To answer the question, “What is team building?” it’s important to first recognize that strong teams don’t happen by accident. With the presence of remote and hybrid work, the need to build cohesive teams that overcome geographical distances and cultural differences has become even more important today.
No matter the distance between its members, a successful team hits business goals and keeps the work going smoothly. But without a team-building strategy that takes into account your employees and their work arrangements, your hard-won team dynamic and efforts to build trust may crumble at the first sign of conflict.
Strengthen the bonds between your workers with a team development approach that engages employees no matter where they are in the world. To do that, here’s what you need to know about team building in 2026 and beyond.
What is team building?
Team building, also known as team development, is the process of turning a group of people into an effective team. In the workplace, this initiative typically focuses on strengthening the bonds between team members so they work as a cohesive unit, communicate effectively, and accomplish common goals together.
Although it’s easy to assume that team building happens in company retreats and other group activities, team development also takes place in the organic everyday activities and interactions that bring employees closer together. These experiences enable teams to perform at a higher level than individual members can on their own.
What are the benefits of team-building for businesses?
Investing in your team is really just another way of investing in your company’s success. To drive home our point, here are four specific benefits of team building for businesses.
Develops important skills
Employees are the building blocks of a great team. Help them hone their skills, and watch as your team’s performance improves.
Not all businesses have the luxury of hiring their top candidates, meaning that new employees hired for their potential may need training to bring their skill sets up to speed. In a recent survey, 83% of hiring managers reported overlooking a gap in certain requirements to fill a role.
A 2025 employer survey found that over 42% of hiring leaders prefer to develop current employees for open roles instead of hiring outside the organization—a key indicator of employee loyalty, according to recent research.
Overall, research suggests that setting your employees up for success in their careers is a win-win for them and for your business.
Improves collaboration and trust
Team development exercises foster collaboration, camaraderie, and trust between group members, which ultimately helps them work better together.
During these activities, employees—and sometimes managers and company leaders—are encouraged to work together to solve a problem or achieve a goal. In doing so, participants often learn more about their teammates’ strengths, weaknesses, preferred communication styles, and other quirks.
Additionally, these activities often create shared experiences for teammates to bond over long after the exercise ends.
Encourages creative problem-solving
Another purpose of team building is to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. By regularly engaging employees in this way, you prime them to perform well in real-world situations that require those skills—even when under pressure.
They’ll feel empowered to draw on these skills regularly and ultimately help your business find innovative ways to solve problems and fine-tune your offerings.
Increases employee engagement and satisfaction
Employees who enjoy working together tend to be more productive, engaged, and satisfied with their work experience.
And when done right, incorporating team-building activities into your employee engagement strategy shows you care about your people, their work environment, and their work relationships. It’s great for business retention too, according to one report: the 2025 SHRM State of the Workplace report highlights the link between team collaboration, enhanced employee experience, and higher retention for businesses.
Five types of team-building activities to do in your organization
While all team development activities help participants strengthen their teamwork and collaboration skills, many of them also target other qualities or abilities needed for your organization to run smoothly.
Choose a variety of exercises from the categories below to fully engage your workforce and ensure they develop the skills needed for your business to flourish.
Communication exercises
Strong communication skills are crucial to the success of any team—and even more so with remote and hybrid ones. So, it’s little wonder that exercises that improve employee communication skills are a key part of team building.
Include activities that allow employees to develop and strengthen their communication skills in a low-pressure environment, then give them opportunities to practice these skills with their colleagues in the workplace.
After all, research suggests companies that promote open communication and dialogue reap the benefits: An Axios HQ 2025 annual report notes the correlation between effective internal communication and high employee engagement and retention.
Check out this list of eight fun team-building activities for improving communication.
Problem-solving activities
Every role in your company comes with its own set of challenges. Building up your team’s problem-solving skills empowers them to confidently tackle these issues with minimal oversight from management.
Problem-solving activities tend to focus on building analytical skills, creative thinking, decision-making, and adaptability—abilities employees need to work effectively with their teammates and discover creative solutions to organizational problems. These exercises also help workers easily resolve issues with their teammates and move on from conflicts.
For inspiration, take a look at this list of 35 team-building activities—many of them offer opportunities for employees to strengthen their problem-solving skills.
Skills-based activities
With the work landscape constantly changing, it’s essential to keep employees informed about the latest industry developments and the skills required to excel in their roles.
Without continuous education, your employees—and your business—may get left behind. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report for 2025 indicates that nearly 40% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030—driven largely by fast-paced technological advancements.
Depending on what your employees need, you may decide to focus on hard skills like sales or negotiation or soft skills like leadership and conflict resolution. Consider hosting regular training sessions to keep your team’s skills and knowledge up to date with industry standards.
Check out this list of 32 skills-building activities to implement with your team.
Value-based activities
Including value-based exercises in your team-building strategy illustrates your commitment to your company’s mission and values, while also enabling employees to make an impact in their local communities.
This is especially important today, as more people want to work for a mission-driven company with values that align with theirs. Recent survey data examined values alignment and job satisfaction, finding that 42% of job seekers would take a pay cut to work for a company with values similar to their own.
Values-based activities can be as simple as arranging for employees to volunteer at a local nonprofit. Not only does this reinforce your employer brand and company culture, but it also allows your team to bond with each other outside the workplace.
Here is a list of 12 values-based activities for leaders looking to strengthen this aspect of their company culture.
Team bonding
Sometimes, your people just need an opportunity to spend time together without work hanging over their heads.
The benefits are well worth the downtime. Recent workplace research links employee friendships to increased retention rates, among other benefits. And for off-site workers in particular, team bonding activities can often help overcome the isolation of working apart from the group.
Teams with in-person (or local remote) employees might go out for a meal together, or plan a day around a fun activity like a scavenger hunt or escape room. Meanwhile, hybrid and remote teams can host virtual team-building events like wine tasting, game socials, or cooking classes. And don’t forget about informal opportunities for team bonding—think icebreakers before team meetings or scheduled one-on-one Zoom meetings for remote colleagues to interact with each other.
Keep in mind that the goal here isn’t to build a particular skill. It’s to give employees space to have fun and create stronger bonds that they can take back to the workplace.
Three tips and best practices for effective team building
Choose the right activities for your team
To make the most of your team-building efforts, it’s important to intentionally select activities. Remember that different activities focus on strengthening different aspects of your team dynamic.
Be sure to consider the goals you want to achieve, skills you want to build, your team culture and team demographics—as well as each member’s personality, needs, interests, and limitations.
For instance, physically fit teams might enjoy outdoor team-building activities like obstacle courses or beach volleyball. Teams with fewer resources might choose more affordable activities to do in the office. If you have remote team members, include virtual team-building activities that involve the entire group.
By providing a supportive environment and activities that accommodate all members, you’ll see more active participation and involvement from your team.
Conduct team-building activities regularly
Team development should be done regularly to achieve maximum effectiveness, but the timing and frequency are up to your discretion.
If your team has worked well together for years, you might plan one or two team-building activities every quarter to keep teammates engaged and relationships strong. If the group is relatively new, you might hold a series of smaller team-building games more often to build up their bonds and camaraderie.
Team-building exercises are also helpful for changes in team dynamics, such as the arrival of a new hire. Even minute changes to a team can dramatically impact the way it collaborates and interacts with other departments, so thoughtfully chosen activities can bring your new team closer during these transitions.
Consider working with an external facilitator
Many team-building exercises don’t require specialized training or experience to be successful. In many cases, having a team leader oversee the activity is enough.
Sometimes, however, you might want to work with an external facilitator who specializes in this type of training. This is especially true if you feel your team has deep-seated issues that require an objective eye, or if you lack the expertise or bandwidth to manage specific goals internally.
The biggest benefit of working with a facilitator lies in their expertise, particularly if you’re planning a larger event or team retreat. Someone with extensive team development experience will be better equipped to guide your employees and deliver results than, say, a supervisor who volunteers to lead a one-off exercise.
Not only can they create a customized agenda that fully addresses the needs of your team, but they can also provide additional tools and resources to ensure your team retains the skills they’ve learned. And by outsourcing this work to a professional, it’ll allow your managers to focus their efforts on goals and projects that are in their wheelhouse.
How to improve your team-building strategy
Whether your team-building efforts are successful ultimately depends on your employees. Failure to generate engagement will result in a team that remains disconnected from its goals and each other.
So, explain to your team your goals for this initiative and how they can help make it successful. Then, regularly ask them about the impact of these efforts and if they have any suggestions for improvement. Understanding their sentiments, collecting feedback, and measuring impact will allow you to adjust your approach if necessary.
Consider using a variety of metrics for a holistic look at the impact of your team-building strategy. Although employee surveys are the gold standard in measuring employee engagement, getting a broader understanding of your employee experience initiatives with other metrics and measurement tools is critical.
Luckily, with a Human Resources platform like Gusto’s, this task becomes much smoother. Easily send out employee surveys to your entire team, then analyze the data to help you identify trends and areas of concern so you can act preemptively and make smarter business decisions. Create your account today to try it out yourself.
FAQs
How do you build an effective team?
Shared goals, clear communication, trust, and accountability are keys to an effective team. Additionally, teams work best when diverse ways of thinking, backgrounds, and skills are represented. Keep these characteristics in mind as you build your team, consistently implementing team-building activities that help strengthen these elements. And, create a space where team members feel safe sharing their unique perspectives.
What is the purpose of team building in the workplace?
Businesses that value strong relationships and smooth collaboration prioritize team building. An effective team-building strategy helps build trust, creates shared goals, improves communication, and leverages the group’s unique strengths. A team that works well together can lead to increased engagement, improved performance, higher retention rates, and a better bottom line.
How often should companies invest in team-building activities?
Consistency builds connectivity. Instead of a one-off event, team building is most effective as a year-long strategy incorporating diverse activities to suit different purposes. Consider setting a goal for an activity each month, quarter, or year—and be sure to incorporate them alongside new hires, reorganizations, and other transitions.
How can remote or hybrid teams engage in effective team-building?
Regular team-building opportunities are critical for engaging employees working across multiple locations. Check-ins before meetings, regular feedback, and cross-collaboration among teams—in addition to virtual events like coffee chats, team lunches, and happy hours—can make a widespread group feel more intimate and bring team members closer. For hybrid teams, be sure your activities, timing, and expectations accommodate both in-person and remote workers.
How do you measure whether team-building activities are successful?
A key to measuring success for your team-building activities is to create opportunities for feedback. Ask team members to share their thoughts via anonymous surveys, group brainstorming sessions, and one-on-one meetings. Determine whether they feel more connected to and supported by each other, and assess how eagerly they participate in group activities and collaborative projects. Additionally, the effectiveness of these efforts can be measured based on performance outcomes of the team and of the overall business.
What are common mistakes employers make when planning team-building activities?
Team leaders who treat team-building as a one-off event limit the impact that an overall strategy can have on the business. Another common mistake is not planning activities that are inclusive of all team members—whether that’s in location, skills, abilities, or other differences. And, a failure to collect feedback following an activity is a misstep that can have longer-term repercussions. If you don’t take the time to assess the team-building success, you miss opportunities to make adjustments and improve upon your planning in the future.
Should team-building participation be required?
These activities shouldn’t necessarily be mandatory, but highly encouraged. Team members who genuinely want to be there—or are at least open-minded to participating—will have increased engagement and generate better results, so try to be flexible with attendance. Create an opportunity for a one-on-one conversation to truly understand why someone isn’t planning to participate and then make accommodations to meet their needs.
