Teambuilding: creating bonds to deliver results

Teambuilding refers to a set of activities designed to improve cohesion, trust, and collaboration within a team. It’s much more than a “company event” or a “fun day”: it’s a practical tool for building teams that truly work—especially in hybrid, distributed, high-pressure environments.

In the Future of Work—where teams change structure frequently, communicate remotely, and face complex challenges—teambuilding becomes a strategic lever for performance, creativity, and talent retention.¹

What makes teambuilding effective

• Experiential design: the team should live an experience, not just receive content.
• Guided reflection: every activity should include a structured debrief session.
• Transferability: the activity must connect clearly to everyday work life.

Effective teambuilding focuses on trust, listening, roles, collaboration, and psychological safety. It doesn’t “fix” problems in itself—but creates the conditions for the team to address them together.²

Benefits of Teambuilding

• Greater cohesion and alignment among team members
• Increased mutual trust
• Smoother communication, even in conflict
• Stronger sense of belonging and motivation
• Improved ability to manage change effectively³

Teambuilding in hybrid work contexts

Distributed work increases the risk of isolation, loss of context, and disengagement. When designed for hybrid settings, teambuilding can strengthen interpersonal bonds and keep culture alive even remotely. For example, role-play, digital co-creation, or collaborative storytelling can build connection even at a distance.

Field-tested examples

In Edoardo Binda Zane’s book “Team Building Games”, various exercises are described—such as a three-round activity simulating implicit hierarchies. It reveals how hierarchy can block communication and limit creativity and participation. The final debrief helps participants reflect on real team dynamics and how to change them.

Another example is the “best and worst behavior” simulation: teams experience a toxic meeting in round one and a constructive one in round two. The contrast raises immediate, memorable awareness of how individual behaviors impact team dynamics.

When to use teambuilding, and why

• Formation of a new team
• Internal reorganization or mergers
• Breaking down silos between functions
• Addressing latent conflicts
• Launching a new strategic project

How to implement teambuilding effectively

• Involve participants in defining the ground rules
• Choose activities aligned with context and objectives
• Entrust the debrief to an experienced facilitator
• Embed teambuilding in a broader journey—not as a one-off event

Conclusion

Teambuilding is a powerful tool—but only if used with intention. It’s not time “stolen” from productivity, but time invested in building the conditions for teams to function better. In a world where collaboration is harder—but more essential—than ever, creating real connections isn’t a luxury: it’s an organizational imperative.

References

• Carter, D. R., DeChurch, L. A., Braun, M. T., & Contractor, N. S. (2015). Social network approaches to leadership: An integrative conceptual review. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(3), 532–555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.03.005 ↩︎
• Edmondson, A. C. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Wiley. ↩︎
• West, M. A. (2012). Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research. Wiley. ↩︎