapt their actions based on the evolving dynamics of the human knot, fostering adaptability.
  • Trust Building: As individuals rely on each other to navigate the intricate knot, trust and cooperation naturally develop.
  • Set a Positive Tone: Create an inclusive and supportive atmosphere, emphasizing that the focus is on collaboration rather than competition.
  • Encourage Verbalization: Urge participants to articulate their intentions and listen to others’ suggestions, promoting effective teamwork.
  • Observe Group Dynamics: Monitor interactions and step in if needed to ensure everyone is actively engaged and included.
  • Reflect and Share: Conclude the activity with a debriefing session, allowing participants to share their experiences, strategies, and key takeaways.
  • Vary Grouping: Change group compositions for subsequent rounds to enhance interactions among different team members.

#4. Egg Drop

Egg Drop

Helps With: Decision Making, Collaboration

  • A carton of eggs
  • Construction materials (balloons, rubber bands, straws, tape, plastic wrap, etc.)
  • A suitable location for the activity
  • Assign each team a single egg and random construction materials.
  • Teams must create a carrier to protect the egg from breaking.
  • Drop the carriers one by one and increase the height if necessary to determine the most durable carrier.
  • The winning team is the one with the carrier that survives the highest drop.
  • Decision Making: Participants engage in critical decision-making processes as they select construction materials and determine carrier designs.
  • Collaboration: The activity necessitates collaboration and coordination among team members to construct an effective carrier.
  • Problem-Solving: Teams apply creative problem-solving skills to devise innovative methods for safeguarding the egg.
  • Risk Management: Participants learn to assess potential risks and consequences while making design choices to prevent egg breakage.
  • Celebrating Success: The victorious team experiences a sense of accomplishment, boosting morale and promoting a positive team spirit.
  • Provide Diverse Materials: Offer a wide range of construction materials to stimulate creativity and allow teams to explore various design options.
  • Set Safety Guidelines: Prioritize safety by specifying a safe drop height and ensuring participants follow safety protocols during construction.
  • Encourage Brainstorming: Prompt teams to brainstorm multiple carrier ideas before finalizing their designs, fostering diverse perspectives.
  • Facilitate Reflection: After the activity, lead a discussion where teams share their design strategies, challenges faced, and lessons learned.
  • Highlight Collaboration: Emphasize the significance of teamwork in achieving success, acknowledging effective communication and cooperation.

#5. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration

Estimated Time: 20-30 Minutes

Materials Needed (per team):

  • Raw spaghetti: 20 sticks
  • Marshmallow: 1
  • String: 1 yard
  • Masking tape: 1 roll
  • Tower Construction: Instruct teams to collaborate and utilize the provided materials to construct the tallest tower possible within a designated time frame.
  • Marshmallow Support: Emphasize that the tower must be capable of standing independently and supporting a marshmallow at its highest point.
  • Prototype and Iterate: Encourage teams to engage in prototyping and iteration, testing different design approaches and refining their tower structures.
  • T eamwork and Communication: Promote effective teamwork and communication as team members coordinate their efforts to build a stable and tall tower.
  • Evaluation Criteria: Evaluate each tower based on its height, stability, and the successful placement of the marshmallow at the top.
  • Collaboration: Participants collaborate closely, sharing ideas and working together to design and construct the tower.
  • Innovative Thinking: The activity encourages innovative thinking as teams experiment with different strategies to build a stable tower.
  • Time Management: Teams practice time management skills as they work within a specified time limit to complete the task.
  • Problem-Solving: Participants engage in creative problem-solving to address challenges such as balancing the marshmallow and constructing a sturdy tower.
  • Adaptability: Teams adapt their approaches based on trial and error, learning from each iteration to improve their tower designs.
  • Set Clear Guidelines: Clearly explain the materials, objectives, and evaluation criteria to ensure teams understand the task.
  • Foster Creativity: Encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional methods for constructing their towers.
  • Emphasize Collaboration: Highlight the importance of effective communication and teamwork to accomplish the task successfully.
  • Time Management: Remind teams of the time limit and encourage them to allocate their time wisely between planning and construction.
  • Reflect and Share: Facilitate a discussion after the activity, allowing teams to share their design choices, challenges faced, and lessons learned.

Sudoku

Objective: To engage participants in the strategic and analytical world of Sudoku, enhancing logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. 

Estimated Time: 20-25 Minutes 

  • Sudoku puzzle sheets
  • Pencils with erasers
  • Distribute Sudoku puzzle sheets and pencils to each participant.
  • Familiarize participants with the rules and mechanics of Sudoku puzzles.
  • Explain the goal: to fill in the empty cells with numbers from 1 to 9 while adhering to the rules of no repetition in rows, columns, or subgrids.
  • Encourage participants to analyze the puzzle’s layout, identify potential numbers, and strategically fill in cells.
  • Emphasize the importance of logical deduction and step-by-step approach in solving the puzzle.
  • Provide hints or guidance if needed, ensuring participants remain engaged and challenged.
  • Logical Thinking: Sudoku challenges participants’ logical and deductive reasoning, fostering analytical skills.
  • Problem-Solving: The intricate interplay of numbers and constraints hones problem-solving abilities.
  • Focus and Patience: Participants practice patience and attention to detail while gradually unveiling the solution.
  • Pattern Recognition: Identifying number patterns and possibilities contributes to enhanced pattern recognition skills.
  • Personal Achievement: Successfully completing a Sudoku puzzle provides a sense of accomplishment and boosts confidence.
  • Offer varying levels of Sudoku puzzles to cater to different skill levels.
  • Encourage participants to share strategies and techniques for solving specific challenges.
  • Highlight the mental workout Sudoku provides and its transferable skills to real-life problem-solving.

Escape

Helps With: Communication, Problem-solving, & Management

  • A lockable room
  • 5-10 puzzles or clues
  • Hide the key and a set of clues around the room.
  • Lock the room and provide team members with a specific time limit to find the key and escape.
  • Instruct the team to work together, solving the puzzles and deciphering the clues to locate the key.
  • Encourage efficient communication and effective problem-solving under time pressure.
  • Communication Skills: Participants enhance their communication abilities by sharing observations, ideas, and findings to collectively solve puzzles.
  • Problem-solving Proficiency: The activity challenges teams to think critically, apply logical reasoning, and collaboratively tackle intricate challenges.
  • Team Management: The experience promotes effective team management as members assign tasks, prioritize efforts, and coordinate actions.
  • Time Management: The imposed time limit sharpens time management skills as teams strategize and allocate time wisely.
  • Adaptability: Teams learn to adapt and adjust strategies based on progress, evolving clues, and time constraints.
  • Clear Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the activity, emphasizing the importance of communication, problem-solving, and time management.
  • Diverse Challenges: Offer a mix of puzzles and clues to engage various problem-solving skills, catering to different team strengths.
  • Supportive Role: Act as a facilitator, offering subtle guidance if needed while allowing teams to independently explore and solve challenges.
  • Debriefing Session: Organize a debriefing session afterward to discuss the experience, highlight successful strategies, and identify areas for improvement.
  • Encourage Reflection: Encourage participants to reflect on their teamwork, communication effectiveness, and problem-solving approach.

#8. Frostbite for Group Problem Solving Activities

Frostbite for Group Problem Solving Activities

Helps With: Decision Making, Trust, Leadership

  • An electric fan
  • Construction materials (toothpicks, cardstock, rubber bands, sticky notes, etc.)
  • Divide the team into groups of 4-5 people, each with a designated leader.
  • Blindfold team members and prohibit leaders from using their hands.
  • Provide teams with construction materials and challenge them to build a tent within 30 minutes.
  • Test the tents using the fan to see which can withstand high winds.
  • Decision-Making Proficiency: Participants are exposed to critical decision-making situations under constraints, allowing them to practice effective and efficient decision-making.
  • Trust Development: Blindfolding team members and relying on the designated leaders fosters trust and collaboration among team members.
  • Leadership Skills: Designated leaders navigate the challenge without hands-on involvement, enhancing their leadership and communication skills.
  • Creative Problem Solving: Teams employ creative thinking and resourcefulness to construct stable tents with limited sensory input.
  • Team Cohesion: The shared task and unique constraints promote team cohesion and mutual understanding.
  • Role of the Facilitator: Act as an observer, allowing teams to navigate the challenge with minimal intervention. Offer assistance only when necessary.
  • Clarity in Instructions: Provide clear instructions regarding blindfolding, leader restrictions, and time limits to ensure a consistent experience.
  • Debriefing Session: After the activity, conduct a debriefing session to discuss team dynamics, leadership approaches, and decision-making strategies.
  • Encourage Communication: Emphasize the importance of effective communication within teams to ensure smooth coordination and successful tent construction.
  • Acknowledge Creativity: Celebrate creative solutions and innovative approaches exhibited by teams during the tent-building process.

#9. Dumbest Idea First

Dumbest Idea First

Helps With: Critical Thinking & Creative Problem Solving Activity

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes

Materials Needed: A piece of paper, pen, and pencil

  • Problem Presentation: Introduce a specific problem to the team, either a real-world challenge or a hypothetical scenario that requires a solution.
  • Brainstorming Dumb Ideas: Instruct team members to quickly generate and jot down the most unconventional and seemingly “dumb” ideas they can think of to address the problem.
  • Idea Sharing: Encourage each participant to share their generated ideas with the group, fostering a relaxed and open atmosphere for creative expression.
  • Viability Assessment: As a team, review and evaluate each idea, considering potential benefits and drawbacks. Emphasize the goal of identifying unconventional approaches.
  • Selecting Promising Solutions: Identify which seemingly “dumb” ideas could hold hidden potential or innovative insights. Discuss how these ideas could be adapted into workable solutions.
  • Divergent Thinking: Participants engage in divergent thinking, pushing beyond conventional boundaries to explore unconventional solutions.
  • Creative Exploration: The activity sparks creative exploration by encouraging participants to let go of inhibitions and embrace imaginative thinking.
  • Critical Analysis: Through evaluating each idea, participants practice critical analysis and learn to identify unique angles and aspects of potential solutions.
  • Open Communication: The lighthearted approach of sharing “dumb” ideas fosters open communication, reducing fear of judgment and promoting active participation.
  • Solution Adaptation: Identifying elements of seemingly “dumb” ideas that have merit encourages participants to adapt and refine their approaches creatively.
  • Safe Environment: Foster a safe and non-judgmental environment where participants feel comfortable sharing unconventional ideas.
  • Time Management: Set clear time limits for idea generation and sharing to maintain the activity’s energetic pace.
  • Encourage Wild Ideas: Emphasize that the goal is to explore the unconventional, urging participants to push the boundaries of creativity.
  • Facilitator Participation: Participate in idea generation to demonstrate an open-minded approach and encourage involvement.
  • Debriefing Discussion: After the activity, facilitate a discussion on how seemingly “dumb” ideas can inspire innovative solutions and stimulate fresh thinking.

This activity encourages out-of-the-box thinking and creative problem-solving. It allows teams to explore unconventional ideas that may lead to unexpected, yet effective, solutions.

#10: Legoman

Legoman.

Helps With: Foster teamwork, communication, and creativity through a collaborative Lego-building activity.

Estimated Time: 20-30 minutes

  • Lego bricks
  • Lego instruction manuals

Procedure :

  • Divide participants into small teams of 3-5 members.
  • Provide each team with an equal set of Lego bricks and a Lego instruction manual.
  • Explain that the goal is for teams to work together to construct the Lego model shown in the manual.
  • Set a time limit for the building activity based on model complexity.
  • Allow teams to self-organize, build, and collaborate to complete the model within the time limit.
  • Evaluate each team’s final model compared to the manual’s original design.
  • Enhanced Communication: Participants must communicate clearly and listen actively to collaborate effectively.
  • Strengthened Teamwork: Combining efforts toward a shared goal promotes camaraderie and team cohesion.
  • Creative Problem-Solving: Teams must creatively problem-solve if pieces are missing or instructions unclear.
  • Planning and Resource Allocation: Following instructions fosters planning skills and efficient use of resources.
  • Sense of Achievement: Completing a challenging build provides a sense of collective accomplishment.
  • Encourage Participation: Urge quieter members to contribute ideas and take an active role.
  • Highlight Teamwork: Emphasize how cooperation and task coordination are key to success.
  • Ensure Equal Engagement: Monitor group dynamics to ensure all members are engaged.
  • Allow Creativity: Permit modifications if teams lack exact pieces or wish to get creative.
  • Focus on Enjoyment: Create a lively atmosphere so the activity remains energizing and fun.

#11: Minefield

Minefield.

Helps With: Trust, Communication, Patience

Materials Needed: Open space, blindfolds

  • Mark a “minefield” on the ground using ropes, cones, or tape. Add toy mines or paper cups.
  • Pair up participants and blindfold one partner.
  • Position blindfolded partners at the start of the minefield. Direct seeing partners to verbally guide them through to the other side without hitting “mines.”
  • Partners switch roles once finished and repeat.
  • Time partnerships and provide prizes for the fastest safe crossing.
  • Trust Building: Blindfolded partners must trust their partner’s instructions.
  • Effective Communication: Giving clear, specific directions is essential for navigating the minefield.
  • Active Listening: Partners must listen closely and follow directions precisely.
  • Patience & Support: The exercise requires patience and encouraging guidance between partners.
  • Team Coordination: Partners must work in sync, coordinating movements and communication.
  • Test Boundaries: Ensure the minefield’s size accommodates safe movement and communication.
  • Monitor Interactions: Watch for dominant guidance and ensure both partners participate fully.
  • Time Strategically: Adjust time limits based on the minefield size and difficulty.
  • Add Obstacles: Introduce additional non-mine objects to increase challenge and communication needs.
  • Foster Discussion: Debrief afterward to discuss communication approaches and trust-building takeaways.

#12: Reverse Pyramid

Reverse Pyramid.

Helps With: Teamwork, Communication, Creativity

Materials Needed: 36 cups per group, tables

  • Form small groups of 5-7 participants.
  • Provide each group with a stack of 36 cups and a designated building area.
  • Explain the objective: Build the tallest pyramid starting with just one cup on top.
  • Place the first cup on the table, and anyone in the group can add two cups beneath it to form the second row.
  • From this point, only the bottom row can be lifted to add the next row underneath.
  • Cups in the pyramid can only be touched or supported by index fingers.
  • If the structure falls, start over from one cup.
  • Offer more cups if a group uses all provided.
  • Allow 15 minutes for building.

Teamwork: Collaborate to construct the pyramid.

Communication: Discuss and execute the building strategy.

Creativity: Find innovative ways to build a tall, stable pyramid.

Clarify Expectations: Emphasize the definition of a pyramid with each row having one less cup.

Encourage Perseverance: Motivate groups to continue despite challenges.

Promote Consensus: Encourage groups to work together and help each other.

Reflect on Failure: Use collapses as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and improving.

Consider Competitions: Modify the activity for competitive teams and scoring.

#13: Stranded

Stranded.

Helps With: Decision-making, Prioritization, Teamwork

Materials Needed: List of salvaged items, paper, pens

  • Present a scenario where teams are stranded and must prioritize items salvaged from a plane crash.
  • Provide teams with the same list of ~15 salvaged items.
  • Instruct teams to agree on an item ranking with #1 being the most important for survival.
  • Teams share and compare their prioritized lists. Identify differences in approach.
  • Discuss what factors influenced decisions and how teams worked together to agree on priorities.
  • Critical Thinking: Weighing item importance requires analytical thinking and discussion.
  • Team Decision-Making: Coming to a consensus fosters team decision-making capabilities.
  • Prioritization Skills: Ranking items strengthen prioritization and justification abilities.
  • Perspective-Taking: Understanding different prioritizations builds perspective-taking skills.
  • Team Cohesion: Collaborating toward a shared goal brings teams closer together.
  • Encourage Discussion: Urge teams to discuss all ideas rather than allow single members to dominate.
  • Be Engaged: Circulate to listen in on team discussions and pose thought-provoking questions.
  • Add Complexity: Introduce scenarios with additional constraints to expand critical thinking.
  • Highlight Disagreements: When priorities differ, facilitate constructive discussions on influencing factors.
  • Recognize Collaboration: Acknowledge teams that demonstrate exceptional teamwork and communication.

Now let’s look at some common types of problem-solving activities.

Types of Problem-Solving Activities

The most common types of problem-solving activities/exercises are:

  • Creative problem-solving activities
  • Group problem-solving activities
  • Individual problem-solving activities
  • Fun problem-solving activities, etc.

In the next segments, we’ll be discussing these types of problem-solving activities in detail. So, keep reading!

Creative Problem-Solving Activities

Creative problem solving (CPS) means using creativity to find new solutions. It involves thinking creatively at first and then evaluating ideas later. For example, think of it like brainstorming fun game ideas, discussing them, and then picking the best one to play.

Some of the most common creative problem-solving activities include:

  • Legoman: Building creative structures with LEGO.
  • Escape: Solving puzzles to escape a room.
  • Frostbite: Finding solutions in challenging situations.
  • Minefield: Navigating a field of obstacles.

Group Problem-Solving Activities

Group problem-solving activities are challenges that make teams work together to solve puzzles or overcome obstacles. They enhance teamwork and critical thinking.

For instance, think of a puzzle-solving game where a group must find hidden clues to escape a locked room.

Here are the most common group problem-solving activities you can try in groups:

  • A Shrinking Vessel
  • Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
  • Cardboard Boat Building Challenge
  • Clue Murder Mystery
  • Escape Room: Jewel Heist
  • Escape Room: Virtual Team Building
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Dumbest Idea First

Individual Problem-Solving Activities

As the name suggests, individual problem-solving activities are the tasks that you need to play alone to boost your critical thinking ability. They help you solve problems and stay calm while facing challenges in real life. Like puzzles, they make your brain sharper. Imagine it’s like training your brain muscles to handle tricky situations.

Here are some of the most common individual problem-solving activities:

  • Puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, sudoku, etc.)
  • Brain teasers
  • Logic problems
  • Optical illusions
  • “Escape room” style games

Fun Problem-Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities are enjoyable games that sharpen your critical thinking skills while having a blast. Think of activities like the Legoman challenge, escape rooms, or rolling dice games – they make problem-solving exciting and engaging!

And to be frank, all of the mentioned problem-solving activities are fun if you know how to play and enjoy them as all of them are game-like activities.

Team Problems You Can Address Through Problem Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities serve as dynamic tools to address a range of challenges that teams often encounter. These engaging activities foster an environment of collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, enabling teams to tackle various problems head-on. Here are some common team problems that can be effectively addressed through these activities:

  • Communication Breakdowns:  

Activities like “Escape,” “A Shrinking Vessel,” and “Human Knots” emphasize the importance of clear and effective communication. They require teams to work together, exchange ideas, and devise strategies to accomplish a shared goal. By engaging in these activities, team members learn to communicate more efficiently, enhancing overall team communication in real-world situations.

  • Lack of Trust and Cohesion:  

Problem-solving activities promote trust and cohesiveness within teams. For instance, “Frostbite” and “Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower” require teams to collaborate closely, trust each other’s ideas, and rely on each member’s strengths. These activities build a sense of unity and trust, which can translate into improved teamwork and collaboration.

  • Innovative Thinking:  

“Dumbest Idea First” and “Egg Drop” encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional solutions. These activities challenge teams to be creative and innovative in their problem-solving approaches, fostering a culture of thinking beyond traditional boundaries when faced with complex issues.

  • Decision-Making Challenges:  

Activities like “Onethread” facilitate group decision-making by providing a platform for open discussions and collaborative choices. Problem-solving activities require teams to make decisions collectively, teaching them to weigh options, consider different viewpoints, and arrive at informed conclusions—a skill that is transferable to real-world decision-making scenarios.

  • Leadership and Role Clarification:  

Activities such as “Frostbite” and “Egg Drop” designate team leaders and roles within groups. This provides an opportunity for team members to practice leadership, delegation, and role-specific tasks. By experiencing leadership dynamics in a controlled setting, teams can improve their leadership skills and better understand their roles in actual projects.

  • Problem-Solving Strategies:  

All of the problem-solving activities involve the application of different strategies. Teams learn to analyze problems, break them down into manageable components, and develop systematic approaches for resolution. These strategies can be adapted to real-world challenges, enabling teams to approach complex issues with confidence.

  • Team Morale and Engagement:  

Participating in engaging and enjoyable activities boosts team morale and engagement. These activities provide a break from routine tasks, energize team members, and create a positive and fun atmosphere. Elevated team morale can lead to increased motivation and productivity.

By incorporating these fun problem-solving activities, teams can address a variety of challenges, foster skill development, and build a more cohesive and effective working environment. As teams learn to collaborate, communicate, innovate, and make decisions collectively, they are better equipped to overcome obstacles and achieve shared goals.

The Benefits of Problem Solving Activities for Your Team

The Benefits of Problem Solving Activities for Your Team

#1 Better Thinking

Problem-solving activities bring out the best in team members by encouraging them to contribute their unique ideas. This stimulates better thinking as team managers evaluate different solutions and choose the most suitable ones.

For example, a remote team struggling with communication benefited from quick thinking and the sharing of ideas, leading to the adoption of various communication modes for improved collaboration.

#2 Better Risk Handling

Team building problem solving activities condition individuals to handle risks more effectively. By engaging in challenging situations and finding solutions, team members develop the ability to respond better to stressful circumstances.

#3 Better Communication

Regular communication among team members is crucial for efficient problem-solving. Engaging in problem-solving activities fosters cooperation and communication within the team, resulting in better understanding and collaboration. Using tools like OneThread can further enhance team communication and accountability.

#4 Improved Productivity Output

When teams work cohesively, overall productivity improves, leading to enhanced profit margins for the company or organization. Involving managers and team members in problem-solving activities can positively impact the company’s growth and profitability.

How Onethread Enhances the Effect of Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving activities within teams thrive on collaborative efforts and shared perspectives. Onethread emerges as a potent facilitator, enabling teams to collectively tackle challenges and harness diverse viewpoints with precision. Here’s a comprehensive view of how Onethread amplifies team collaboration in problem-solving initiatives:

Open Channels for Discussion:

Open Channels for Discussion

Onethread’s real-time messaging feature serves as a dedicated hub for open and seamless discussions. Teams can engage in brainstorming sessions, share insightful observations, and propose innovative solutions within a flexible environment. Asynchronous communication empowers members to contribute their insights at their convenience, fostering comprehensive problem analysis with ample deliberation.

Centralized Sharing of Resources:

Centralized Sharing of Resources

Effective problem-solving often hinges on access to pertinent resources. Onethread’s document sharing functionality ensures that critical information, references, and research findings are centralized and readily accessible. This eradicates the need for cumbersome email attachments and enables team members to collaborate with precise and up-to-date data.

Efficient Task Allocation and Monitoring:

Efficient Task Allocation and Monitoring

Problem-solving journeys comprise a series of tasks and actions. Onethread’s task management capability streamlines the delegation of specific responsibilities to team members. Assign tasks related to research, data analysis, or solution implementation and monitor progress in real time. This cultivates a sense of accountability and guarantees comprehensive coverage of every facet of the problem-solving process.

Facilitated Collaborative Decision-Making: Navigating intricate problems often demands collective decision-making. Onethread’s collaborative ecosystem empowers teams to deliberate over potential solutions, assess pros and cons, and make well-informed choices. Transparent discussions ensure that decisions are comprehensively comprehended and supported by the entire team.

Seamless Documentation and Insights Sharing:

Seamless Documentation and Insights Sharing

As the problem-solving journey unfolds, the accumulation of insights and conclusions becomes pivotal. Onethread’s collaborative document editing feature empowers teams to document their discoveries, chronicle the steps undertaken, and showcase successful solutions. This shared repository of documentation serves as a valuable resource for future reference and continuous learning.

With Onethread orchestrating the backdrop, team collaboration during problem-solving activities transforms into a harmonious fusion of insights, ideas, and actionable steps.

What are the 5 problem-solving skills?

The top 5 problem-solving skills in 2023 are critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and data literacy. Most employers seek these skills in their workforce.

What are the steps of problem-solving?

Problem-solving steps are as follows: 1. Define the problem clearly. 2. Analyze the issue in detail. 3. Generate potential solutions. 4. Evaluate these options. 5. Choose the best solution. 6. Put the chosen solution into action. 7. Measure the outcomes to assess effectiveness and improvements made. These sequential steps assist in efficient and effective problem resolution.

How do you teach problem-solving skills?

Teaching problem-solving involves modelling effective methods within a context, helping students grasp the problem, dedicating ample time, asking guiding questions, and giving suggestions. Connect errors to misconceptions to enhance understanding, fostering a straightforward approach to building problem-solving skills.

So here is all about “activities for problem solving”.No matter which activity you choose, engaging in problem-solving activities not only provides entertainment but also helps enhance cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, decision making, and creativity. So why not make problem solving a regular part of your routine?

Take some time each day or week to engage in these activities and watch as your problem-solving skills grow stronger. Plus, it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time and challenge yourself mentally.

So go ahead, grab a puzzle or gather some friends for a game night – get ready to have fun while sharpening your problem-solving skills!

quick team problem solving activity

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Developer marketplace

Top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles for remote teams

Blockchain and Crypto / March 6, 2022 by admin

Here is a list of the top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles best suited for remote teams. Read on!

What are problem solving activities?

The success of a company or organization depends heavily on the managers’ ability to help workers develop their problem solving skills. Problem solving activities that address areas such as teamwork and cooperation, adaptability or reinforcement of decision-making strategies help.

All processes of problem solving begin with the identification of the problem. The team will then evaluate the possible course of action and select the best way to tackle it. This needs a profound understanding of your team and its core strengths.

Not only among corporates, but problem solving activities find their use in educational settings as well. Students who are good at solving problems will become much more successful than those who are not. Remote work and education are on the rise.

Enabling smooth interpersonal communication to solve problems can become a task in these situations. However, engaging all the people concerned in problem solving activities before shifting to the remote space can ease the process.

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Key skills evaluated in problem solving activities

Problem solving skills refer to the necessary thinking skills that an individual or group uses when met with a challenge. Many issues require the use of several skills; others are easy and may require only one or two skills. These are some skills that help to solve problems,

  • Communication skills
  • Decision-making skills
  • Analytical thinking
  • Negotiation skills
  • Logical reasoning
  • Persistence
  • Lateral thinking

Problem solving skill examples

Several problems occur at the workplace. Problem solving skills can be technical problems that occur on websites or apps or addressing client concerns. Problems could be simple or complex. Business managers spend time and resources to solve problems.

They encourage their team to improve their analytical and logical abilities. Common issues in companies can be exploding data or changing technology, or financial management.

Did you know? Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in problem solving!

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Problem solving scenarios

Many problem solving scenarios occur at work. The basis to solve any problem is to evaluate and arrive at a solution. Analytical skill or problem solving ability is a skill many employers evaluate while hiring candidates.

Strong problem solving skills can be an asset to any organization. Organizations organize problem and solution activities to improve the problem solving abilities in the workplace.

1. Decision making games

Businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to stimulate their staff. Decision making games help employees to learn new skills and work effectively as a team. Decision making activities help to improve the creative problem solving and decision-making skills of the team. Here are some best Decision-making games,

1. Dumb Idea first – This game gives a hypothetical problem that could occur in your company. Ask each manager to think of the dumbest solution to the problem. After compiling the list of the ideas, the team reviews them.

You have a brainstorming session to make the “dumb ideas” feasible. This problem solving exercise underlines the importance of out-of-box thinking.

Benefits: Decision-making skill

Time duration: 10 to 15 minutes

Team size: 2 to more team managers

Material: Paper and pencil

2. Egg Drop Idea – The objective of the game is to build a container to protect the egg when dropped from a specified height using the material provided. Each team nominates a presenter who explains why the egg will survive the fall.

Once they have presented the idea, the team drops the egg to check if the idea has worked. Egg drop pyramid activities like the marshmallow challenge help teams to think on their feet.

Benefit: Decision-making skill and is a top problem solving skill example

Time duration: 15 – 30 minutes

Team size: 6 or more

Material: A cartoon of eggs, aprons to protect clothes, material for packing (cardboard, tape, elastics, plastic straws, etc.), material to clean up.

Instructions:

  • Every team gets an egg and should choose from the building materials. 
  • Grant everyone 20-30 minutes to build an egg carrier and guard against breaking. 
  • Remove each egg carrier from a ledge (that is, over a balcony) to see which carrier prevents it from cracking. 
  • If several eggs survive, continue to heighten until only one egg remains.

3. Dog, Rice, and Chicken – The dog, rice, and chicken game can be fun decision-making activities for adults. In this game, one team member plays the farmer, and the other team members are villagers who advise him. The farmer has to take three items chicken, dog, and rice across the river by boat.

There are the following constraints:- only one item can be carried on the boat. He cannot leave the chicken and dog alone because the dog will eat the chicken. He cannot leave the chicken alone with the rice because the chicken will eat the rice grains.

Benefit: creative problem solving examples that are applicable at work.

Time duration: 10-15 minutes.

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2. Teambuilding puzzle

Team building exercises are fun and creative ways to get your team to work together and improve problem solving skills.

1. Lost at Sea – In this game, you and your friends have chattered a yacht to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Since you do not have any navigation experience, you hire a captain and a two-person crew. Unfortunately, the crew and captain die when a fire breaks out on the yacht.

The yacht is severally damaged and is sinking. You and your friends have managed to save 15 items and a lifeboat. Your task is to rank the 15 items while you are waiting to be rescued. The activity lost at sea team building underlines the importance of problem solving skills in the workplace.

Benefits: Team building exercise and interaction

Time duration: 30 to 40 minutes

Team size: 4 to 6

Material: Lost in sea ranking for interaction chart for each member

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower – The marshmallow team-building activities have the goal of building the tallest tower as quickly as possible. To make the task more challenging the marshmallow is placed at the top of the tower. This is a fun puzzle activity for team building.

Benefit: Teambuilding puzzle

Time duration: 30 minutes

Material required: 20 sticks on raw uncooked spaghetti, a marshmallow, masking thread, and yarn of thread.

3. Go for Gold – This is an example of a marshmallow challenge similar to activities. The objective of this exercise is to create a structure using pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard to carry a marble from point A to point B using gravity.

Benefit: team building problem solving scenario examples

Team size: Minimum 6 persons

Material required: Each member has different material

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3. Work Problem Solving

Work problem solving activities help to use the skills you used in problem solving activities in your workplace.

1. Create your own – this game aims to create a brand new problem solving activity for the organization. The team can brainstorm for 1 hour. After one hour each team has to give a presentation about their activity outlining the key benefits.

Benefit: Understanding the problem solving process. Build creativity, improve negotiation, and Decision-making skills

  • When the participants arrive, you declare that they will create an original problem solving activity on their own, rather than spending an hour on an existing problem solving team-building exercise. 
  • Divide members into teams and encourage them to develop a new problem solving team-building exercise that will fit well with the organization. The activity should not be one they have engaged in or heard of before.
  • Every team has to show their new activity to everyone else after an hour and outline the main benefits.

2. Shrinking Vessel – make a shape on the floor using a rope where all the team members can fit. Reduce the size every 10 -15 minutes. The real challenge for the team is figuring out how to work together and keep everyone together.

Benefits: Adaptability and cognitive diversity

Material: Rope and large room

  • Place on the floor a big circle of rope. Position your whole team inside the circle. 
  • Lessen the circle size steadily. When it gets smaller, advise the team to keep the entire team inside the circle. Nobody must move out of the loop. See how small you can make the area until it cannot remain inside.

3. Legoman – the team is divided into groups of two or more people. Select an impartial individual who will make a structure in 10 minutes. Each team will compete to recreate it in fifteen minutes. Only one person is allowed to see the structure. They need to communicate vital parameters like color, shape, and size.

Benefits: Communication

Tools: Lego

4. What Would X Do – This problem solving activity stimulates teams to think of new ideas.

  • Benefits: Instant problem solving
  • Time Duration: 10-15 minutes
  • Materials Required: N/A
  • Let every team pretend to be someone famous. 
  • Every team needs to address the issue as if they were a famous person. Which are the choices they would consider? How will they do this? 
  • It helps all to consider options they may not have initially thought of.

Tip: Before you decide, a problem is worth solving, weigh the risks of solving it versus not solving it. 

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4. Team building riddles

Team building riddles are a great way to show the team group problem solving is usually more effective.

1. Barter puzzle – the team is broken into groups. Give each team a different jigsaw puzzle to solve. The groups have to complete the puzzle at the same time. The twist in the game is that some pieces of their puzzle belong to other puzzles.

The goal is to complete the puzzle before the other teams. Each group has to come with their method to convince other teams to handover the pieces they need, either by bartering pieces or donating time to the other teams. This puzzle piece team-building activity helps teams to collaborate.

Benefit: Team building and negotiating.

Material: Jigsaw puzzle for each team

Time: 30 minutes

2. Scavenger Hunt – in this game, each team has a list of the article to locate and bring back. The goal of the game is to finish the assigned list first. In the scavenger hunt, the team has a time limit to make the game more challenging. You have the flexibility of having the hunt outside or within the premises. The team-building puzzle game helps the team to look for creative solutions.

3. Escape – the goal is to solve clues and find the key to unlock the door in a limited time. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room. The team has 30 to 60 minutes to figure out the clues and unlock the door.

Benefit: Team building exercise

Material: Rope, key, lockable room, 5 to 10 puzzles

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5. Work together problems

Work together on problems helps to underline the need to collaborate while solving issues at work. Group challenge activities help the team work well together.

1. Bonding belt – each group is divided into 5 to 6 participants, who are bound together with rope or tape so that their movements are limited. The team has to reach from point A to point B, and the time is recorded. The teams collaborate to beat their previous score.

Benefits: Helps the team to collaborate and skills for problem solving scenario/

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Material: Cling film, belt, or rope

2. Scramble puzzle – the team members with blindfolds sit in a circle with the puzzle. The teammate without the blindfold sits outside the circle, with their back to the group. The blindfolded group tries to assemble the pieces of the puzzle. The outsider who has the same puzzle gives the team instructions to solve it.

Benefits: trust, leadership, and communication

Material: Preschool-level puzzles and blindfolds.

3. Flip it over – this is a classic work-together problem. In this game, 6 to 8 participants stand together on a blanket/towel/tarp. The challenge is to flip over the blanket or reverse it. The rule is that none of the participants can leave the blanket.

Benefit: Work together exercise

Duration: 30 minutes

Material: Blanket

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6. Team building survival games

Team building survival games helps to fine-tune problem solving scenarios that may occur at work. The activities encourage creative problem solving and decision making.

1. Stranded – Stranded helps in building effective communication. In this setting, the team is stranded in an office. The rooms will be locked, and doors and windows cannot be broken down. The team is asked to make a list of 10 items that they need to survive.

They need to rank items in the order of their importance. The team has to agree on the items and the order. Stranded is one of several popular survival team-building exercises.

Benefit: Team building and Decision-making exercises

  • Your team is stuck inside the building. Doors are closed, so there is no option to kick down the doors or smash the windows.
  • Grant the team 30 minutes to determine what ten things they need to thrive in the office and list them in order of importance.
  • The goal of the game is to get everyone to agree in 30 minutes about the ten things and their ranking.

2. Minefield – you randomly place items around the room or hallway and there is no clear path from one end of the room to another. The team is divided into pairs. One team member is blindfolded, and the other team member is the guide.

The guide navigates the blindfolded person across the minefield. The two partners cannot touch. This survival team-building activity underlines the need for clear communication.

Benefits: Communication and collaborative problem solving

Duration: 10-15 minutes

Material: Blindfold, empty room or hallway, and collection of random items.

3. Frostbite – in this survival scenario team-building exercise the team is trapped in Siberia. Each team has to elect a team captain. The team has to build a storm shelter with the material provided.

The twist in the game is the team captains cannot help physically since they have frostbite. Other team members are suffering snow blindness and are blindfolded. The electric fan will be turned on in 30 minutes to see if the shelter built will survive the storm.

Benefit: Leadership, skills action plan, and team building survival games

Team size: 4 to 5 members

Material: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

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7. Group decision making games

Group decision making games help encourage creative problem solving and decision making at work. Here is a bunch of group decision making games

1. Reverse Pyramid – the team members stand in a pyramid shape. The next step is to flip the base and apex of the pyramid. The limiting factor in only three persons can move.

Benefits: Group Decision-making and collaboration

2. Tower of Hanoi – in this game, there are three towers/posts/rods with 5 or more discs arranged conical shape with the smallest shape at the top. The objective of the game is to move the entire stack to another location retaining the shape. Some conditions of the games are only one disc can be moved at a time. Only the top disc can be moved. Another rule of the game is larger disc cannot be put on a smaller disc.

Benefits: This team-building exercise helps problem solving within the participants.

3. Human Knot – the team stands in a circle every person holds hands with a person not standing next to them. When everyone is cross-connected, the aim is to untangle the structure without letting go of anybody’s hand.

Benefit: group problem solving

Also Read: Interested in crypto – find an expert digital asset investor now!

8. Funny problem solving games

We need to solve problems for personal and professional lives. Funny problem solving exercises are a light way. Funny problem solving can help reduce stress levels.

1. Pencil drop – in the pencil drop challenge, one end of the pencil is tied to a pencil and the other is tied around the waist of a team member. The other team member puts the pencil into the bottle placed below. The participants are not allowed to use their hands.

Benefit: Team bonding

Team size: 2 members each

Material: Some pencil and bottle

2. Blind drawing – this game requires two players to sit back to back. One participant describes an image in front of them without giving stating anything obvious. The other participant needs to draw it using the description. The outcome can be fun.

3. Be the character – in this activity, you pretend to be an imaginary character while trying to solve a problem. This game gives a unique perspective on your solution and whether the solution is feasible for other members.

Also Read: Keen to invest in crypto – find a trustworthy cryptocurrency consultant now!

9. Group problem solving activities for adults

Group problem solving activities are very efficient, especially for adults. These can be used in any setting to enhance problem solving skills. 

1. Human Knots

  • Benefits: Communication skills, collaboration
  • Time Duration: 10 – 15 minutes.

This is one of the most straightforward group problem solving activities that can be done with any group. It facilitates communication and critical thinking in the face of a challenging and complex question. Various group members will possibly suggest a variety of solutions, and each will need to be reviewed and adopted by the organization as a whole.

  • Have the group stand in a small circle (make several circles when you are a larger group). Every person in the loop will hold the hands of 2 other people who are not directly next to them. That would make a messy crossed arms knot.
  • Ask the group to disentangle themselves without moving their hands at any point in time. They may be unable to disentangle completely to form a circle again. Still, they would have begun to work together to solve the problem by the end of the activity.

2. Frostbite 

  • Benefits: Leadership, decision-making, trust, adaptability
  • Time Duration: 30 minutes.
  • Materials Required: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

Your group is trapped in the barren deserts of Siberia, and a sudden winter storm is approaching. You have to create a shelter with only the materials in hand that can survive the storm’s harsh winds. The leader of your expedition was afflicted with frostbite in both hands, sadly, and all the others experience severe snow blindness.

  • Divide the group into clusters of 4-5. Every group will have to elect a chief. 
  • Group leaders are not allowed to use their hands to support the group in any way, and group members should be blindfolded during the exercise. 
  • The groups have 30 minutes to build a small tent structure that can withstand the wind from the fan’s highest location. 

3. Dumbest Idea First

  • Benefits: Critical thinking, creative problem solving, quick problem solving
  • Time Duration: 15 – 20 minutes
  • Materials Required: Pen or pencil, a piece of paper.

Dumbest Idea First is one of the most creative problem solving activities for groups. This can encourage your creativity by thinking out of the box and lead you to ideas that would typically sound too insane to work. You can broaden the possibilities by looking at these crazy solutions first, and find potential alternatives that might not be as obvious.

  • Present your team with a question. It could be a real-world dilemma facing the group, or it could be a created scenario. For example, your company attempts to beat a rival to win a high-paying customer contract, but the customer bends to your competitors. You have a short period before they make the final decision to change their mind.
  • With the given question, advise your group to come up with the dumbest ideas to tackle the issue. Anything can be written down. 
  • After each person has put forward a few ideas, go through the list, and analyze each plan to see which are the most feasible. List them from the highest level of feasibility to the lowest level.  

4. Wool Web 

  • Benefits: Leadership, communication
  • Time Duration: 30 minutes
  • Materials Required: Some balls of yarn.

As hard as replicating the magnitude of the real-world problems is, that is no excuse not to try! Wool web creates a dilemma that appears complicated at first, but groups will learn to break down complicated challenges into solvable problems one move at a time.

This happens by using the right strategy and working together. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most stimulating problem solving activities for adults.

  • Split the group into similarly large teams. Every time, it receives a yarn ball. 
  • Tell each team to turn the yarn ball into a vast web. Give them around 5-10 minutes to do this. When done, rotate all the teams so that every team is on a yarn web they have not set up. 
  • Every group must choose one person to untangle the web. That individual would be blindfolded and be guided by the rest of the team on how to unwind the web using only verbal instructions. The first team to achieve it wins the game.

5. Tallest Tower 

  • Benefits: Creative thinking, collaboration
  • Materials Required: 1 bag of marshmallows, one packet of uncooked spaghetti.

Simple building projects can help group members create strategies to overcome box issues. Tallest Tower is another one of the most creative problem solving activities. Groups will compete with only two materials to make the tallest tower in a fixed period.

  • Divide the group into two, which have an equal number of players. Provide 20 – 30 uncooked spaghetti noodles and 3-4 marshmallows to every team. 
  • Groups must compete in the provided period to build the tallest tower using only the materials supplied. A marshmallow has to be set at the top of the tower.

Also Read: Struggling with blockchain – find an expert blockchain analyst now!

10. Problem solving activities for students

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for students and kids,

1. Brainstorm Bonanza – Brainstorm Bonanza is one of the best problem solving activities for students. As a teacher, making your students create lists relevant to something you are teaching at the moment can be a fantastic way to help them expand their knowledge of a subject when learning to solve problems.

  • Benefits: Problem solving
  • Materials Required: Pen and paper

1. If you are discussing a real, current, or fictional occurrence that did not work out well, let your students imagine ways that the protagonist or participants might have produced a better, more favorable result.

2. They can brainstorm independently or in groups. 

2. Clue Me In – this is one of the most enjoyable problem solving games. It facilitates logical thinking and cognitive development.

  • Benefits: Cognitive development, logical thinking
  • Time Duration: 20 minutes
  • Materials Required: A bag, clues, items as necessary
  • Select a collection of things relating to a specific occupation, social phenomenon, historical incident, object, etc.
  • Assemble individual objects (or pictures of things) commonly linked to the target response.
  • Place all of them in a bag (five-10 clues ought to be enough).
  • Then, have a student reach into the bag and take out clues one by one.
  • Select a minimum number of clues to draw before they make their first guess (two-three).
  • After that, the student should guess, pulling each clue until they think it is right.
  • See how quickly the student can solve the riddle.

3. Survivor Scenario – Create a hypothetical situation that allows students to think creatively to make it through. One example may be being stuck on an island, realizing that three days of help would not come.

The community has a small amount of food and water and has to establish shelter from the island’s objects. This would undoubtedly be one of the fascinating problem solving activities for students.

  • Benefits: Logical thinking, collaboration
  • Encourage working together as a group.
  • Listen to each student who has an idea about making it safe and secure across the three days.

4. Moral Dilemmas – Create several potential moral dilemmas that your students can face in life, write down, and place each object in a bowl or container. These things may include items like, “I’ve seen a good friend of mine shoplifting. What is it that I would do?” or “The cashier gave me an additional $1.50 in change after I purchased candy from the shop. What is it that I would do?”

  • Benefits: Logical thinking
  • Time Duration: 5 minutes per student
  • Materials Required: Container, bits of paper with moral dilemmas written
  • Ask every student to draw an item from the bag one after the other and read it aloud. 
  • They must then tell the class the response on the spot as to how they would handle the situation.

5. Problem solving box – this is an activity that will help on both cognitive and emotional levels for students. 

  • Benefits: Logical thinking, decision making
  • Materials Required: Box, paper, pen
  • Have your students design and decorate a medium-sized box with a top slot. Name it as the “Problem Solving Box.”
  • Invite students to write down anonymously and apply any concerns or problems they may have at school or at home, which they do not appear to be able to work out on their own.
  • Let a student draw one of the things from the box once or twice a week, and read it aloud.
  • Finally, as a group, let the class work out the best way students can approach the problem and eventually solve it.

Also Read: Invest large in bitcoins – get a profitable deal from a bitcoin OTC broker now!

11. Problem solving activities for kids

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for kids,

1. Puzzle-solving – Solving puzzles is one of the best problem solving activities for kids out there. Essentially, every puzzle is a big collection of muddled-up items to figure out and bring back together again.

Kids must be introduced to puzzles with regularity. These are useful for improving skills in reasoning. The best kinds to choose from are wooden puzzles with a wooden frame. They last long, and the structure serves as the foundation to direct children during construction. 

  • Benefits: Reasoning skills
  • Time Duration: Varies
  • Materials Required: Puzzles according to the age level

Instructions: 

  • Show the kids a demo of how a particular puzzle can be solved. 
  • Then, let them choose a puzzle of their liking from the available choices. 
  • Ask them to solve their chosen puzzles. 

2. Memory Games – Memory games will improve memory and attention to detail for your child. 

  • Benefits: Attention to detail
  • Materials Required: Matching pairs of images
  • Using matching pairs of images and turn them all face down, shuffled, on a table.
  • Take turns to pick any two cards, and face them on the table.
  • You hold the cards if you turn over a similar pair, and if the pair does not match, turn the cards over before it is your turn to try again. 
  • A teacher/parent must encourage the kids to concentrate on where the pictures are, and seek to find a matching pair on each turn.

3. Building games – Construction toys like building blocks, wooden blocks, or legos should be a staple in a kid’s home every day. Playing with them is one of the most fun problem solving activities for kids. Anything that your child builds is a challenge as it involves thinking about what to create and how to put together the parts to get a workable and usable design. 

  • Benefits: Decision making
  • Materials Required: Construction toys.

1. Let your child build a challenge openly and often, and ask him/her to build a particular structure, with conditions. For instance:

  • Create two towers with a bridge that connects them.  
  • Create a creature that stands alone and has three arms.

2. Observe how your child uses trial-and-error before finding a way to bring the idea into motion.

4. Tic-Tac-Toe – this is an excellent game for teaching decision-making skills. It encourages kids to think before they act and weigh the potential consequences. 

  • Materials Required: Pencil, paper
  • Draw a simple tic-tac-toe table on paper or chalkboard.
  • Take turns to add a nought or a cross to the table to see who is the first to make a line of three.
  • Your kid will likely catch on in no time before placing their symbol and start thinking carefully.
  • Coloured counters or different items can be used to play this game as well.

5. Building a Maze – This activity is fun and fits for any age. It will also be a lot more enjoyable than doing a maze in an activity book, particularly for younger kids. 

  • Materials Required: Chalk
  • Draw a big maze with jumbo chalk on the paving. Make passages, including one or two, which end in an impasse. Teach your kid how to get out of it.  
  • Make the maze more complicated and add more dead-end passages as your child gets better at figuring out a path and finding the way out.

Also Read: Developing a blockchain – hire an expert blockchain developer now!

What is a problem solving process?

When a team or person faces an issue or obstacle, it can be tempting to quickly track a potential solution and set up a fast fix. This could happen without understanding the complexity of the problem and pursuing a systematic approach to seeking a solution.

The attempts to address issues or obstacles may become unstructured and frustrating without a consistent method. End-to-end processes for problem solving offer a mechanism for a community to tackle any size or nature, and see results. Problem solving activities for adults, kids, and students can help make the problem solving process very useful.

Army problem solving process

There are 7 steps to problem solving army model,

  • Recognize and define the problem – The first step army problem solving process is defining the problem precisely and determining the root cause.
  • Gather facts and make assumptions – You need to gather all information you have at your disposal. Common resources for information may be documentation and policies. Assumptions are unsubstantiated facts. Use facts rather than assumptions when you need to analyze the scope of the problem.
  • Generate alternatives – One of the key steps in military problem solving is finding ways to solve the problem. Ideally, it best to have multiple approaches to solve the problem. Take input from peers and subordinates if possible.
  • Analyze possible solutions – Analyze each possible solution with advantages and disadvantages. You evaluate each solution according to screening and feasibility criteria. Reject the solution when it fails in the screening process.
  • Compare Alternatives – Another crucial step in the army problem solving model is to evaluate alternatives for cost and benefits. You need to consider your experience and immediate future. Tabulating each solution with the pros and cons will help clear the picture.
  • Make an executive your decision – Make a decision and prepare an action plan, and put it in motion.
  • Assess the result – You need to monitor the implementation of the plan and modify it if required. Establishing critical steps and milestones will help to ensure success.

Army problem solving games

  • Capture the flag – the game helps in team building and army problem solving. Two teams compete against one another to retrieve a flag or object from the opposing team camp base and get into their camp base. This game is flexible, and ground rules need to be set before the game starts.
  • Paintball – Paintball is a fun military problem solving activity. You can have many modifications and variations of the paintball game. The aim is to fire paint pellets at the opposing team. Laser tag is another variation of the game.
  • Firing blind – Firing blind is a game where each team has a large number of water balloons. At the other end of the field has to hit the target is protected by a tarp from direct firing. The team has to hit the target that is covered. One team member acts as the observer and directs the team to hit the target with the water balloons.

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Obstacles to problem solving

Problem solving can take time and patience, one of the best ways to solve any problem is pausing and evaluating the problem. Obstacles to problem solving are,

  • Misdiagnosis – Misdiagnosis is a common problem can occur due to preconceived idea, biases or judgments. Defining and having a concrete understanding of the problem is the first step in the problem solving activity. This can be difficult. If you are not careful, you may spend your time and resources solving the wrong problem and finding the wrong solution.
  • Communication bias – Communication barriers are caused when we are unable to explain the problem to the team, or presuming we know more than everyone else. Everyone on the team must be on the same page. You may need to acknowledge you have a limited understanding of the problem.
  • Solution bias – A common obstacle in problem solving is thinking there may be a universal solution or thinking the same solution can solve multiple problems. You need to evaluate a problem independently than try to force-fit a solution that worked previously.
  • Cognitive bias – One of the barriers to finding an effective solution is cognitive bias, or the tendency to jump to conclusions. To find solutions fast firms often end up with an irrelevant solution. This may cause more problems down the line.
  • Lack of empathy – Every problem is associated with human emotions or abilities. It is important to identify and recognize people affected by the problem or it will be difficult to find a solution that will solve help.

Also Read: Developing an NFT – hire an expert NFT developer now!

Famous virtual problem solving software

Traditionally watercoolers chat is a great way to bring people together and help team members interact with one another. A virtual water cooler has a similar concept where people interact in a similar virtual setting or a dedicated virtual room. It allows remote teams to bond. Software that offers virtual water coolers services,

  • unremot.com – provides users with a unique water cooler experience. The app provides unique solutions to remote teams.
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Informal Whatsapp group
  • Donut over slack channels

quick team problem solving activity

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Additional Team Building Resources

17 fun ideas for quick team building activities.

employees fist pumping

Teams are made up of different people with a variety of personality types and skill sets, and that’s an advantage! If you want to help boost their collaboration skills and build real team unity on a regular basis, it’s time to use quick team building activities. Not sure what quick team building activities look like or how they can benefit your team and your company? We’ve got your answers below, so keep reading!

Table Of Contents

Why Are Team Building Activities Important?

Why Choose Quick Team Building Activities

17 Fun Quick Team Building Activities

team-in-circle-office

Why are team building activities important? 

Team building activities are essential for teams to develop good communication skills, build unity amongst teammates, learn problem-solving skills, and boost employee engagement . Although doing activities at work may seem like just a time-killer, team building activities intentionally enhance your employees’ overall productivity by strengthening their skills as a team and as individuals.

If you haven’t started using team building activities and games at work, you should know that your team members are probably waiting for them! Statistics show that about 75% of employees say that teamwork and collaboration are important at work. As teams grow, coworkers are able to get more and more specialized in their specific roles. If you’re part of a growing team or you want to grow your team, including team building activities will help hone your team members to work together. They’ll get an idea of how best to communicate with each other and will build relational trust in the workplace.

According to the career site Indeed , some benefits of team building include more creativity, improved morale, encouraging collaboration, and a better work environment. Because teams bring together different people with different strengths and personalities, these benefits are important in building a successful team. Team building activities are time and financial investments with a high ROI for your team and your company!

cartoon of employees communicating

These kinds of activities can also be fun, bringing overall positivity to your workplace and improving morale. Forbes notes that when employees have fun at work, their productivity increases and their mental health improves. You can play office games, engage your employees with non-work-related topics during breaks, or even share light-hearted videos or articles with your team. Mix up your physical spaces by getting your team outside (and of course, there are plenty of indoor games when the weather doesn’t cooperate). A fun and engaging work environment keeps employees around for longer and encourages them to really care about the work they do at your company. 

As you grow and develop your employees, team building activities can help you achieve your goals faster and with more results!

Why choose quick team building activities

When people think about team building activities, many times they think of a half-day activity or a full day away from the office. The good thing about team building is that it doesn’t have to take that much time to cultivate the benefits of team building! There are lots of team building activities that can give your team the benefits above in a short amount of time.  

employee smiling in a group

Quick activities or full-day activities?

What’s great about using quick activities or games is that you can do them more often than time-consuming activities. Whereas you may spend a portion of your budget every quarter on a big team building day (which is highly valuable!), your employees will benefit from weekly boosts of team building. It’s like giving them a weekly practice period for honing or building skills that they use on a daily basis. For instance, teams thrive with good communication skills. Quick team building activities can build communication skills on a regular basis.

When you have the opportunity to introduce team building activities over and over again, your employees begin to look forward to the activity. They’ll start to see the benefit of the activities and will remain engaged as you present each one to them. Keep an ear to the ground for feedback on the activities you choose—some might be a big hit that you’ll want to repeat, while others you might want to save for another time after you tune and refine it for your team.

When to use a quick team building activity

If you look at your team’s schedule and think, “There’s no way we can fit in an activity this week, next week, or this quarter,” have no fear! Time constraints shouldn’t stop you from team building. There are quick team building activities that range from five minutes to half an hour, and, again, think of these activities as an investment in your team. 

employee circling date on calendar cartoon

Add on a quick team building activity to the beginning of a team meeting or to start your week off as you prep your team in a Monday meeting. Will a ten-minute activity at the start of a meeting derail it? Probably not—in fact, it will probably help your meeting run smoother! Using activities to start meetings helps teammates be more open to discussion and creates trust on the front-end. 

You can also do an activity at the end of the week as a wrap-up. At the end of the week, your employees might feel a little drained, so adding in a quick activity at an end-of-the-week meeting can give them a boost of energy. 

Additionally, if you’re onboarding new hires and want to build bridges between them and your existing team, quick team building activities work great when sprinkled into those “meet and greet” meetings. Use them at team mixers as an introduction, or even use them as raffles during team happy hours. When you bring an element of fun into these activities, they’ll feel less like “work” and more like genuine engagement!

Quick team building activities are perfect for both remote teams and in-person teams. If you manage a mainly remote team , be sure to check out our resources of virtual team building for a boost in your employees!

team building virtual escape room Orlando

Ready to start using some fun quick team building activities? Check out our list below of seventeen of our favorite activities! Some of these activities and games end with a team or an individual as a winner. Be sure to have a unique prize for them to properly congratulate their victory!

1. Coworker Bingo

Time: 2–5 minutes

Number of People: At least 6

Benefits: Builds relationship

Things Needed to Play: Pre-made bingo sheet 

How to Play: Come up with a bingo sheet that has different common experiences or traits on them (i.e., “Has been to Europe,” “Is left-handed,” “Has a master’s degree”). Give your team a short amount of time to go around the room and fill up their bingo sheet by asking their coworkers if they fit any of the boxes.

employees playing bingo cartoon

2. Pictionary Chain

Time: 10 minutes

Number of People: 4–10 people

Benefits: Develops communication, boosts creativity

Things Needed to Play: Index cards, pens

How to Play: Sit employees in a row or circle and give the first person a simple drawing prompt. They will draw that on their index card and pass it to the next person. That person must write what the picture is on their index card and pass it to the next person. Alternate between drawing and writing as the prompt moves from person to person.

Time: 3–10 minutes

Number of People: 4–15 people

Benefits: Communication skills, problem-solving

Things Needed to Play: A deck of cards

How to Play: Pick out a suit from the deck of cards and have everyone draw a card from that suit. Whoever has the lowest card is the guesser and has to leave the room. Everyone draws again once the guesser leaves the room, and whoever has the highest card is the copycat. Everyone else in the room will copy what the copycat does (touches their ear, coughs, scratches their head, etc.). Invite the guesser back into the room and give them 1 minute to figure out who the copycat is.

cartoon employees playing cards

4. Paper Plane Challenge

Benefits: Boosts creativity, creates camaraderie

Things Needed to Play: Paper (can bring in paper of different weights)

How to Play: Give everyone time to make a paper airplane, then have a “fly off.” Each person will give points to whose plane flies the farthest, flies for the longest time, and looks the best. The person with the most points wins.

employees throwing paper planes

5. Roses and Thorns

Time: 10–15 minutes

Number of People: 3–5 people  

Benefits: Builds relationship, trust, positivity, and communication skills

Things Needed to Play: Nothing

How to Play: Each person has 3 minutes to share their “roses” (good things that have happened at work during the week) and their “thorns” (difficult things that have happened during the week). Set the tone in the room by limiting distractions (closed laptops, silent phones).

6. Team Trivia

Time: 20–30 minutes

Number of People: 6–20 people

Benefits: Boosts camaraderie, builds relationship

Things Needed to Play: Access to a trivia game

How to Play: Divide your team into smaller teams (at least three in each team) and have them face off in a trivia war. You can pick one specific topic for your trivia, or if you want to go the extra mile, you can create a trivia game that is centered around your workplace.

quick team problem solving activity

7. Team Playlist

Time: 5–10 minutes

Number of People: 2–10 people

Benefits: Builds relationship and camaraderie

Things Needed to Play: A YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Music account

How to Play: Allow team members the chance to create a music playlist together that best describes their team. Depending on how many teammates are contributing, each person can add two or three songs to the playlist.

8. Brackets

Number of People: 2–15 people

Benefits: Builds relationship, communication

Things Needed to Play: A pre-made bracket of any category. (You can make one or you can find one online. Bracket Fights.com is a good resource.)

How to Play: Choose a category with multiple choices (i.e., fast food restaurants, NBA teams, cities) and allow teammates to discuss (or fight) about which choice should move forward in the bracket.

9. Weekend in a Word

Time: 3–15 minutes (about one minute per team member)

Benefits: Build relationship, communication skills

How to Play: Each team member shares how their weekend was in one word. They can’t use the same word that someone else used. To spice things up, have them give their words in alphabetical order. The first person would use an adjective that starts with the letter A, the next person would use the letter B, and so on.

employees chatting over video call

10. The Numbers Game

Time: 10–30 minutes

Number of People: 5–15 people

Benefits: Problem-solving, communication skills

Things Needed to Play: A piece of paper for each player with a single-digit number written on it.

How to Play: Call out large-digit numbers and give your team a time limit to get in order and create that number with their papers. For larger teams, you can repeat digits and split your group into smaller teams to create a challenge.

11. Quick Puzzle

Time: 15–30 minutes

Benefits: Communication skills, problem-solving, boosts creativity

Things Needed to Play: Children’s puzzles (100 pieces or less)

How to Play: Divide your group into small teams and give them an unsolved puzzle. The first group to finish their puzzle wins.

employees putting together puzzles pieces

12. Salt and Pepper

Number of People: 6–20 (an even number works best for this game)

Things Needed to Play: Index cards and pens

How to Play: Come up with items that come in a pair, such as salt and pepper, Sonny and Cher, or peanut butter and jelly. Write one item on each index card and tape the index cards to the players’ backs. Team members have to go around the room and ask each other questions to figure out where the other half of their pair is. As they ask people questions, they must figure out what their index card is by guessing from clues. 

13. Silent Building Project

Number of People: 4–20 people

Benefits: Communication skills, creativity

Things Needed to Play: Toothpicks and tape

How to Play: Divide your group into teams. Show a picture of a famous building or site (i.e., the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, Machu Picchu) and have each team use toothpicks and tape to recreate it. Teams are not allowed to talk as they build their building or sculpture. After each team is done, allow everyone to vote on which one looks most like the original. 

employees building wooden tower

14. Ice Breaker Questions

Benefits: Builds unity and communication skills

Things Needed to Play: A set of ice breaker questions ( here are 160 of our favorite ones! )

How to Play: Pose an ice breaker question to the whole group, or give team members a small stack of questions to go around and ask each other. Allow time for your team to connect with one another as they learn about their teammates.

15. Pirate’s Treasure

Number of People: 5–10 people

Benefits: Builds camaraderie and problem-solving skills

Things Needed to Play: A chair, a blindfold, and a “treasure”

How to Play: Place the “treasure” (it can be any item, big or small) under the chair and choose one person to be the pirate. The pirate sits blindfolded on the chair and tries to guard the treasure without getting off the chair as other teammates try to steal it. If the pirate touches one of the “thieves,” that person is out of the game.

employees blindfolding each other

16. Minefield

Number of People: 4–16 people (even numbers work best for this game, but a group of three would be okay)

Benefits: Communication skills, trust building

Things Needed to Play: Blindfolds and an obstacle course. Can be played inside in a hallway or somewhere outside.

How to Play: Team members will pair up and blindfold one person in each team. Teams will face each other in a race to the end of the obstacle course. The non-blindfolded team member will guide their teammate using only words.

17. Helium Stick

Time: 10–20 minutes

Things Needed to Play: A lightweight stick of some kind (can use the handle from a broomstick)

How to Play: Line players up in two rows facing each other and have each of them stick out their index fingers on both hands. Place the stick on their row of fingers and have them lower the stick to the ground. The catch is, everyone’s fingers must be touching the stick at all times. If someone’s finger isn’t on the stick at any point, they have to start over.

helium-stick-team-building-activity

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Quick team building activities are beneficial for all kinds of teams, from remote teams to executive teams to newly formed teams! If you need a quick boost in productivity or in a cohesive team, add one of these games to your schedule today. Your team members will be happy to do something out of the norm, plus your company will benefit from more engaged employees who are getting better at their jobs.

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quick team problem solving activity

  • August 24, 2021
  • Featured , Management Tips , Mental health , Team Building , Virtual Experiences

Post: The 13 Best Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Employees playing reverse pyramid a team building problem solving activity

This post was last updated on, August 13th, 2022

There is a team-building problem-solving activity for everyone. Whether you’re looking to have fun and make new friends or sharpen your team’s skills, team-building activities are the perfect solution!

In this blog post, we will cover 13 team-building activities that can help improve problem-solving skills while increasing productivity and morale.

Benefits of problem solving activities team building

We all know the importance of team building . It’s how we build relationships, foster creativity, and innovate in order to succeed. One way that team building is done today is through problem-solving activities.

Problem-solving activities:

  • Build stronger teams, improve morale and encourage employees to work together. Collaboration is improved because teams are better able to solve problems together when they’re more engaged with each other
  • Foster better communication skills among team members, especially amongst remote teams.
  • Provide an outlet for creative thinking and increase confidence in employees who may not otherwise speak up or participate in departmental meetings.
  • Group problem-solving activities help your team increase productivity and motivation within the workplace and can align employees with company goals and objectives.
  • Improve mental health of team members by reducing stress and improving the moods of team members.

Problem solving team building activities are hands-on, creative, and collaborative. They help team members trust each other more in order to grow their relationship as teammates. 

Oftentimes problem-solving team-building activities can be done virtually which is important for virtual teams or remote companies who don’t have the opportunity to interact face to face.

What is problem solving in team building?

Rather than having so-called frivolous fun with ice breaker questions and virtual happy hours (those types of team building activities do have their place) problem solving games are about identifying leadership and decision-making skills by solving problems.

The more efficient a team is at problem-solving activities, the more successful they can be at actually solving real-world problems in the workplace.

Quick and easy team building problem solving activities

It’s time to have some problem-solving fun! Here are some quick and easy team-building games for your next event.

The blind drawing game challenge

In this creative problem solving challenge, team members have to rely on their teammates for input when drawing an object from a list.

Each team chooses one participant to wear a blindfold while another member describes the item they must draw without telling the “artist” exactly what that item is.

The team whose drawing is closest to the actual item at the end of the activity wins!

Ideal for small groups of up to six.

Stumped for ideas on what to draw? Ask teams to draw your company logo.

Pro tip: to make this simple team building exercise even more challenging, have each non-drawing team member provide just one clue as to what the item is.

Inspired by the Jodie Foster Panic Room movie, group members of this team-building activity must take refuge in a boardroom, but before they do each participant must take with them just one item they feel will help their team’s survival before locking the door.

Once inside each participant must present to the rest of the team why they choose their specific item and then work together to rank the items in order of importance to their overall survival.

Pro tip: Each team must decide in 30 minutes or less whether or not their goal is to either survive in the panic room for a long period of time or to break free! In those same 30 minutes, teams must also collect their 10 items so time is of the essence.

Reverse Pyramid

While using copious amounts of red plastic cups is not ideal, nor environmentally friendly, playing with glass cups or ceramic mugs may potentially be dangerous.

In ‘Reverse Pyramid’, teams must build the tallest pyramid from the ground up. Starting with just a single cup (recyclable paper cups are also another great alternative) teams must work together to lift the top of the tower to add to the base below.

Hard to imagine? Watch this YouTube video of a ‘Reverse Pyramid’ in action.

Classic team building problem solving activities

The famous high school egg drop experiment.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall … Humpty Dumpty had a great …(sorry we couldn’t help ourselves).

The egg drop team building exercise, also known as ‘Defend the Egg’ is a problem solving skills game that involves building a structure out of random ordinary items such as masking tape, rubber bands, sticky notes, etc that will protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a high elevation.

The goal is to have each team build a structure that they can agree upon that will not only protect the egg but also allow it to be retrieved afterward.

The team with the highest percentage of successful drops wins!

Ideal for groups of up to six people.

The Lego challenge

The Lego challenge is one of the best team-building activities out there. In this activity, groups have an hour to complete a piece with their given number of LEGO bricks (which may vary depending on complexity).

After time runs out, everyone will get together and show off what they made!

The goal? Improve communication among team members by refining methods for problem-solving through creative thinking.

Domino effect challenge

Though it may sound like a simple game, the Domino effect challenge is an initiative that has been used in schools and businesses all over the world.

The challenge? To create the largest chain reaction contraption possible using whatever materials you wish including dominos should you choose to.

In this collaborative and creative problem solving exercise, participants are split into teams, and each work together on building their own individual section of the challenge.

Once group members agree on their final design, or time is up, all teams will then come together to either join their sections together to create one cohesive chain reaction, or to compete against each other.

Ideal for teams of up to five people.

Fun fact: The Guinness World Record of the most dominoes toppled by an individual is 321,197 by Liu Yang (China). And the Guinness World Record for the largest human mattress chain of dominoes was 2,019 people by Ortobom Globo of Sao Paulo Brazil #truestory!

Fun team building problem solving activities

Organizational jenga.

Think of the board game Jenga, with a twist. Divide your group into small teams and give them equal numbers of blocks, either wooden blocks or an actual Jenga set!

After everyone has built their structure as per company hierarchies, divide resources evenly between each group so they are balanced in size and type.

Now comes the fun part: take turns removing one block at a time without destroying any other pieces on that level- if there is too much weight on top then it will collapse!

This exercise gets people thinking about what happens when we don’t have the right personnel for every position.

This team building activity is great for groups of up to six people.

Pro tip: Use colored blocks instead of regular ones and get ready for laughter when someone knocks down another person’s block.

The marshmallow & spaghetti tower

The spaghetti tower is a classic team-building game and a great way to use up leftover spaghetti in your kitchen cupboards.

Participating people gather uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows, to build the tallest tower possible.

Besides the structural integrity of the tower, teams are then evaluated on three major factors: the amount of towers, tower height, and uniformity.

Got a remote team? In the virtual team building version, participants create their own towers, rather than building one grand freestanding tower.

Escape room 

Escape rooms are excellent group problem solving exercises that usually take place in an hour or so.

Players have to solve puzzles and riddles based on a theme to escape the room.

Teams are usually split into groups of six and have an hour to solve the puzzles in order to escape from the room. If they fail, then they are locked inside until their time expires!

They’re quite difficult to create on their own, so you may need to team up with an escape room company for this. Ideal for groups of up to six people, with one or two facilitators, present along the way, and reasonably priced at approximately $25+ per person.

Best Virtual Problem Solving Games & Activities for Groups

Geocache adventure.

This treasure hunt will require a GPS device, in the form of an app on your phone or built into it. The clues you hide are part of a bigger question that needs to be solved by finding and locating Geocaches within different locations.

One variation is using QR codes around the office or home where we can mix geographic coordinates with other hidden treasures which could be identified through any smartphone-enabled camera (i.e., scanning for riddles).

This activity promotes creative problem solving while working together as teams towards accomplishing specific aims at designated times!

Online escape rooms

Being “trapped” in an escape room is a satisfying challenge for any puzzle solver. With digital versions, you can now enjoy the experience from anywhere with just your computer!

Players are given a set of puzzles or clues and have to use their problem solving skills in order to escape.

This team building activity is great for groups of up to four people, with one team member as the team leader who can allocate tasks so everyone feels involved.

Virtual scavenger hunt

A virtual scavenger hunt is perfect for a team that is working remotely and wants to have a little bit of fun while problem solving. It also makes for a great team building event if you’re looking to change things up while increasing your sense of teamwork. Here are the basics: 

Your group will be given a list with different items, locations, or actions written on it.

Each item has been assigned a point value so teams (or individuals) can compete against each other by trying to collect as many points before time runs out.

As the world becomes increasingly more competitive, businesses are looking for new ways to keep their small teams happy and productive. One way of doing this is through problem solving activities that present novel tasks in a fun environment.

Working with others on challenges can help build better communication skills with remote teams as well as make teams more cognizant of team roles.

Businesses all over are starting to realize how important group interaction is for improving morale while also making work environments less stressful since it’s always nice having peers there who will support you.

Team building problem solving activities like these provide an excellent opportunity for teams from various departments to interact easily without feeling overwhelmed by unfamiliar circumstances—while also getting comfortable with taking risks and thinking outside the box.

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It is a universal skill sought by employers and managers alike.

Problem solving activities are perfect opportunities to explore different aspects of what it means to be an effective team while still being a collaborative team.

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SnackNation

12 Wacky & Fun 5 Minute Team Building Activities For Work In 2024

quick team problem solving activity

When we hear “team building activities,” many of us think of office scavenger hunts , murder mysteries , escape rooms , and brewery tours (all GREAT examples, by the way).

But team building doesn’t have to be an all-day event, covering a whiteboard full of agenda topics. Booking calendar time for some synergetic 5-minute team-building exercises can be a game changer.

It’s just as easy to carve out time to play 5-minute games for virtual meetings as well. Make it an icebreaker game or use it to close out the meeting. Either way, 5-minute team building activities for work have a big impact on your company culture.

Not only are 5-minute team building games a brilliant idea because… well… we’re busy. And it’s only 5 minutes. But they’re also perfect because, no matter the size or location of your teams, it’s easy to slide a fun activity into a 5-minute time limit.

You can plan 5-minute team building activities for small groups just as easily as you can for large groups, and the same for virtual team building activities.

Be the boss who preplans energetic 5-minute office games. Or pivot to 5-minute games for online meetings if you’re connecting remote teams. Pull the entire team together and give everyone a breather with one of these fantastically fun 5-minute team building ideas.

1. Mindfulness Bingo

Mindfulness-Bingo

🚨 What is Mindfulness Bingo?

Download a digital bingo card that will inspire your team to cultivate more mindfulness at work.

Take five minutes to send out the bingo card to your employees and see who can complete their bingo card and practice some mindfulness strategies when you have a few minutes during your work day.

The Mindfulness Bingo template was created by the folks at Bonusly who offer free templates to engage with your team. Even if you only have five minutes at the beginning or end of a meeting.

Bonus: A quick demo of the Bonusly platform here will showcase the many 5-minute team building activities & templates they offer – perfect for distributed teams!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes:  It can be sent out to a remote or hybrid team to encourage a healthier lifestyle by taking a few minutes to relax, meditate, drink some water, or complete a new wellness challenge.

2. Propose an icebreaker question at your next meeting

Icebreaker-Discussion-Question

🚨 What is an icebreaker question?

An icebreaker question is simply a question you can ask your team members that allows them to reveal a little about themselves that may not be work-related. Which Olympic event would you compete in if you could choose any of them? What’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to? These questions open up conversations and allow dialogue to flow easily among coworkers, even after the 5-minutes are up.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: You can learn so much about your employees and coworkers with icebreaker questions. No wrong answers, just breaking the ice with fun, organic responses.

3. Spread Some Gratitude

Create a #gratitude-wall Slack channel

🚨 What is Spread Some Gratitude?

Open up your recognition platform piggy bank and spread some love using Bonusly to other team members in your organization. This tool integrates directly into Slack and other communication apps seamlessly so you can create a dedicated space for showing gratitude. The team at SnackNation uses the #gratitudewall on a daily basis and adding Bonusly points to your appreciation message allows the recipient to redeem their points for custom rewards.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: We all like to feel appreciated, especially at work. Taking 5 minutes to spread some gratitude using Bonusly has a positive effect that lasts long after those 300 seconds have passed.

4. Instant Meme

quick team problem solving activity

🚨 What is Instant Meme?

We communicate so often with just gifs and memes, they’ve practically become their own language. With Instant Meme , the players flex their teamwork muscles to match the best ones to the random prompts they’re given, then everyone votes on which is the funniest. Warning – this can be a gut-buster!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Everyone loves memes! And 5 minutes of laughing with your team can change the whole vibe for the rest of the workday.

5. Icebreaker Quiz

🚨 What is an Icebreaker Quiz?

A scheduled, virtual team building icebreaker quiz is delivered to your inbox. You can set up your own or use a tool like QuizBreaker to automate this entire process. Simply follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Invite your team to answer fun icebreaker questions
  • Step 2: Take five minutes to guess the correct answers
  • Step 3: Learn more about your coworkers while seeing who is crowned the winner

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: It can be sent out to your employees’ email inboxes so that they can play whenever they have a few minutes in their schedule. Managers can reveal the results and congratulate the winner at the beginning of your next team meeting.

6. Meeting Mini Games

quick team problem solving activity

🚨 What are Meeting Mini Games?

With The Go Game’s menu of Mini Games , it’s tough to get bored of the same ole, same ole. They offer 24 self-hosted mini games for quick team building brilliance. Whether it’s a lip sync battle or a dash-through-the-house scavenger hunt , these 5-minute meeting games are great for getting everyone in a good mood.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: The variety of games really keeps things fun and interesting. And you have an opportunity to learn a lot about your employees in just 5 short minutes.

7. Show and Tell (Pet Edition)

🚨 What is Show and Tell (Pet Edition)?

The pandemic isolation has definitely given a boost to the pet owners’ population. In fact, about 70% of US residents now have a pet (or pets), and chances are, most of them love to brag on their “babies.” This simple but fun game gives everyone a chance to show off their favorite companions, whether they’re two or four-legged, feathered, slithery, scaly, swimmy, and more.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Our pets bring a sense of ease and comfort to our lives. Taking 5 minutes to revisit those calm feelings can put everyone in a relaxed and open state of mind, and offers some team bonding over a shared interest.

8. Two Truths And A Lie

Two-truths-and-a-lie

🚨 What is Two Truths And A Lie?

Put everyone’s human lie-detector skills to the test and see who fancies themselves a master manipulator with a five-minute game of Two Truths And A Lie. Each person presents two truthful statements and one sneaky little lie about themselves to the group. The rest of the team then has to guess which is actually the lie.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: You can get really creative with this one, plus it discreetly puts everyone’s communication skills to the test. And some of the things you’ll learn about your colleagues may have you ROFL.

9. 5-Minute Mafia Game  

quick team problem solving activity

🚨 What is 5-Minute Mafia Game?

Kinda like a speed round of roleplaying. Each team member is assigned a character on either the Mafia or civilian teams but doesn’t know anyone else’s assignment. The objective is to be on the side that dominates and runs the other team out of town (or… whatever the Mafia does to hypothetically make people “go away”).

Pro Tip: If you want to extend the fun past 5 minutes, give the Virtual Clue Murder Mystery a shot.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: This is a great idea as a “continuing series” in your team meetings. Each meeting could start with 5 minutes of roleplaying where the last 5-minute episode left off.

10. 5-Minute Team Trivia

🚨 What is 5-Minute Team Trivia?

Toss in a little 5-minute competition with random trivia questions for your whole team to take a shot at. Mix a little pop culture with social studies, add a tiebreaker, and voila! Five minutes to have a little fun, detach from work just a bit, and engage in a team bonding group activity like online trivia .

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: What’s more perfect for hybrid and remote teams than a trivia game from Water Cooler Trivia ? Super fun questions get teammates involved and a little friendly interoffice rivalry never hurt anyone. This is the kind of team building activity that you can build into weekly meetings or standups to boost engagement at your company.

11. Who am I?

🚨 What is Who Am I?

Each person writes a secret about themselves on a piece of paper- something their coworkers wouldn’t necessarily know about them. The rest of the group then has to guess who each secret belongs to. Bet you never guessed that the intern who rarely speaks, actually has a podcast on something super interesting that your team may want to tune in to and support.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Learning about your employees’ interesting (and sometimes eclectic) lives helps you relate to them on a deeper level, and creates stronger bonds with their coworkers, all in just 5 minutes.

12. Send a cocktail kit to sip on a beverage during an afternoon meeting

quick team problem solving activity

🚨 What is a cocktail kit?

We’re so glad you asked! A cocktail kit is a super convenient arrangement of everything you need to fix a fabulous after-hours cocktail. The best part is that you get to decide what defines “after hours.” Go ahead and give your team 5 minutes to prep their potions and join the Zoom meeting with a little zing. You can order the Happy Hour Swag Pack to the office or send it straight to your guests’ doorsteps if your meeting is virtual!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: There’s no rule saying that happy hour only exists inside a bar or lounge. Five minutes is plenty of time for everyone to open their cocktail kit, clink some ice in a glass, and concoct a relaxing drink (or mocktail) to sip during an afternoon team meeting.

Five minutes feels very different depending on the circumstances. Five minutes stuck in traffic on the way to an appointment can feel like an eternity, while those final 5 minutes before your next meeting can have you scrambling to prepare and counting the rapidly-ticking seconds.

“One of the most powerful reasons for team building is to get results. Through a series of planned team building events that are fun and motivational, teams build skills like communication, planning, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.”

Five minutes at work equals 300 seconds of answering emails, updating calendars, returning a missed call, organizing a desk, or any one of a hundred other necessary, yet tedious tasks still on the daily to-do list.

Why not capitalize on the value of 300 whole seconds ?

Believe it or not, just 5 minutes spent doing these types of team bonding activities helps to build trust, improves employee engagement and morale , and is a quick and fun way to improve the overall work environment. Games, in general, improve team spirit and broaden our sense of camaraderie with our coworkers.

Whether your teams are playing in person or managing a remote work situation, 5-minute team building games create opportunities to welcome new team members, promote teamwork, and support your employees’ well-being .

People Also Ask These Questions About 5-minute Team Building Activities

Q: what are some good quick team building activities that take five minutes.

  • A: Some good quick team building activities that take five minutes are actually laid out for you in the paragraphs above. Just scroll up a bit.

Q: How do I choose a short team building activity that is only five minutes long?

  • A: You can choose a short team building activity that is only five minutes long by knowing your team and what gets them excited. Then choose an activity that’s most engaging for your squad.

Q: What are critical thinking 5-minute team building activities?

  • A: An example of a critical thinking 5-minute team building activity would be posing a thought-provoking question , then having your team discuss their answers.

Q: How do I start an icebreaker 5-minute team building activity?

  • A: You can start an icebreaker 5-minute team building activity by asking a question like “What three things would you need to survive on a desert island?” Or with any of the other stellar suggestions we’ve made in the above article.

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About SnackNation

quick team problem solving activity

SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome. We provide a monthly, curated selection of healthy snacks from the hottest, most innovative natural food brands in the industry, giving our members a hassle-free experience and delivering joy to their offices.

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7 icebreaker games to help your team build authentic connections

These deceptively simple exercises can build the framework for psychological safety.

Jonathan Thompson

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5-second summary

  • Strong team cohesion – how bonded people feel to one another – is a key element for success in distributed teams.
  • Icebreakers can be an effective way to help teams get to know each other and feel more comfortable collaborating.

“Icebreakers.” The very name is enough for a frosty reception in many workplaces. The concept – short, simple games to prime our brains for planning and problem solving – is often discounted or completely overlooked by managers. But there’s evidence that the benefits of icebreakers make them more than worth the time.

“Icebreakers, particularly within the remote workspace, are an incredibly good idea,” says Eugene Chung, an Atlassian team coach and advisor on Team Playbook . “Any time you’re collaborating with colleagues, a few short minutes spent on carefully chosen activities beforehand can seriously help you. Not just in terms of feeling more connected by learning new things about each other, but also in terms of getting comfortable with speaking up and actively contributing to the group.”  

That last point is crucial, particularly when the activity precedes a problem-solving or brainstorming meeting. Icebreakers foster what workplace experts call psychological safety In other words, they create an atmosphere in which colleagues feel free to speak up, to question, contribute and criticize – without fear of censure. 

The trick – as any hungry polar bear would tell you – is to break the ice in the correct fashion. 

How to pick the right icebreakers for virtual or in-person teams

One common mistake is assuming that every icebreaker serves the same purpose, in a “one size fits all” fashion. On the contrary, there are many types and styles of icebreaker, each geared towards particular groups and outcomes. It’s smarter to think of them like a set of golf clubs, with each designed for certain conditions.

To tee off, there are “introductory icebreakers,” where the participants are strangers at the start of the session, and the “ice” is simply the fact that they don’t know each other yet. In a remote working environment, these have become increasingly valuable tools. 

Beyond introductory icebreakers, there are plenty of other picks to choose from too, ranging from “team-building icebreakers” for more established groups, to “topic exploration icebreakers,” which help lay the groundwork for more targeted meetings. The common denominator is that all types of icebreakers can help build stronger team connections.

7 fun icebreaker games for meetings

1. exorcise the demons (10 mins) .

Best for: Topic exploration

How: Best for groups of three or more, this is one of the most popular icebreakers from Team Playbook. First you introduce the idea you’ll be brainstorming around in the main meeting. Then, using a shared space in Confluence or Trello, you all note down the worst ideas you can possibly think of. After a few minutes, step back – asking each person to share their favorite worst idea. 

Why: This juices up everyone’s neuropathways before brainstorming – and helps people to resist any temptation to self-censor when the real problem solving begins. This one also boosts psychological safety because, hey, every idea is automatically going to be better than whatever’s already on the page. 

2. True or False (10 mins) 

Best for: Team-building

How: Each person is asked to make three statements about themselves, one of which has to be false. The rest of the group then votes on which “fact” is actually falsehood.   

Why: Not only does this help the group get to know each other better and swiftly reduce stress levels, but it also sparks immediate interaction – as the group comes together to root out the red herrings. 

3. Three Things (5-10 mins)

Best for: Introductions

How: A quick-fire, fast-paced activity. Person A kicks things off by naming a category (for example, “types of dessert”). Person B rattles off three things that fit that theme, as quickly as they can. No judgment and no self-censoring. When they’ve finished, the entire group applauds, and then Person B names the next category. Continue until everyone has had a chance to name the category and the three things.  

Why: This is all about triggering fast, unfiltered thinking before a brainstorming session. It’s not about right or wrong answers, it’s about celebrating the weirdest, funniest contributions and letting your brains relax into a comfortable, accepting, and creative gear.  

4. Team Timeline (15 mins)

Best for: Team building

How: Each team member takes four slips of paper, jotting down an important moment from their life on each. When they’re done, people take turns showing the camera what they have written, and each is added to a shared timeline on a Confluence page or whiteboard.  

Why: This exercise helps show, in a visual way, the different experiences, priorities, and generations within your team. It leads well into talking about shared experiences, breaks down barriers and creates a mindset of authentic communication. 

5. One-word Icebreaker (15 mins)

How: Split participants into small teams (using breakout rooms if you’re on Zoom) and ask them to come up with one word to describe, say, your company culture, or a project you’re working on. Give them a few minutes to discuss amongst themselves, then let each team present their word, and the reasoning behind it. 

Why: This can reveal some surprising answers, with enlightening discussion to follow, which can easily segue into the meeting proper. Plus, starting out with small groups allows everyone the chance to participate in a meaningful way, which can boost their confidence about speaking up in the full session.

5 science-backed team activities that will actually improve performance

5 science-backed team activities that will actually improve performance

6. guess who (5-15 mins).

Best for : Team building

How: Beforehand, everyone emails the facilitator three light-hearted answers from a list of questions. These could be anything from “what was your first job” to “what’s your craziest-ever hair style?” During the icebreaker, the facilitator shares an answer, asking the group to guess who the response belongs to.   

Why: This is a classic team-building exercise for groups of three to 10 employees who have met or interacted before. It’s a fun way for teams to get closer and bond more. 

7. 10 Things in Common (20 mins)

How: Break everyone into small groups in separate rooms over Zoom, being sure to mix departments if possible. Task the groups with finding 10 things that all of them share in common (for example: places they have visited, movies they love, items of clothing they own).   

Why: This is an extremely effective way of encouraging cohesion and building solid inter-departmental relationships, leading to a happier, more committed and engaged workforce. 

Before you start…

While the many benefits of icebreakers are well documented, there are also a number of pitfalls to avoid, too. It’s always a good idea, for example, to start with more simple icebreakers in newly established teams and work your way up. You also want to avoid anything that is too personal or hot-button topics that will foster division instead of cohesion. And always be sure to state the objectives of the task at the start of the exercise, so participants understand what they’re doing and why. 

“One of the key elements of an effective team is cohesion ,” says Dr. Mahreen Khan, an organizational psychologist and emotional intelligence specialist, who’s also a senior qualitative researcher at Atlassian. “In other words, how bonded do you feel with each other? To maximize that cohesion, you need to get to know people on a personal level, and icebreakers can really help with that. People are feeling more disconnected now than ever before, so it’s even more important to use activities like this.”

Want even more icebreakers?

Grab a list of 20+ icebreakers questions in the Atlassian Team Playbook – a free online resource of simple, science-backed workshops that helps teams build on their strengths, troubleshoot difficulties, and encourage positive team dynamics. 

Get more teamwork advice like this in your inbox

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Virtual Team Building Activities & Games - Ryptic Team Building

23 Quick and Easy Virtual Team Building Activities You Can Do in 5 Minutes or Less

Group of people looking at large clock

As the world adapts to the realities of remote work, virtual team building has become an essential component in maintaining a positive work environment. Getting your team together online for team building activities will boost morale, increase productivity, and strengthen relationships between colleagues.

In this article, we will introduce you to 23 quick and easy virtual team building activities that can be completed in 5 minutes or less, making them perfect for short breaks during the workday.

Importance of Virtual Team Building

Remote work has plenty of proven advantages for employees including higher levels of productivity , less time spent commuting, and better work-life balance . However, remote work does have some downsides for employees, such as increased feelings of isolation, need for better time management to avoid burnout , and feelings of disconnection from team members. Participating in virtual team building activities can help bridge these gaps by encouraging communication, collaboration, and a greater sense of camaraderie amongst colleagues.

Team building activities also help team members develop other essential skills, such as problem-solving, adaptability, and empathy, which contribute to creating a more positive and cohesive work environment .

Benefits of Quick and Easy Activities

Doing quick and easy team building activities has several benefits over more complex and time consuming exercises. For one, they require minimal planning and resources, making them accessible to teams of any size or budget.

These short activities can also be easily incorporated into busy workdays without greatly disrupting the flow of work. They provide a fast and effective way to break up the monotony of a work day, energize team members, and improve employee engagement , all without much effort or time commitments.

The 5 Minute Time Frame

5 minutes for a team building activity is a great benchmark because it allows for a quick, focused burst of engagement without taking up too much time. These exercises can be easily integrated into daily stand-up meetings, lunch breaks, or as a way to kick off a virtual conference or workshop, helping you create a more connected, motivated, and productive team in no time.

People on zoom conference call smiling

Now that we know the benefits of doing short team building activities, let's jump into our 23 quick and easy virtual exercises that can be completed in 5 minutes or less.

I. Icebreaker Activities

Icebreakers are a fantastic way to break the ice, get things going, and help team members get to know each other better. These short activities can set the tone for more effective communication and collaboration within your remote team. Here are four quick and engaging icebreakers that you can do in 5 minutes or less:

A. Two Truths and a Lie

In this classic icebreaker, each team member shares two true statements and one false statement about themselves. The rest of the team then has to guess which statement is the lie. This game encourages team members to share interesting facts about themselves, promotes active listening, and helps to uncover common interests and experiences.

B. Quick Introductions

Have each team member introduce themselves in just 30 seconds, sharing their name, role, a brief background, and one unique or fun fact about themselves. This activity helps team members learn more about their colleagues in a concise and engaging way, fostering a stronger sense of connection within the team.

C. Emoji Emotions

For this activity, team members select an emoji that best represents their current mood and share it in the group IM chat or on a virtual whiteboard. After everyone has shared their emoji, team members can briefly explain how their chosen emoji represents their mood. This exercise promotes open communication about emotions, which can lead to increased empathy and a better level of understanding among team members.

D. Virtual High Fives

Encourage your team to give virtual high fives to each other using the video call "raise hand" feature or by using GIFs, emojis, and other fun methods of expression in the group IM chat. Team members can give high fives to celebrate small victories, express gratitude, or simply offer support and encouragement. This simple gesture helps to create a positive atmosphere, strengthen team spirit, and boost morale.

Two people jumping and giving each other a high five

II. Communication Games

Effective communication is the key to a successful remote team. Communication games help improve listening skills, build trust, and enhance overall team dynamics. Here are four engaging communication games that can be completed in just 5 minutes or less:

A. Word Association

In this game, team members take turns saying a word that is associated with the previous word spoken. The goal is to keep the chain going without repeating words or pausing for too long. This activity encourages quick thinking, active listening, and fosters a sense of connection among team members.

B. 5-Question Guessing Game

One team member thinks of an object, person, or place, and the rest of the team has to guess what it is by asking a maximum of five yes-or-no questions. This game promotes teamwork, effective questioning, and problem-solving as team members work together to uncover the answer.

C. One-Word Story

Each team member contributes one word at a time to create a story. The story can be about anything, but the goal is to make it as coherent as possible. This activity encourages creativity, collaboration, and sharpens listening skills as team members have to pay close attention to the story's progression.

D. Rapid Fire Trivia

Create a list of trivia questions related to your company, industry, or general knowledge. Team members take turns answering the questions as quickly as possible. You can keep score to make the game more competitive and fun. This game helps to build team members' knowledge, encourages quick thinking, and can serve as a fun, educational break during the workday.

People on quiz show looking happy

III. Collaboration Challenges

Collaboration challenges are a great way to promote teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills within your team. These quick activities provide an excellent opportunity for team members to work together and build stronger relationships. Here are four collaborative challenges to try:

A. Virtual Escape Room

Virtual escape rooms are a fun way to challenge your team's critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These escape rooms are designed to be completed online and can be played in just a few minutes. Team members must work together to solve puzzles and clues to escape the virtual room before time runs out.

B. 5-Minute Brainstorm

For this activity, present your team with a problem or challenge and give them five minutes to come up with as many creative solutions as possible. After the five minutes are up, have each team member share their ideas, and the team can then work together to determine the best solution. This exercise helps to improve brainstorming and collaboration skills.

C. Fast-Paced Scavenger Hunt

Create a scavenger hunt that team members can complete in just a few minutes. For example, you could ask team members to find specific lists of items in their home or office and take photos of it. The first team member to complete the scavenger hunt wins. This is a great activity for promoting quick thinking, creativity, and competition.

D. Quick Group Drawing

Choose a simple drawing prompt, such as a smiley face, and give each team member a chance to contribute to the drawing for 30 seconds before passing it on to the next person. The goal is to create a collaborative drawing in a few minutes. This is a fun activity to break up the workday while improving collaboration and creativity.

Artist drawing

IV. Problem-Solving Exercises

Problem-solving exercises are excellent for improving critical thinking skills, decision making, and promoting teamwork among remote teams. These activities can be completed in less than 5 minutes, and provide an excellent opportunity for team members to solve problems together. Here are four problem-solving exercises you can try:

A. Lightning-Round Puzzles

Provide your team with a set of puzzles, such as Sudoku or a crossword, and give them a set amount of time to solve as many as they can. This activity helps improve problem-solving and time management skills.

B. 5-Minute Case Studies

Present your team with a case study and ask them to solve it in just five minutes. The case study can be related to your industry or can be a hypothetical scenario. After the five minutes are up, have each team member share their solutions and the team vote on the best approach. This exercise is great for improving critical thinking skills among team members.

C. Speed Debates

Choose a topic related to your industry or work environment and ask team members to take different sides of the issue and debate the topic for a few minutes. After the debate, team members can share their thoughts and discuss the different perspectives presented. This exercise promotes critical thinking, teamwork, and is a fun way to engage team members.

D. Quick Hypothetical Scenarios

Present your team with a hypothetical scenario related to your industry or work environment and ask them to come up with a quick solution. This can include anything from funny scenarios in your office, to industry wide events. This unusual activity offers a great way to get creative. This exercise promotes problem-solving skills, creativity, and encourages team members to work together to find the best solution.

Group of people in a discussion

V. Fun and Creative Activities

Fun and creative activities are a great way to break up the workday and bring your remote team together. These activities can promote teamwork, encourage creativity, and build a positive team culture. Here are four fun and creative activities you can try:

A. Virtual Pictionary

In Virtual Pictionary, one team member draws a picture of a word or phrase, while the rest of the team tries to guess what it is. This game promotes creativity, communication, and teamwork.

B. 5-Minute Talent Show

Have team members showcase their talents, such as singing, dancing, or playing an instrument in five minutes or less. This activity helps build up the confidence of your team as they learn more about each other.

C. Virtual Charades

In virtual charades, one team member acts out a word or phrase, while the rest of the team tries to guess what it is. This game is great for getting team members to think outside the box, working together, and improving their communication.

D. Speedy Quiz Show

Create a set of trivia questions that are based on your company or industry, and have team members compete to answer them as quickly as possible. Break the team up into smaller groups and have them compete against each other.

Woman on stage singing with group of people around her

Virtual team building activities can be a great way of maintaining a positive and cohesive work environment, especially with a remote work team. Incorporating short and engaging activities into your team's virtual interactions can help foster communication, collaboration, and a sense of unity among team members.

We encourage you to implement these quick and easy virtual team building activities into your team's remote work routine. By taking 5 minutes out of your day to engage in these activities, you'll help promote teamwork, build stronger relationships, and create a more enjoyable and productive work environment.

Related Articles:

15 Virtual Team Building Activities for Diversity & Inclusion

12 Virtual Activities to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Your Team

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    Procedure: Distribute crossword puzzle sheets and pens/pencils to each participant. Explain the rules of crossword puzzles and the goal of completing as many clues as possible within the given time. Participants individually or in pairs work on solving the crossword puzzle by filling in the correct words.

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