What is the six-question test before booking an activity?
For HR, Employee Experience, and people leaders, the hardest part of planning an offsite is choosing the right activities. With a finite budget, infinite options, and a one-shot calendar window, there’s a lot of weight on this decision.
For Sygnia’s Offsite in Miami, we had days full of activities, but we wanted to create one where they create something together that is meaningful in multiple ways. The chosen activity was creating Grafiti Boards with the company’s slogan on them. Here are the questions we asked ourselves that helped us decide on this activity,
Does the team make something together?
The bonding happens in the doing. When fifteen people are crouched over a board, figuring out who is handling the outline and who is filling the background, bonding and teamwork happen naturally. Look for activities where the team produces a tangible output. Messier is usually better.
Does the location earn its place?
Wynwood is the graffiti district of Miami. Painting boards with graffiti fits right in. If your team flew somewhere, the activity should be something they could only really do at that destination. Otherwise, the location was just expensive scenery.
Can everyone do it, no skill required?
Activities that reward effort over talent keep everyone engaged and in the same boat.
Does it reinforce a message that matters to your team?
WE CYBER HARDER is Sygnia’s slogan, recently launched with a big campaign. Using it for this activity, gave them more reason to show it proudly, and really connect to the brand.
Does anything go home with them?
In this case, the boards stayed at Wynwood, but everyone went home with lots of photos and memories
Will they want to share it?
When you are evaluating an activity, ask yourself whether the people doing it would want a photo of themselves in the middle of it.
How graffiti scored
The graffiti activity hits five our of six questions. Team bonding, check. Native to Miami, check. Open to anyone, check. Reinforced the existing brand, check. Boards going home, no. Cameras came out, check. That is why we picked it for Sygnia.
A quick checklist
Before you book your next activity, walk it through these questions:
- Does the team make something together?
- Does the location earn its place?
- Can everyone do it, no skill required?
- Does it reinforce a message that matters to your team?
- Does anything go home with them?
- Will they want to share it?
If you can get a yes to at least 4 our of the 6 questions, you’ve got a winning activity.
Planning a team experience and want a second set of eyes on the brief? Book a brainstorming call with TeamUp and we will walk through the options with you.
