Summer team-building: time for outdoor activities!

There’s a reason the season feels different: longer daylight hours change how people show up at work, freeing up energy that’s normally spent fighting the mental pressure of grey skies and short days. Put that shift to good use with a properly planned team building experience, and the effects will astound you.

Why summer team building activities hit differently

Among the activities on offer at team building events, outdoor ones are consistently the highlight, and summer makes a strong case for itself here, especially in a country like Italy. Warmer weather and longer days create more chances to get outside, breathe properly, and watch a team loosen up somewhere that doesn’t smell of carpet tiles and instant coffee (not that your office does… we are sure your office is tastefully decorated, it smells amazing and your catering is on point, but that’s what your employees see day in and day out for months on end and you know what they say: a change is as good as a rest!)

Plan your next team building event!

Research comparing the psychological impact of walking in nature against walking in urban settings has found that natural environments boost feelings of gratitude and have a positive impact on social skills, which matters when teams have spent months staring at the same four walls. Some industry research points to engagement rising by as much as 30% through effective team-building, with outdoor experiences particularly noted for creating stronger personal connections. Figures like that are worth keeping in mind when budgets for the second half of the year get drawn up.

The summer dip is real, and team building activities fix it

It’s worth being upfront about one thing before we go further. During the summer months, employee engagement typically dips, partly due to holidays, burnout and reduced focus, according to Gallup’s 2022 figures. Left unchecked, that dip can drag on well into autumn, by which point momentum becomes harder to rebuild.

The fix takes a bit of planning, though it isn’t especially complicated. Studies cited by HBR in 2023 suggest team-building programmes, when properly applied, can raise overall worker engagement by a significant margin. Get the timing right, and the season’s natural slowdown effectively cancels itself out, turning a slow patch into a genuine reset for everyone involved.

What turns an afternoon outing into a real team building experience

A proper team building experience should give people room to be themselves outside their job titles, which sounds straightforward but rarely happens during an ordinary working week. Drop the usual hierarchy for a few hours and hand everyone the same unusual and engaging task, and conversations shift fast, moving away from everyday work-related topics towards something closer to an actual human encounter.

There’s a cognitive angle too, backed by some genuinely interesting research. A nine-year study found that regular contact with nature can help reduce mental fatigue while improving overall cognitive performance. Translate that into a working day, and a few hours outdoors might do more for problem-solving than another internal workshop manages.

Outdoor adventures worth pencilling into the summer calendar

Here’s what this looks like in practice, and the options are wonderfully varied. We selected a few of our favourites for you to choose from. Sailing offers a grown-up challenge, where coordination becomes essential almost immediately once the wind picks up. Softair and rugby bring out the competitive streak in a controlled, good-humoured way, while rafting throws in a decent dose of adrenaline alongside the teamwork. For something a touch more playful, Jeux-sans-frontières-style outdoor games tap into that universal, slightly chaotic joy of running about and chasing flags, the kind of thing nobody admits to enjoying until they’re already doing it.

Flying in a hot air balloon delivers a different kind of bonding altogether, calm and a little awe-struck, and certainly not something anyone forgets in a hurry. Back on more practical ground, cardboard boat building tests planning and improvisation in equal measure, often with genuinely funny results once the boats hit the water. And dragon boat racing brings rhythm and trust together, with a drum keeping the whole crew in time.

Plan your next outdoor team building event!

Make the most of the season while it’s here

Summer won’t hang around forever, and neither will the natural advantage it hands businesses willing to use it. Booking summer team building activities now, while diaries are lighter and the weather is cooperating, means teams head into autumn already pulling in the same direction. After fifteen years of putting groups of professionals on water, grass, and occasionally in slightly soggy cardboard boats, one thing keeps proving true: teams that play properly together tend to work better. Worth bearing in mind before those inboxes fill back up.