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22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.

Updated: March 1, 2024

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.

But there’s a problem.

According to Payscale, 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacking soft skill.

Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem-solving activities.

The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time.

16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group

1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 12. bridge builders, 13. domino effect challenge, 14. hollywood murder mystery, 15. code break, 16. cardboard boat building challenge, 6 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break , 5. virtual trivia time machine.

6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 16 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too.

a cardboard boat building challenge for problem solving team building

Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!

egg drop is a great team building problem solving activity

Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.

But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.

With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do.

For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.

The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly!

To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like:

Newspapers
Plastic wrap
Rubber bands
Popsicle sticks
Cotton balls

Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy!

Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.

If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience.

solving a crime is a great way to practice problem solving skills

With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.

But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.

do a spaghetti tower for team building problem solving activity

Collaboration is critical to problem solving.

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so.

If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.

This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.

The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.

For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.

Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner!

corporate escape rooms are unique team building problem solving activities

If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.

The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.

At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:

Seeking transportation for your team
Capacity of the escape rooms
High costs
Excessive planning

That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.

wild goose chase is a great scavenger hunt problem solving team building activity for work

In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:

Parkour: Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
Beautiful Mind: Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
Puppy Love: Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.

It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!

your teammates will love lost at sea team building activity

Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues?

With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do.

Here’s how it works.

Each team member will get a six-columned chart where:

The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below)
The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival
The third column is for group rankings
The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity
The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings

Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:

A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun)
A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches)
A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate )
Emergency food rations (critical survival food)
One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater)
Chocolate bars (another food supply)
Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food)
Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival)
A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)
Shark repellant (could be important when in the water)
A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds)
A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range)
A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment)
A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful)

To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole.

Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.

The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.

If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together.

colleagues thinking outside the box with a domino effect challenge team building problem solving activity

Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.

Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution.

As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.

With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine.

Here’s how it goes.

Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish.

reverse pyramid is a team building activity that makes colleagues think about problems in new ways

Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid.

The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.

Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.

Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version – the Pyramid Build – using plastic cups instead.

This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down.

With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity.

To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it.

The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid.

If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!

solving a crime is a great way for team members to use problem solving skills

The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know.

With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime.

You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case.

Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.

team pursuit team building is great for problem solving skills

Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.

This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.

Collaborate with your colleague to design and build different segments of a bridge. At the end, see if the sections come together to create a free-standing structure!

domino effect challenging is a brain busting winter team building activity

Together as a group, see if you and your colleagues can build a gigantic “chain-reaction” machine that really works!

In smaller groups, participants work together to solve the challenge of creating sections of the machine using miscellaneous parts, and at the end, you’ll have to collaborate to connect it all together and put it in motion.

The case is fresh, but here’s what we know so far: we’ve got an up-and-coming actress who’s been found dead in her hotel room following last night’s awards show.

We have several suspects, but we haven’t been able to put the crime on any of them for sure yet. Now, it’s up to you and your team of detectives to crack the case. Together, you’ll review case files and evidence including police reports, coroners’ reports, photo evidence, tabloids, interrogations, and phone calls as you determine the motive, method, and murderer and bring justice for the victim.

You’ll need to put your problem-solving skills to the test as you share theories, collaborate, and think outside the box with your fellow investigators.

code break is a cerebral indoor team building activity

Using Outback’s app, split up into small groups and put your heads together to solve a variety of puzzles, riddles, and trivia. The team who has completed the most challenges when time is up, wins!

Can you stay afloat in a body of water in a boat made entirely of cardboard? Now that is a problem that urgently needs solving.

With this team building problem solving activity, you and your colleagues will split into groups and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided – cardboard and tape.

Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats across the water!

colleagues doing a virtual team building problem solving activity

If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

team members doing a fun virtual clue murder mystery

You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime.

This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.

escape rooms are fun and unique team building problem solving activities

If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.

Here’s the backstory.

There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.

try virtual code break as a way to use problem solving skills with teammates

With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia.

Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action.

trivia is a great problem solving activity for colleagues

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

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

Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers!

And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.

6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

Virtual Jeoparty Social is a fun high energy virtual team building activity

If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round.

With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process.

Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below!

Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities

For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.

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I love how this blog provides a variety of problem-solving activities for team building. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to foster teamwork and collaboration!

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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

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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14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2024

The best teams see solutions where others see problems. A great company culture is built around a collaborative spirit and the type of unity it takes to find answers to the big business questions.

So how can you get team members working together?

How can you develop a mentality that will help them overcome obstacles they have yet to encounter?

One of the best ways to improve your teams’ problem solving skills is through team building problem solving activities .

“86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.” — Bit.AI

These activities can simulate true-to-life scenarios they’ll find themselves in, or the scenarios can call on your employees or coworkers to dig deep and get creative in a more general sense.

The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, you have to prepare for the unexpected. It just happens that team building activities help with that, but are so fun that they don’t have to feel like work ( consider how you don’t even feel like you’re working out when you’re playing your favorite sport or doing an exercise you actually enjoy! )

Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?

The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include:

Better communication
Improved collaboration and teamwork
More flexible thinking
Faster problem-solving
Better proactivity and decision making

Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2024!

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2. Problem-Solving Templates

Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team utilizing pre-made templates and creating solutions for a given problem with the help of visual aids.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Problem-Solving Templates offer teams an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing. The visual aids that come with the templates help team members better understand the issue at hand and easily come up with solutions together.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey, as it provides an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing.

Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building

3. coworker feud, “it’s all fun and games”.

Coworker Feud is a twist on the classic Family Feud game show! This multiple rapid round game keeps the action flowing and the questions going. You can choose from a variety of customizations, including picking the teams yourself, randomized teams, custom themes, and custom rounds.

Best for: Hybrid teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Coworker Feud comes with digital game materials, a digital buzzer, an expert host, and a zoom link to get the participants ready for action! Teams compete with each other to correctly answer the survey questions. At the end of the game, the team with the most competitive answers is declared the winner of the Feud.

How to get started:

Sign up for Coworker Feud
Break into teams of 4 to 10 people
Get the competitive juices flowing and let the games begin!

Learn more here: Coworker Feud

4. Crack The Case

“who’s a bad mamma jamma”.

Crack The Case is a classic WhoDoneIt game that forces employees to depend on their collective wit to stop a deadly murderer dead in his tracks! Remote employees and office commuters can join forces to end this crime spree.

Best for: Remote teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: The Virtual Clue Murder Mystery is an online problem solving activity that uses a proprietary videoconferencing platform to offer the chance for employees and coworkers to study case files, analyze clues, and race to find the motive, the method, and the individual behind the murder of Neil Davidson.

Get a custom quote here
Download the app
Let the mystery-solving collaboration begin!

Learn more here: Crack The Case

5. Catch Meme If You Can

“can’t touch this”.

Purposefully created to enhance leadership skills and team bonding , Catch Meme If You Can is a hybrid between a scavenger hunt and an escape room . Teammates join together to search for clues, solve riddles, and get out — just in time!

Best for: Small teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Catch Meme If You Can is an adventure with a backstory. Each team has to submit their answer to the puzzle in order to continue to the next part of the sequence. May the best team escape!

The teams will be given instructions and the full storyline
Teams will be split into a handful of people each
The moderator will kick off the action!

Learn more here: Catch Meme If You Can

6. Puzzle Games

“just something to puzzle over”.

Puzzle Games is the fresh trivia game to test your employees and blow their minds with puzzles, jokes , and fun facts!

Best for: In-person teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Eight mini brain teaser and trivia style games include word puzzles, name that nonsense, name that tune, and much more. Plus, the points each team earns will go towards planting trees in the precious ecosystems and forests of Uganda

Get a free consultation for your team
Get a custom designed invitation for your members
Use the game link
Dedicated support will help your team enjoy Puzzle Games to the fullest!

Learn more here: Puzzle Games

7. Virtual Code Break

“for virtual teams”.

Virtual Code Break is a virtual team building activity designed for remote participants around the globe. Using a smart video conferencing solution, virtual teams compete against each other to complete challenges, answer trivia questions, and solve brain-busters!

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Virtual Code Break can be played by groups as small as 4 people all the way up to more than 1,000 people at once. However, every team will improve their communication and problem-solving skills as they race against the clock and depend on each other’s strengths to win!

Reach out for a free consultation to align the needs of your team
An event facilitator will be assigned to handle all of the set-up and logistics
They will also provide you with logins and a play-by-play of what to expect
Sign into the Outback video conferencing platform and join your pre-assigned team
Lastly, let the games begin!

Learn more here: Virtual Code Break

8. Stranded

“survivor: office edition”.

Stranded is the perfect scenario-based problem solving group activity. The doors of the office are locked and obviously your team can’t just knock them down or break the windows.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Your team has less than half an hour to choose 10 items around the office that will help them survive. They then rank the items in order of importance. It’s a bit like the classic game of being lost at sea without a lifeboat.

Get everyone together in the office
Lock the doors
Let them start working together to plan their survival

Learn more here: Stranded

9. Letting Go Game

“for conscious healing”.

The Letting Go Game is a game of meditation and mindfulness training for helping teammates thrive under pressure and reduce stress in the process. The tasks of the Letting Go Game boost resiliency, attentiveness, and collaboration.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Expert-guided activities and awareness exercises encourage team members to think altruistically and demonstrate acts of kindness. Between yoga, face painting, and fun photography, your employees or coworkers will have more than enough to keep them laughing and growing together with this mindfulness activity!

Reach out for a free consultation
A guide will then help lead the exercises
Let the funny videos, pictures, and playing begin!

Learn more here: Letting Go Game

10. Wild Goose Chase

“city time”.

Wild Goose Chase is the creative problem solving activity that will take teams all around your city and bring them together as a group! This scavenger hunt works for teams as small as 10 up to groups of over 5000 people.

Best for: Large teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: As employees and group members are coming back to the office, there are going to be times that they’re itching to get outside. Wild Goose Chase is the perfect excuse to satisfy the desire to go out-of-office every now and then. Plus, having things to look at and see around the city will get employees talking in ways they never have before.

Download the Outback app to access the Wild Goose Chase
Take photos and videos from around the city
The most successful team at completing challenges on time is the champ!

Learn more here: Wild Goose Chase

11. Human Knot

“for a knotty good time”.

The Human Knot is one of the best icebreaker team building activities! In fact, there’s a decent chance you played it in grade school. It’s fun, silly, and best of all — free!

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: Participants start in a circle and connect hands with two other people in the group to form a human knot. The team then has to work together and focus on clear communication to unravel the human knot by maneuvering their way out of this hands-on conundrum. But there’s a catch — they can’t let go of each other’s hands in this team building exercise.

Form a circle
Tell each person to grab a random hand until all hands are holding another
They can’t hold anyone’s hand who is directly next to them
Now they have to get to untangling
If the chain breaks before everyone is untangled, they have to start over again

Learn more here: Human Knot

12. What Would You Do?

“because it’s fun to imagine”.

What Would You Do? Is the hypothetical question game that gets your team talking and brainstorming about what they’d do in a variety of fun, intriguing, and sometimes, whacky scenarios.

Best for: Distributed teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: After employees or coworkers start talking about their What Would You Do? responses, they won’t be able to stop. That’s what makes this such an incredible team building activity . For example, you could ask questions like “If you could live forever, what would you do with your time?” or “If you never had to sleep, what would you do?”

In addition to hypothetical questions, you could also give teammates some optional answers to get them started
After that, let them do the talking — then they’ll be laughing and thinking and dreaming, too!

13. Crossing The River

“quite the conundrum”.

Crossing The River is a river-crossing challenge with one correct answer. Your team gets five essential elements — a chicken, a fox, a rowboat, a woman, and a bag of corn. You see, the woman has a bit of a problem, you tell them. She has to get the fox, the bag of corn, and the chicken to the other side of the river as efficiently as possible.

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: She has a rowboat, but it can only carry her and one other item at a time. She cannot leave the chicken and the fox alone — for obvious reasons. And she can’t leave the chicken with the corn because it will gobble it right up. So the question for your team is how does the woman get all five elements to the other side of the river safely in this fun activity?

Form teams of 2 to 5 people
Each team has to solve the imaginary riddle
Just make sure that each group understands that the rowboat can only carry one animal and one item at a time; the fox and chicken can’t be alone; and the bag of corn and the chicken cannot be left alone
Give the verbal instructions for getting everything over to the other side

14. End-Hunger Games

“philanthropic fun”.

Does anything bond people quite like acts of kindness and compassion? The End-Hunger Games will get your team to rally around solving the serious problem of hunger.

Best for: Medium-sized teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Teams join forces to complete challenges based around non-perishable food items in the End-Hunger Games. Groups can range in size from 25 to more than 2000 people, who will all work together to collect food for the local food bank.

Split into teams and compete to earn boxes and cans of non-perishable food
Each team attempts to build the most impressive food item construction
Donate all of the non-perishable foods to a local food bank

Learn more here: End-Hunger Games

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

A: Group problem solving activities and games improve collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

A: Problem solving based team building activities and games are activities that challenge teams to work together in order to complete them.

Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?

A: Some fun free problem solving games for groups are kinesthetic puzzles like the human knot game, which you can read more about in this article. You can also use all sorts of random items like whiteboards, straws, building blocks, sticky notes, blindfolds, rubber bands, and legos to invent a game that will get the whole team involved.

Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

A: The most effective problem solving exercise for your team is one that will challenge them to be their best selves and expand their creative thinking.

Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?

A: In the short-term, you’ll know if your group problem solving activity was successful because your team will bond over it; however, that should also translate to more productivity in the mid to long-term.

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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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#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:

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:

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:

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:

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!

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

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.

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 is a former Content Marketing Manager of 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.

6 Different Team Effectiveness Models to Understand Your Team Better

Understanding these 6 team effectiveness models can help you figure out which model to adopt for your own team. Or it may simply help shed light into what's working in your own group, and how to help improve what's lacking.

5 Unexpected Ways To Improve Team Collaboration

The general trend these days is toward open office plans, where cubicle walls and office doors don’t impede communication. In fact, the International Facility Management Association reports that 70% of offices in the US now have an open floor plan. But tearing down the walls so we can yell across the room at one another doesn’t necessarily improve collaboration. In fact, a study in Finland found that employees on average waste 21.5 minutes a day getting distracted by overheard conversations, the top roadblock to productivity. It takes more than just moving the furniture and hoping it will get people talking—it takes planning, intentional policy changes, and just a little hint of the unexpected. These five unusual strategies for improving team collaboration will get your teams to work together in ways that make people feel comfortable sharing ideas. 1. Put the Walls Back Up Conventional wisdom says that open work spaces and shared offices get people to talk more, but the ambient noise and visual distractions can actually mean a loss of productivity. We cycle through the open-office-closed-door argument every decade or so, probably because the pendulum swings way too far in one direction or the other, leaving employees either isolated or distracted. When employees have a quiet, comfortable place to work distraction-free, they feel more comfortable coming out of their shells when they need to work together. Cubicles, conference rooms, and separate offices help define meeting times and let employees choose when they engage with others, rather than the open office layout that stifles quiet time. 2. Build an Asynchronous Communication Policy Many workplaces have implemented instant messaging apps, crowd-sourced employee documents, and project management tools that increase the opportunity for collaboration. But that’s not enough—you also have to create expectations around how employees use those tools. Communication apps like Skype and Slack, can and should be used with an understanding that communication happens at your discretion. Asynchronous communication models the sort of communication that happens between parts of a computer: information is sent when it’s convenient for one part of the system, and the other part of the system receives and responds at its convenience. This way, the receiver’s current process isn’t interrupted, which helps team members stay focused on important work. Offices that use wikis, email, chat tools, Kanban boards, and project management tools that let users view notifications and changes on their own time show respect for the individual’s flow of work. Users can set "do not disturb" hours so they won’t receive distracting notifications, and use a batching system to take care of all secondary communication outside of their focus times. Asynchronous communication gives employees the freedom to focus without that fear of missing out on important decisions. When companies empower employees to communicate within dedicated time frames, they send the message that they appreciate when employees focus on single tasks, rather than splitting their attention between communication and assignments. 3. Implement: "No Agenda, No Meeting" It’s many people’s worst office nightmare: a meeting with no plan. Requiring that all meetings — no matter how trivial or informal — have at least a bullet point outline puts both planners and attendees at ease. Agendas also keep your teams focused on outcomes. Teams that plan in advance and share agendas stay on track and reduce distractions that can devolve into lost time and unhelpful disagreements. Build policies about tangential discussions and how to deal with disagreements, so your employees know how to handle new and uncomfortable situations. Meeting agendas protect meaningful individual work time, and helps the group stay on task. This reduces friction due to off-topic talking, lets attendees collect their thoughts and ideas before the meeting, and defines the scope of work so all participants understand what’s expected. Collaboration is much easier when everyone knows what’s required. Once the group completes the agenda, release employees to check off the items on their personal to-do lists. You can always schedule follow-up meetings to resolve new issues. 4. Build an Inclusive Remote Work Infrastructure Finding top talent is harder than ever, and ensuring that your employees have a good work-life balance is an HR necessity. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 24% of employees worked from home at least part of the time in 2015. Working remotely from a home office or co-working space in a different city can increase employee happiness and productivity and limit distractions from office shenanigans (looking at you, Sales Departments). Companies that allow remote work or work from home policies need to build communication and collaboration into the lifestyle of the company. Use video conferencing, chat programs, screensharing & remote desktop access, and project management tools to bring employees together virtually around your goals. Ensure that not only workers but also managers and executives understand how to use the remote technology, and are comfortable engaging with the crew. Use your video calls for 1:1 weekly meetings to check in, and build chat channels where your whole team can hang out. Allow teams to build their own chat channels around shared interests (Trivia, Fantasy Football, great restaurants, etc.) to cultivate a connected culture and engage employees during downtime. These connections remind us that our colleagues are more than their work projects, they are people too. Humanizing remote teammates helps to foster empathy, which in turn smooths out whatever rough patches you'll hit during collaboration. 5. Build Relationships via Tough Conversations Whether collaboration takes place in the office or remotely, in real time or asynchronously, in a conference room or in the middle of an open office, it’s important to build communication policies that promote openness and honesty. Conflict and criticism are inevitable, but collaboration doesn’t have to suffer: the whole team can communicate with emotional intelligence. By planning for the inevitable, you can ensure that tough conversations happen with sensitivity—building relationships among team members, instead of eroding them. Designate mediators for teams, plan regular communication skills workshops (quarterly, not just once a year), and discuss different communication styles. Collaboration is More Than Seating Arrangements Improved team collaboration takes more than sticking everyone in a room and hoping individual genius will compound in a group setting. Real business-oriented collaboration requires careful planning, investment in technology, and breaking down outdated ideas of what teamwork and productivity look like. About the Author: Tamara Scott is an analyst at TechnologyAdvice, a research company that connects buyers and sellers of business technology. She writes about project management, marketing, sales, CRM, and many other technology verticals.

Making Mistakes at Work: What to Do if You're in the Wrong

All of us have felt the fear of admitting when we’ve made a mistake at work. We may be terrified to tell our manager, or nervous about the impact our mistake could have on the business. But mistakes are completely normal and should be viewed as an opportunity to grow. This article aims to provide a deeper insight into why this fear of making mistakes at work exists and how to overcome it. We’ll also provide advice to managers on how to react and problem solve collaboratively as a team. Why is there a fear of making mistakes at work? Making mistakes at work can be scary. This is especially true if you’re the sole breadwinner of your household or rely on your position for everyday expenses like rent. When the stakes are high, it’s normal to worry about what-if scenarios when something goes wrong. In rare cases, extreme perfectionism is diagnosed as atelophobia which is the extreme fear of making mistakes. While these are all valid reactions, making mistakes at work can actually improve your relationship with management and provide opportunities for self-improvement. But first things first, you have to adjust your mindset and overcome those fear-based feelings that are keeping you paralyzed. Overcoming the anxiety of making mistakes at work If you’re like most people, you probably feel a knot in your stomach when something goes wrong at work. It could have been a minor mishap that no one noticed or a major mistake that cost your company a huge sum of money. Regardless of what happened, overcoming the anxiety of making mistakes at work is the first step to finding a solution. If you skip this part of the process, you may find yourself covering up issues that could have been fixed, making things worse long-term, or even getting found out by your boss. Follow these steps to overcoming work-related stress and bounce back stronger than before after you’ve messed up: Step 1: Process your emotions It’s natural to feel frustrated and embarrassed when something goes wrong at work. But, after a few seconds, the feeling should pass and you can begin to think logically. If it doesn’t happen quickly, take some time to process these emotions. Talk it out with a trusted friend, voice journal about it in your car, or take a walk outside to get some fresh air before starting fresh. It can be hard to maintain a sense of balance when you’re upset. Try to make sure that your emotional response is proportional to the mistake you made. Step 2: Keep perspective If you make an error at work, it’s likely not a life-or-death situation. Most of the time, it can be corrected or resolved quickly. If you don’t find the right perspective, your mind may get too focused on the negative consequences of your mistake, which can trigger more errors in the future. Step 3: Acknowledge the mistake If you need to apologize for an error, do it quickly and politely. If it’s a small issue, a sentence or two via email or chat messenger is enough to make amends. If it’s a larger issue, consider holding a meeting or giving your manager a quick phone call. Also, make sure to tell your boss about how you intend to prevent this mistake in the future. Step 4: Review your response It’s so easy to get distracted by all your other goals and projects that you can forget about anything else that went wrong before you got to this point. Taking the time to review your response to the mistake helps you improve in case it ever happens again. Ask yourself questions. Do you make the same mistake over and over again? If so, what changes can you make to prevent this from happening? Step 5: Practice self-care Getting back into a healthy routine can help you release pent-up energy and prevent making mistakes at work in the future. To some, the concept of self-care may seem like a trend or luxury. But making sure you’re feeling your best is critical for improving your confidence and your performance at work. Issues such as sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and dehydration can lead to mistakes you otherwise wouldn’t have made if you had been taking better care of yourself. Step 6: Evaluate your own performance The easiest way to earn people's trust is to consistently deliver stellar work. Even though you may have failed in the past, there's still time to move on and create a successful and rich working life. Remember, a mistake or two over the course of an otherwise successful period will not make or break your career. How should managers react to mistakes at work? Managers are responsible for reacting to and assisting employees with mistakes at work. Even in the most high-pressure situations, doing so with care is not only good for morale but will prevent similar mistakes in the future. How a manager reacts to mistakes at work can make all the difference between transformational leadership and losing otherwise great employees. Great managers understand that we can all learn from our mistakes. Mistakes help us develop as individuals and as a team. Great managers can also recognize when they themselves have made mistakes. Before you approach a team member, take a close look at yourself to see if you're really worried about their work. If so, what do you think about their performance? Who is responsible for their work so far? You may find that you’ve contributed to the environment, the process, or the miscommunication that made the mistake possible. Reflecting on this ahead of time will relieve everyone of playing the blame game and instead solve the problem from a fair and level-headed place. Additionally, managers should make sure that each mistake is a teaching moment. It may be hard but don't try to fix the problem. Instead, frame it as an opportunity to improve and develop. When approaching an employee who has made a mistake, start by being curious about it. Ask questions about what happened and what their perspective is on the situation. Use active listening skills when speaking to team members, as it will let them know that you are paying attention. They may fess up immediately. If they take the blame for something that wasn’t their fault, which is pretty common, address that. If they don’t admit to making a mistake, approach the situation with care and focus on the issue, not placing blame. Give the team members the autonomy to figure it out on their own. Then, provide your feedback in a fair and balanced manner. Afterward, encourage them to learn from it and avoid repeating the same mistake. When communicating with an employee who has made a mistake, in-person meetings are often best. However, many teams are now made up of contractors, gig workers, and freelancers who work remotely so a physical location is not always accessible. If that’s the case, lean on digital tools to illustrate the issue. For example, reports and individual task assignment lists from project management tools. These can also be used to prevent future mistakes, as managers can easily use them to communicate the actions and behaviors expected of team members and improve the overall work management process. There may be times when mistakes happen over and over again. If that’s the case, the employee may be engaging in a pattern of behavior that keeps them from performing at their best. Managers can step in and provide ideas for healthy habits that will prevent the same type of mistake from cropping up again. For example, you can ask a marketing team member to overcome a common marketing mistake of missing a content publishing deadline by writing a to-do list every day. This will help them stay on top of their tasks while also motivating them to finish their work at the same time. In a nutshell, it’s important to understand that punishment for infrequent mistakes is unfair and ineffective. These mistakes offer opportunities to improve, which both managers and employees can embrace. How to admit a mistake in a professional environment You may end up in a situation in a professional environment where an apology is needed. And when it comes to making mistakes at work, honesty is the best policy. Certain actions can break trust, but an apology can help rebuild it. In your explanation, it's important to detail why you acted the way you did. It shows that you care about how those around you are affected by your actions. It's important to address the person you're apologizing to by name, regardless of their status. Having an open conversation can help both of you understand the other person better, and it can prevent an insincere apology from happening. If the mistake you made affected someone personally, it's important to validate the feelings of the other person. Having the courage to admit that you're sorry can make a huge difference in how people treat you. Take responsibility for your actions and have a plan in place for how to make amends before you approach the appropriate person or people. Having a plan in place shows that you're thinking about how to make things right. You may even want to read about examples of taking responsibility at work and model your behavior on whichever feels appropriate for the situation. However, don’t get carried away and make promises you can’t keep. It's important to set goals that are realistic so that you can avoid repeating the mistake. If your apology is accepted, you can then try negotiating a solution by asking the other person to reflect on the situation and consider their feelings. After you apologize, make a greater effort to keep your promises and not repeat the same mistake. Doing so can help improve the situation and make the other person feel more comfortable. How to learn from mistakes at work It's important to come clean and admit your mistake, but it's also important to move forward with a positive mindset. You'll most likely feel a bit down about your mistake right after it happens. But by learning from it, you can improve and become more resilient in the long run. Start by creating a plan for improvement. If you made a minor mistake, then creating personal goals and action plans will help you put those lessons into action. You can learn a universal lesson from nearly any situation, no matter how unique it is. For example, if you learned that a mistake was made because of your forgetfulness, implementing organizational strategies to improve your memory could help. Next, keep track of progress over time in a notebook or virtual document. Be sure to note the highlights along with the lowlights. Look for patterns. As they come up, add them to your action plan or personal goals list. Monitor whether or not these changes have led to better, more consistent outcomes. If not, adjust and keep going. Lastly, don't be afraid to ask for help if you're unsure which strategy or tool will work best for you. Managers are there to support your performance. If you approach them with honesty and vulnerability, they’ll likely be flattered you thought to ask. They may even offer advice or make changes that will improve productivity for you and the rest of the team. In conclusion The pressure to perform at a high level can often result in mistakes and inefficient habits. Learn from your mistakes and take ownership of them. Communicate in an open and honest manner. Ask for or provide help when needed and remember that every new mistake is also an opportunity for better performance. How Wrike can help you avoid unnecessary mistakes at work With so many files, folders, updates, and chat threads to keep track of, mistakes are easily made when you try to get through your day without a work management platform. Wrike offers a variety of features to help you stay on top of your workload easily, and avoid unnecessary confusion that can lead to mistakes at work. Full project visibility, including real-time updates and approvals, means that you can ensure every stakeholder is informed of what you're working on, with your tasks going to the correct approver every time. One shared space with over 400 app integrations means communication has never been easier, no matter where you or your team are based. And Wrike's Automation Engine allows you to streamline your processes and automate the time-consuming admin tasks that, when tackled manually, can easily be done incorrectly. Try it out for yourself with a free two-week trial.

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Unleashing Creativity: 23 Group Activities Ideas For Problem Solving

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The use of group activities to include everyone in problem-solving is growing in popularity. Individuals can get together to work on an issue that impacts their team, company, or even community by participating in a group activity.

Group activities may be a terrific approach to improve communication, leadership, and creative abilities in addition to teaching people how to cooperate towards a shared objective. This blog article aims to offer suggestions for group activities that might improve problem-solving skills and a sense of cohesion among group members.

In this article, we will discuss 23 group activities ideas for problem-solving, including virtual team-building problem-solving activities.

Read More: 15 Group Activities For Social Work Students That Are Fun And Engaging!

Why Problem-solving Activities Are Good For A Group?

Team-building activities that involve problem-solving are quite effective. They not only enhance communication, but they also foster creativity and raise output.

People learn to trust one another and depend on each other’s abilities when they cooperate to solve challenges.

As a result, people are better able to grasp one another’s skills and how to collaborate. Additionally, problem-solving exercises inspire individuals to think creatively and beyond the box.

16 In-Person Group Activities Ideas For Problem-Solving

Word Association: Word association is a game in which groups must collaborate to come up with a list of words that are connected in a given amount of time.
Picture Association: Teams must cooperate in order to connect a collection of images to create a narrative.
Mystery Case: By assembling information and drawing conclusions, teams must work together to solve a mystery case.
The marshmallow Tower Challenge: Requires groups to construct the tallest tower using just marshmallows and toothpicks.
Wild Goose Chase: To finish first, teams must race through a variety of chores, locate buildings, and solve riddles in the great outdoors.
Trivia Challenge: Teams must cooperate to respond to as many trivia questions as they can in the allotted amount of time.
The Price is Right: Teams must collaborate to estimate the cost of various things.
The Blindfolded Obstacle Course: Teams must lead a blindfolded participant through an obstacle course.
The Tower of Hanoi: Teams must cooperate in order to tackle the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle.
The Sponge Race: Teams must move a sponge from one bucket to another using just their bodies.
The Balloon Race: The balloon race requires teams to race while using just their bodies to propel a balloon from one end of the room to the other.
Domino Effect Challenge: Teams are given a set of dominoes and instructed to start a chain reaction that will eventually fall every domino.
Reverse Pyramid: Teams are required to construct a pyramid construction, but there is a catch: they must do so backward, beginning at the top and moving downward.
Crime Investigators : Teams are assigned a crime to investigate, and they must cooperate to obtain information and identify the offender.
Egg Drop: Teams are given materials to create an apparatus that will keep an egg from cracking when dropped from a specific height in the Egg Drop competition. The goal is to determine which team’s invention is the most successful.
Cardboard Boat Building Challenge: During this exercise, groups are entrusted with constructing a cardboard boat. The goal is to see which team’s boat can hold the most weight without sinking.

7 Virtual Team Building Problem-Solving Activities

If your team is working remotely or is compelled to do so, virtual group activities for problem-solving could prove to be a tremendous boon for the communion and engagement of the team members, all while they work from the comfort of their own homes.

Virtual Trivia: Teams can participate in a virtual trivia tournament and respond to inquiries about a variety of topics. Preparation : You’ll need a platform like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams to host the game in order to prepare for a virtual trivia contest. You’ll also require a database of trivia questions and answers or a website that offers such information. Virtual trivia is frequently played on websites like Kahoot, Quizlet, and TriviaMaker.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Teams can take part in a virtual scavenger hunt, deciphering clues to locate the next one. Preparation : To hold a virtual scavenger hunt, you’ll need a platform, such as a video conferencing application or a platform for virtual events. You’ll also need to make a list of things or assignments that participants must locate or do. Using a website like GooseChase, Scavify, or Adventure Hunt, you may design a scavenger hunt.
Virtual Murder Mystery: Teams can participate in a virtual murder mystery game where they must collect evidence and solve the case. Preparation : You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom or Google Meet, in order to host a virtual murder mystery. Additionally, you’ll want a murder mystery script or kit that contains the tale, the characters, and the clues. Virtual murder mystery kits are sold by a variety of businesses, including Murder Mystery Games , Virtual Murder Mystery, and Mystery Escape Rooms.
Virtual Escape Room: Teams can cooperate to solve riddles and make their way out of a virtual escape room using this game. Preparation : You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual escape room. A platform that offers a virtual escape room experience, such as Puzzlomatic, Escapologic, or Unlock, is also required.
Virtual Jeopardy: Teams can take part in a virtual Jeopardy tournament by responding to questions about a variety of topics. Preparation: You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual Jeopardy game. Using a website like Kahoot, Quizlet, or TriviaMaker, you may make your own Jeopardy game.
Virtual Minefield: Without verbal contact, teams must follow directions to move through a virtual minefield. Preparation: You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual minefield. Using a website like Kahoot, Quizlet, or TriviaMaker, you may design your own digital minefield.
Virtual Jigsaw Puzzle: To finish a virtual jigsaw puzzle as rapidly as feasible, teams must cooperate. Preparation: A platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, is required in order to host a virtual jigsaw puzzle. A virtual jigsaw puzzles platform like Jigsaw Planet, Jigsaw Explorer, or JigZone is also required.

Things To Consider When Making Problem-Solving Activities For A Team

When creating problem-solving activities for a team, it’s essential to consider the following:

Goals : What is the goal of the activity? Is it to improve communication, boost creativity, or increase productivity?
Team Size : How many people will be participating in the activity? This will impact the type of activity that can be done.
Time : How much time do you have for the activity? Some activities may require more time than others.
Equipment : What equipment do you have available for the activity? Some activities may require special equipment.
Budget : What is your budget for the activity? Some activities may require a larger budget than others.
Virtual Platform : What virtual platform will you use for the activity? Some activities may require specific virtual platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]

What are some benefits of problem-solving activities for a group.

Answer: Problem-solving activities improve communication, boost creativity, increase productivity, and strengthen bonds between team members.

Can Problem-solving Activities Be Done Virtually?

Answer: Yes, problem-solving activities can be done virtually. Many virtual team-building problem-solving activities exist, such as virtual trivia, virtual scavenger hunts, and virtual escape rooms.

How Do Problem-Solving Activities Help Improve Team Communication?

Answer: Problem-solving activities encourage team members to work together, listen to each other’s ideas, and express their thoughts and opinions. This leads to improved communication and better collaboration among team members.

What Are Some Advantages Of Virtual Team-building Problem-Solving Activities?

Answer: Virtual team-building problem-solving activities offer the convenience of being able to participate from anywhere with an internet connection, and they allow teams to participate in activities that may not be possible in person, such as virtual escape rooms or virtual murder mysteries.

How Do I Choose The Right Problem-Solving Activity For My Team?

Answer: Consider the goals of the activity, team size, available time, necessary equipment, budget, and virtual platform when choosing a problem-solving activity for your team. It’s also a good idea to take into account the interests and preferences of your team members.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, problem-solving activities are an excellent way to build strong, effective teams. They promote creativity, communication, and collaboration, and can be done both in-person and virtually.

When creating problem-solving activities for a team, it’s essential to consider the goals, team size, time, equipment, budget, and virtual platform.

With these 20 group activities ideas for problem-solving, virtual team building problem-solving activities , and things to consider, you’re well on your way to creating engaging and productive problem-solving activities for your team.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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45 team building games to improve commu ...

45 team building games to improve communication and camaraderie

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

Related resources

Fix these common onboarding challenges to boost productivity

30-60-90 day plan: How to onboard new hires with ease

15 types of employee performance reviews

What is self-management? (7 skills to improve it)

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Adequately Intriguing Group Problem Solving Activities for Adults

Problem solving is one of the most basic skills to learn, be it in the professional or personal context. There are numerous problem-solving activities you can adopt and hone this skill thus.

The fact is that any situation, function, activity (and whatever other context you can think of) will have the emerging of problems at one point or the other in its course. Nothing can function smoothly from beginning to end. In that way, problems are a natural part of life, no matter what context they are placed under. The most effective thing to do therefore, is to develop the skills of problem solving. An innate understanding of how to tackle any problem head on will give one the confidence that no matter what situation they find themselves in, they have the capacity to come out of the same.

Learning the varied skills of problem solving especially helps in the professional world because one is required to work in a group for the sake of a bigger goal. While there are several ways in which problem-solving tactics can be learned, in this article we will focus on some of the most effective group problem-solving activities for adults.

Problem Solving Group Games

Why group games? For the simple reason that there is nothing quite as effective as games, to get one to learn the basics of problem solving. When you put it in the form of games, it takes the pressure off ‘learning’ something. You enjoy playing it instead and learn in the process. It’s as simple as that.

Blind Man’s Web

This game requires a lot of concentration, the ability to instruct correctly and to not crumble under pressure. Divide the group into teams of equal members. Provide them with a ball of wool that they have to use to create a web. Ask the teams to make the web in the designated area provided for them, without using any tapes or the like. Once the teams are done creating their individual webs, switch the teams into a different web so that the difficulty level increases.

Blindfold one member of the team and let him at the web, while his team members have to give him instructions on how to go about solving the web and retrieving the line of wool as is. Give them a calculated amount of time for solving this one. The team that manages to solve the web first, wins.

The No-Crack Egg

Divide the group into teams of equal numbers. Provide each of these teams with materials like straws, newspapers, cello tape, string, cardboard material and 1 raw egg. The objective of the game is to prepare an egg cover using the items provided, such that when the egg is thrown from a height of 15 feet, it should not crack.

Let’s Round Up

Divide the group into teams with equal members. Ask each team to stand in a circle. Now ask them to extend their right hand and grab hold of the right hand of another member in the team. Once everyone has done that, ask them to do the same with their left hand. When the group is all tied up like so, give them a time of 10-15 minutes in which they have to free themselves and form a circle again. The only condition? They can’t let go of their hands while they are doing that. A person needs to keep a watch on everyone while they are doing the exercise. If anyone’s hand slips out, the team is disqualified. The team that manages to free themselves and form a circle first, wins.

List of To-Dos

A take on the scavenger hunt game, this one provides for a whole lot of entertainment while bringing the skills of problem solving into the picture. The group is divided into teams and they are provided a list of to-do activities that they have to solve to get to the big prize. These activities are a mix of both – simple and tough. List activities like solving a puzzle, writing a poem on a particular theme, physical activities like retrieving a packet from the company lobby, drinking 5 glasses of milk, etc. This activity requires for continued levels of motivation to last throughout the course of the exercise. The team that manages to stay motivated and work through the tension and adrenaline rush to complete all the activities, wins.

Situational Skit

Write down a couple of situations that deal with everyday events. It could be any simple situation like dealing with an incompetent salesperson or dealing with an irate customer over the phone – anything that is challenging. Write in as many characters in the situation as possible. Divide the people in groups and then ask each group to pick out chits. Each group is given a calculated time to prepare a skit based on the situation. A panel of judges will judge the best act. This activity requires tremendous planning skills and the ability to handle a stressful situation.

Balloon Relay

The group is divided into teams of equal members. Each team is provided with a number of deflated balloons, water, water guns and an empty bucket. The objective of the game is that some members fill the balloons with water and then throw it over to their team members (who are standing at a calculated distance from them). They have to catch the balloons and put it in the bucket. It might seem to be a very simple game, but there will be that time until the team learns just how much water to fill in the balloon, how to throw it and the best technique to catch it so that the balloon doesn’t burst. The team that manages to learn and follow this will have less bursting of balloons and a higher chance of winning.

Duplicating Blocks

This is a simple problem-solving activity and one that most of us have played in our childhood. Divide the group into teams and provide them with building blocks and a model that they have to duplicate in a given time frame. The team that manages to do that first, wins. Keep the difficulty level high for more effect. The key is to be able to work with so many people giving so many instructions all together.

Group problem-solving activities can be of several kinds, and depending on the group that you’re dealing with, you can choose some that will suit the group in question in the best possible manner.

Leaving the fun quotient aside, these games truly help develop the required skills for problem solving.

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33 Group Therapy Activities, Exercises & Questions | Free PDF Download

Discover a comprehensive guide to group therapy activities to facilitate growth, bonding, and self-discovery. Download a free PDF!

By Alex King on Feb 29, 2024.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

Why are Group Therapy Activities Helpful?

Group therapy activities are incredibly beneficial tools for self-discovery, communication, personal growth, and resilience building. The activities foster an environment of trust, understanding, empathy, and support among group members. They encourage individuals to share personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings, often leading to breakthroughs in understanding and coping strategies.

These activities are versatile and can cater to various groups, including adults, teens, children, and specific demographics like people with addiction or grief. Whether fun group therapy activities designed to relieve tension and promote bonding or motivational group therapy activities to inspire change and growth, each has its unique purpose and benefit.

In essence, group therapy activities are a safe platform for individuals to navigate their feelings, confront their fears, and work towards healthier mental and emotional states alongside others in similar situations.

11 Group Therapy Activities

Group therapy activities offer a structured and engaging way to foster openness, encourage healthy communication, and build a strong sense of community within a group. These activities can be tailored to fit the group's needs and vary from light-hearted games to more serious discussions or artistic expressions. The following eleven activities are practical tools therapists commonly use to achieve therapeutic goals.

1. Ice Breaker Activities

These light-hearted activities, like "Two Truths and a Lie" or "Human Bingo," help members to introduce themselves and feel more comfortable within the group.

2. Problem-Solving Exercises

Activities such as "Survival Scenario" can enhance teamwork and demonstrate the benefits of group decision-making.

3. Role-playing

By acting out different scenarios, members gain insights into various perspectives and learn to navigate social situations.

4. Trust-building Exercises

Exercises like the "Trust Fall" foster trust, connectivity, and support within the group.

5. Art Therapy

Creating a group mural allows members to express their feelings creatively and discuss them with others.

6. Music Therapy

By creating group playlists or engaging in group songwriting, members can connect through shared experiences.

7. Guided Imagery

Relaxation and therapeutic mental images can reduce stress and anxiety within the group.

8. Movement Therapy

Yoga or Tai Chi can be helpful in channeling energy and focus, improving mood, and fostering group cohesion.

9. Gratitude Exercises

Group members share what they are grateful for, which can enhance positive feelings and encourage a positive outlook.

10. Goal-Setting Exercises

Group members share personal goals, and the group works together to develop strategies for achieving them.

11. Themed Discussion Groups

Members discuss topics relevant to their circumstances, such as dealing with grief or overcoming addiction.

11 Group Therapy Exercises

Therapeutic exercises in a group setting aim to engage participants physically, emotionally, and cognitively. They often involve active participation, strengthening members' bonds, encouraging empathy, and promoting personal growth. Each exercise provides a safe space for members to explore their feelings and behaviors, understand others' perspectives, and practice new skills.

Let's delve into eleven proven group therapy exercises.

1. Collaborative Drawing

Group members contribute to a shared drawing, encouraging cooperation and mutual understanding.

2. Empty Chair Exercise

Participants engage in a dialogue with an 'empty chair,' simulating a conversation with themselves or a significant person.

3. Scavenger Hunt

A fun way to improve team bonding and collaborative skills.

4. Tower Building

Group members build a structure using materials like spaghetti and marshmallows, promoting teamwork and problem-solving skills.

5. Feelings Charades

An engaging way to help members express and recognize different emotions.

6. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Participants learn to relax their muscles , reducing physical tension and promoting mindfulness.

7. Mask-Making

Members create masks representing their perceived and authentic selves, stimulating introspection and self-understanding.

8. Balloon Exercise

Each member writes a negative thought on a balloon, then pops it, symbolizing the release of negative feelings.

9. Sculpture Exercise

Group members mold playdough or clay to represent an emotion or experience, facilitating non-verbal expression.

10. Eco-Therapy

Outdoor activities like gardening or nature walks help connect members to the natural world and provide therapeutic benefits.

11. Affirmation Exchange

Members write positive affirmations for each other, fostering positivity and group cohesion.

11 Group Therapy Questions

Open-ended questions are invaluable in a group therapy context. They guide the therapy process, prompting self-reflection and stimulating in-depth discussions among members. Individuals can gain new insights into their behaviors, emotions, and relationships through these discussions. Here are eleven thought-provoking questions commonly used in group therapy sessions.

1. What brought you to this group therapy session?

This question helps participants identify their reasons for seeking therapy, which can clarify their goals and motivations.

2. How do you typically handle stress or conflict?

Understanding each member's coping mechanisms allows the group to address unhealthy patterns and develop new, healthier strategies.

3. What are some personal strengths you can share with the group?

Members can boost their self-esteem and contribute to a positive group dynamic by identifying and sharing personal strengths.

4. Can you share a recent challenge and how you dealt with it?

This question encourages members to reflect on their problem-solving skills and share their experiences with the group, which can provide valuable insights and shared learning opportunities.

5. What's one thing you want to change about your life?

Asking participants to identify something they'd like to change can help them focus on their therapeutic goals and build motivation.

6. What does self-care look like to you?

This question encourages participants to consider how they take care of their physical and mental health, which can lead to discussions about the importance of self-care and ways to improve it.

7. How do your relationships impact your well-being?

This question can help participants understand how their relationships with others can affect their mental and emotional health, which can be a significant area for therapeutic work.

8. What's a significant event that shaped your life?

Reflecting on impactful life events can help participants understand how past experiences continue to influence their present behaviors and emotions.

9. Can you share a time when you felt proud of yourself?

Recalling and sharing moments of personal success can boost self-esteem and contribute to a positive group dynamic.

10. How has your perspective changed since joining group therapy?

This question encourages participants to reflect on their progress and the benefits gained from the group therapy experience, which can be a source of motivation and hope.

11. What's one goal you hope to achieve through these group therapy sessions?

This question helps participants establish a clear therapeutic goal, providing focus and purpose to their group therapy sessions.

These questions are tools that therapists use to guide discussions, encourage self-reflection, and foster connection among group members. The insights gained from the responses can significantly assist the therapeutic process.

When to Use Group Therapy Tools

Group therapy tools come into play when the therapeutic process needs direction, interaction, or stimulation. They are instrumental at the beginning of therapy to foster trust and rapport. For instance, icebreaker activities are ideal for initial sessions when members get to know each other.

They also have a role during periods of stagnation or high tension. Fun group therapy activities can lighten the mood, while problem-solving or role-playing exercises can provide new ways to address ongoing issues. Additionally, these tools are crucial in sessions focused on specific topics like emotional regulation, communication skills, or self-esteem.

Initial Sessions

Group therapy tools such as ice breakers and get-to-know-you activities can be handy in initial sessions when group members are still unfamiliar with each other. These tools can help break the ice, encourage introductions, and create an environment conducive to sharing and collaboration.

During High-Tension Meetings

If a group session becomes tense or heated, a therapist might employ certain activities to diffuse tension and promote understanding. This could include calming exercises like guided imagery or team-building activities encouraging cooperation and unity.

When Introducing New Topics

Related group therapy activities can help illustrate and explore the concept when introducing a new subject. For example, role-playing exercises can be employed if the focus is on developing empathy.

During Stagnant Periods

If group sessions become stagnant, lack engagement, or if members seem stuck, group therapy tools can be used to reinvigorate the group and stimulate progress. Fun and engaging activities can bring a fresh perspective and energize the group.

To Foster Skill Development

Specific group therapy activities can teach and reinforce emotional regulation, active listening, or assertive communication skills. Practicing these skills in a safe, supportive environment helps individuals integrate these behaviors into their everyday lives.

During Closure or Transition

As the group therapy ends, or when members transition out, reflective activities, such as group discussions or personal letter writing, can provide closure and a chance for members to acknowledge their progress and the relationships they've formed.

Handling Resistance or Defensiveness

If a group member is resistant or defensive, a therapist might use certain group therapy activities to encourage participation and engagement. An example could be a non-threatening creative activity like art or music therapy, where the focus is shifted from the individual to the shared task.

Group Therapy Activities App – How Can Carepatron Help?

In the digital age, leveraging technology to enhance therapeutic processes is essential. That's where Carepatron comes in. It's a groundbreaking healthcare management app designed to streamline therapy processes, including planning and conducting group therapy activities.

With Carepatron, you can create a detailed activity calendar, maintain a secure record of group members' progress, and document observations systematically and organized. Moreover, the app's feature for secure messaging is particularly beneficial for coordinating and conducting virtual group therapy sessions. It provides a platform where group members can communicate safely and confidently.

Carepatron also supports file sharing, enabling therapists to distribute important resources such as worksheets, exercise instructions, and inspirational materials. This can further enrich the group therapy experience for participants, providing them with the necessary tools and guidance even outside of sessions.

But that's not all. Carepatron is built with a user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate even for those who need to be tech-savvy. This ensures that the focus remains on the therapeutic process rather than figuring out complicated software.

Carepatron serves as a virtual facilitator for group therapy, making it easier and more efficient for therapists to conduct activities, keep track of progress, and communicate with participants. It's an excellent tool for your arsenal if you're a therapist or mental health professional.

Ready to revolutionize your group therapy sessions? Sign up for Carepatron today and discover how technology can enrich your therapeutic process. Join us in pioneering a new, efficient, interactive group therapy method. Sign up now!

Commonly asked questions

Activities can include role-playing communication scenarios, sharing personal relationship experiences, or participating in trust-building exercises.

Art therapy, music therapy, and movement-based activities are often effective with younger participants. Games and interactive exercises can also engage and encourage younger group members.

Facilitation involves setting clear expectations, providing a safe and respectful environment, and guiding the group through the activities. The therapist's role is crucial in managing dynamics and ensuring each participant benefits from the session.

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Group Dynamix

Team Building Events in Dallas TX | Group Dynamix

8 Team Building and Problem-Solving Activities

September 14, 2023 By Group Dynamix

Even the most organized and efficient company regularly runs into problems. Every day, workers face challenges ranging from minor to major. Communication breakdowns, unhappy customers and looming deadlines are just some of the many examples of obstacles that workers must regularly overcome.

There are many ways to learn how to be better at problem-solving. Fortunately, they don’t all involve hours in front of a screen or reading lengthy guides.

Team building problem-solving activities are a great way to strengthen problem-solving skills while having fun at the same time. What’s more, problem-solving activities at team-building events also teach collaboration, patience and critical thinking–all crucial to great problem-solving.

In this article, we discuss the benefits of problem-solving team-building activities. We also list eight you can do with your workgroup to improve your ability to overcome challenges.

The Benefits of Team Building Problem-Solving Activities

Apart from teaching and honing problem-solving skills, team-building activities that involve identifying and addressing challenges offer other benefits.

They Serve As Ice-breakers: Problem-solving team building activities present an excellent opportunity for team members to get to know each other. It’s more fun–and less awkward–than the usual way of introducing yourself, which typically involves having employees state their name and position as well as share an interesting fact about themselves.
They Foster Camaraderie: In a positive and supportive environment, problem-solving activities promote harmonious relationships among co-workers. Working together to overcome challenges strengthens team bonds and builds mutual respect. It encourages open communication and the appreciation of each team member’s unique skills. Additionally, these activities often result in laughter, helping reduce any tension between team members.
They Teach Collboration and Creativity: During these activities, team members learn to leverage each other’s strengths, communicate efficiently and brainstorm new ways to solve challenges. By working together and thinking out of the box, team members improve their creativity while developing respect for their workers’ contributions.

Eight Problem-Solving Team Building Activities for Your Work Group

While problem-solving might seem simple on the surface, it’s a complex process that requires an open mind, creativity, patience and the ability to collaborate with others to come up with a solution.

Most workplaces prefer to hire employees who display good problem-solving skills. However, just like any skill, honing problem-solving abilities takes practice. The following team building problem-solving activities will help keep this skill sharp so that you and your workgroup can apply it effectively when the time comes to use it.

Activity 1: A Shrinking Vessel

This activity helps with adaptability, which, in turn, is essential for problem-solving. The ability to adapt allows teams to solve problems more quickly as well as remain resilient in the face of disruption and encourages innovation.

What You’ll Need:

A piece of rope or string

Instructions:

1. Using the rope, create a shape on the floor big enough for every member of the team to stand in.

2. Every 10-15 minutes, make the shape smaller.

3. Your team should work together to find ways to stay inside the shape, even as it slowly gets smaller.

Activity 2: Lego Copycat Challenge

This activity helps build trust among team members and exercise their creative problem-solving skills. The goal is to rebuild a Lego structure relying only on verbal instructions from a teammate. The other team members are not allowed to see the Lego structure they’re copying.

Lego blocks

1. Divide the team into small groups.

2. Have the facilitator or another person who isn’t part of any groups build a Lego structure in 10 minutes.

3. Place the Lego structure behind a screen or anywhere where the team members cannot see it.

4. Each team must choose one representative to deliver building instructions. The rest of the team must rebuild the structure in 15 minutes or less.

5. Only the representatives can look at the Lego structure. They must figure out how to instruct their teams to rebuild it. For instance, they can help their teams build the copycat structure by describing its shape, color and size.

Activity 3: Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

The goal of this activity is to build the tallest tower possible using spaghetti and marshmallows. The tower must be able to stand on its own.

This activity teaches collaboration, which is necessary for problem-solving. In the workplace, employees must learn to work together and leverage each other’s skills to find the best solution for a problem.

What You’ll Need (Per Team):

1 roll of masking tape
1 yard of string
20 uncooked spaghetti noodles
1 marshmallow

1. Split the team into small groups.

2. Each group must build a tower using the provided masking tape, string and spaghetti noodles.

3. Once the tower is finished, it must be topped with a marshmallow.

The winner of the activity is the team able to build the tallest tower that can stand independently.

Activity 4: Frostbite

This activity is a great way to strengthen your team’s decision-making skills and adaptability.

Construction materials (Like rubber bands, tape, construction paper, card stock and toothpicks)
An electric fan

1. Have your team pretend to be Arctic explorers who need to make shelters to protect them from the storm that’s about to hit.

2. Divide the team into small groups. Each one must choose a leader to serve as their guide.

3. The leader has “frostbite” and cannot use their hands. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is snowblind (blindfolded).

4. Each group must build a shelter within 30 minutes using the materials provided.

Once the timer’s up, the facilitator should turn on the fan to test which shelter can withstand the storm.

Activity 5: Human Knots

This activity teaches how to think clearly and communicate well, even when dealing with a complicated and challenging task. Your team will also learn how to evaluate several solutions to find the one that works best.

What You Need:

This activity requires no materials or props–Just the members of your team.

1. If you have a small team, have them form a circle. Larger teams can create multiple circles.

2. Have team members hold hands with two other people not standing beside them. This should result in a “knot” of arms.

3. Have your team members untangle themselves without letting go of their co-workers’ hands.

By the end of the activity, your team should have discussed several ways to untangle the “human knot” and implemented their chosen method. You or the facilitator can quickly evaluate the effectiveness of their approach by how well they’ve managed to unknot themselves or if they were able to form a circle again.

Activity 6: Egg Drop

This messy but fun activity teaches decision-making. At the workplace, it’s often necessary to make tough decisions quickly. This decision-making exercise encourages your team to make smart choices without hesitation and tackle challenges head-on.

An outdoor space or any place where it’s okay to make a mess
A dozen eggs
Construction materials like plastic wrap, balloons, newspapers and rubber bands
A drop cloth

1. Choose a “landing site” and place a drop cloth or tarp on it to help contain any messes.

2. Break the team up into small groups.

3. Give each group an egg.

4. Each team has 20 to 30 minutes to build an “egg carrier” that can effectively keep their eggs from breaking even when dropped from a height.

5. Put each egg carrier to the test by dropping it from a high place, such as a balcony or ledge.

6. If more than one egg survives, increase the drop height until only one remains intact.

Activity 7: Minefield

This engaging activity helps foster communication and collaboration among team members.

An empty room, such as a conference room
Office supplies and other items commonly found in workplaces, like water bottles and laptop bags

Instructions:

1. Scatter the office items around the room so that there is no direct path from one side to the other.

2. Split the team into pairs. One person in each pair must be blindfolded.

3. The person who is not blindfolded should verbally guide their partner through the office supplies “minefield” to the opposite side of the room.

4. The guide is not allowed to touch the blindfolded person.

To make this activity even more challenging, you can have all the pairs navigate the minefield simultaneously. This prompts strategic communication and creative thinking.

Activity 8: Popsicle Stick Bridge

This challenge tests and helps strengthen communication and collaboration skills.

Popsicle sticks
A paperweight or book

1. Split the team into groups.

2. Each group gets a pack of popsicle sticks and a roll of tape.

3. Within 30 minutes, each group must build a bridge strong enough to support a paperweight, book or similarly heavy small object.

4. The facilitator tests the strength of each bridge using the paperweight or book. If more than one bridge survives the test, use progressively heavier objects until only one bridge remains, and declare the team who built it the winner.

Help Your Team Hone Their Problem Skills With Fun Activities

Problem-solving is an essential skill in the workplace. Through problem-solving team-building activities, you can help enhance your team’s abilities as well as build a culture of collaboration and boost camaraderie.

For more entertaining, engaging and effective team-building activities, turn to Group Dynamix. We create and host events that are fun, interactive and purposeful to provide the best learning experience possible for our guests.

Get in touch with us at (972) 416-9646 to book an event or learn more about our services.

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Cognitive Remediation Therapy: 13 Exercises & Worksheets

This can result in concentration, organizational, and planning difficulties that impact their quality of life and independent living.

Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) helps by increasing awareness of intellectual difficulties and improving thinking skills. While originally designed for people with thinking problems associated with schizophrenia, it has also proven successful for those with other diagnoses (Bristol Mental Health, n.d.).

CRT works by encouraging a range of exercises and activities that challenge memory, flexible thinking, planning, and concentration problems.

This article explores CRT and its potential to help clients and includes techniques, activities, and worksheets to build effective therapy sessions.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will provide you with detailed insight into Positive CBT and give you the tools to apply it in your therapy or coaching.

This Article Contains:

What is cognitive remediation therapy (crt), how does cognitive remediation work, 8 techniques for your sessions, 7 exercises, activities, & games, 6 helpful worksheets and manuals, implementing online crt programs, 3 best software programs for helping your clients, a take-home message.

“Cognitive remediation is a behavioral treatment for people who are experiencing cognitive impairments that interfere with daily functioning” (Medalia, Revheim, & Herlands, 2009, p. 1).

Successful cognitive functions, including memory, attention, visual-spatial analysis, and abstract reasoning, are vital for engaging with tasks, the environment, and healthy relationships.

CRT improves cognitive processing and psychosocial functioning through behavioral training and increasing individual confidence in people with mental health disorders (Corbo & Abreu, 2018). Training interventions focus on the skills and supports required to “improve the success and satisfaction people experience in their chosen living, learning, working, and social environments” (Medalia et al., 2009, p. 2).

Exercises typically focus on specific cognitive functions, where tasks are repeated (often on a computer) at increasing degrees of difficulty. For example:

Paying attention
Remembering
Being organized
Planning skills
Problem-solving
Processing information

Based on the principles of errorless learning and targeted reinforcement exercises , interventions involve memory, motor dexterity, and visual reading tasks. Along with improving confidence in personal abilities, repetition encourages thinking about solving tasks in multiple ways (Corbo & Abreu, 2018).

While initially targeted for patients with schizophrenia, CRT is an effective treatment for other mental health conditions , including mood and eating disorders (Corbo & Abreu, 2018).

CRT is particularly effective when the cognitive skills and support interventions reflect the individual’s self-selected rehabilitation goals. As a result, cognitive remediation relies on collaboration, assessing client needs, and identifying appropriate opportunities for intervention (Medalia et al., 2009).

Cognitive remediation vs cognitive rehabilitation

CRT is one of several skill-training psychiatric rehabilitation interventions. And yet, cognitive remediation is not the same as cognitive rehabilitation (Tchanturia, 2015).

Cognitive rehabilitation typically targets neurocognitive processes damaged because of injury or illness and involves a series of interventions designed to retrain previously learned cognitive skills along with compensatory strategies (Tsaousides & Gordon, 2009).

While initially done in person, they can subsequently be performed remotely as required (Corbo & Abreu, 2018; Bristol Mental Health, n.d.).

Well-thought-out educational software provides multisensory feedback and positive reinforcement while supporting success, choice, and control of the learning process. Its design can target either specific cognitive functions or non-specific learning skills and mechanisms (Medalia et al., 2009).

CRT successfully uses the brain’s neuroplasticity and is often more effective in younger age groups who haven’t experienced the effects of long-term psychosis. It works by increasing activation and connectivity patterns within and across several brain regions involved in working memory and high-order executive functioning (Corbo & Abreu, 2018).

The Neuropsychological Educational Approach to Cognitive Remediation (NEAR) is one of several approaches that provide highly individualized learning opportunities. It allows each client to proceed at their own pace on tasks selected and designed to engage them and address their cognitive needs (Medalia et al., 2009).

NEAR and other CRT techniques are influenced by learning theory and make use of the following (Medalia et al., 2009):

Errorless learning Encouraging the client to learn progressively, creating a positive experience without relying on trial and error.
Shaping and positive feedback Reinforcing behaviors that approximate target behaviors (such as good timekeeping) and offering rewards (for example, monthly certificates for attendance).
Prompting Using open-ended questions that guide the client toward the correct response.
Modeling Demonstrating how to solve a problem.
Generalizing Learning how to generalize learned skills to other situations.
Bridging Understanding how to apply skills learned inside a session outside in everyday life.

Encouraging intrinsic motivation (doing the tasks for the satisfaction of doing them rather than for external rewards) and task engagement are also essential aspects of successful CRT programs (Medalia et al., 2009).

Therapy is most effective when it successfully supports clients as they transfer learning skills into the real world.

Download 3 Free Positive CBT Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to find new pathways to reduce suffering and more effectively cope with life stressors.

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Cognitive remediation techniques must be selected according to the skills and needs of the client and typically fall into one of three major intervention categories (Medalia et al., 2009):

Planning exercises, such as planning a trip to the beach to practice cognitive strategies
Cueing and sequencing , such as adding signs or placing reminder notes at home to encourage completing everyday tasks (for example, brushing teeth)

Such techniques rely on several key principles, including “(1) teaching new, efficient, information processing strategies; (2) aiding the transfer of cognitive gains to the real world; and (3) modifying the local environment” (Medalia et al., 2009, p. 5).

Restorative approaches Directly target cognitive deficits by repeating task practices and gradually increasing difficulty and complexity; along with regular feedback, they encourage accurate and high levels of performance.

Practice is often organized hierarchically, as follows:

Elementary aspects of sensory processing (for example, improving auditory processing speed and accuracy)
High-order memory and problem-solving skills (including executive functioning and verbal skills)

This technique assumes a degree of neuroplasticity that, with training, results in a greater degree of accuracy in sensory representations, improved cognitive strategies for grouping stimuli into more meaningful groups, and better recall.

Repetition and reaching for increasing levels of task difficulty
Modeling other people’s positive behavior
Role-play to re-enact experienced or imagined behavior from different perspectives
Corrective feedback to improve and correct unwanted or unhelpful behavior

Complex social cognitive processes are typically broken down into elemental skills for repetitive practice, role-play, and corrective feedback.

Professor Dame Til Wykes: cognitive remediation therapy

It is vital that activities within CRT are interesting and engaging for clients. They must foster the motivation required to persevere to the end of the task or game.

The following three games and puzzles are particularly valuable for children and adolescents (modified from Tchanturia, 2015):

SET is a widely available card game that practices matching based on color, shape, shading, etc.

Clients must shift their thinking to identify multiple ways of categorizing and grouping cards, then physically sort them based on their understanding.

It may be helpful to begin with a limited set of cards to reduce the likelihood of the clients becoming overwhelmed by the game or finding it less enjoyable.

2. Rush Hour

Rush Hour is another fun game that balances problem-solving skills with speed.

Puzzles start simple and increase in complexity, with additional elements involved. Skills developed include problem-solving and abstract thinking, and the game requires a degree of perseverance.

Other activities require no specialist equipment and yet can be highly engaging and support clients in learning transferable skills (modified from Tchanturia, 2015).

Bigger picture thinking This involves the client picturing a shape in their minds or looking at one out of sight of the therapist. They then describe the shape (without naming it), while the therapist attempts to draw it according to the instructions. This practice is helpful with clients who get overwhelmed by detail and cannot see the bigger picture.
Word searches Word searches encourage the client to focus on relevant information and ignore everything else – an essential factor in central coherence. Such puzzles also challenge memory, concentration, and attention.
Last word response Last word response is a challenging verbal game promoting cognitive flexibility. The first player makes up and says a sentence out loud. Each subsequent player makes up a new sentence, starting with the last word of the previous player’s sentence. For example, ‘ I like cheese’ may be followed by the next player saying, ‘ Cheese is my favorite sandwich ingredient ,’ etc.
Dexterity Using your non-dominant hand once a week (for example, combing your hair or brushing your teeth) stimulates different parts of your brain, creating alternative patterns of neuron firing and strengthening cognitive functions.

The following therapy worksheets help structure Cognitive Remediation Therapy sessions and ensure that the needs of clients are met using appropriately targeted CRT interventions (modified from Medalia et al., 2009; Medalia & Bowie, 2016):

Client referral to CRT

The Cognitive Remediation Therapy Referral Form captures valuable information when a client is referred from another agency or therapist so that the new therapist can identify and introduce the most appropriate CRT interventions. The form includes information such as:

Primary reasons

Secondary reasons

Self-confidence
Working with others
Time management
Goal-directed activities

Cognitive Appraisal for CRT

The Cognitive Appraisal for CRT form is helpful for identifying and recording areas of cognitive processing that cause difficulty for the client and require focus during Cognitive Remediation Therapy sessions.

Clients are scored on their degree of difficulty with the following:

Paying attention during conversation
Maintaining concentration in meetings
Completing tasks once started
Starting tasks
Planning and organizing tasks and projects
Reasoning and solving problems

Software Appraisal for CRT

The Software Appraisal for CRT form helps assess which software would be most helpful in a specific Cognitive Remediation Therapy session. It provides valuable input for tailoring treatment to the needs of the client.

For example:

Level of reading ability required
Cognitive deficits addressed by the software
What is the multimedia experience like?
How much input is required by the therapist?

Appraisal records become increasingly important as more software is acquired for clients with various cognitive deficits from multiple backgrounds.

Software Usage for CRT

The Software Usage for CRT form helps keep track of the software clients have tried and how effectively it supports them as they learn, develop, and overcome cognitive deficits.

The client considers the software they use and whether they practiced the following areas of cognition:

Concentration
Processing speed
Multitasking
Logic and reasoning
Organization
Fast responses
Working memory

Thought Tracking During Cognitive Remediation Therapy

Thought Tracking During Cognitive Remediation Therapy is valuable for identifying and recording the client’s goals for that day’s Cognitive Remediation Therapy session and understanding how it relates to their overall treatment goals.

Planning to Meet Goals in CRT

The Planning to Meet Goals in CRT worksheet is for clients requiring support and practice in planning, goal-setting, and goal achievement.

Working with the client, answer the following prompts:

What goal or project are you working toward?
What date should it be completed by?
Are there any obstacles to overcome to complete the goal?
Are there any additional resources required?
Then consider the steps needed to achieve the goal.

Other free resources

Happy Neuron provides several other free resources that are available for download .

Consider the five Cs when selecting online CRT programs (modified from Medalia et al., 2009):

Cognitive – What target deficits are being addressed?
Client – What interests and level of functioning does the client have?
Computer – What computing requirements and compatibility factors need to be considered?
Context – Does the software use real-world or fantasy activities and environments? Are they age and cognitive ability appropriate?
Choice – Is the learner given choice and options to adapt the activity to their preferences?

Once you’ve ordered the software, give it a thorough review to understand when it is most appropriate to use and with whom.

For online CRT programs to be effective as teaching tools and activities, they should include the following features (modified from Medalia et al., 2009, p. 53):

Intrinsically motivating
Active use of information
Multisensory strategies
Frequent feedback
Control over the learning process
Positive reinforcement
Application of newly acquired skills in appropriate contexts
Errorless learning – challenging yet not frustrating

Therapists must become familiar with each program’s content and processes so that targeted deficits are fully understood and clients are engaged without confusion or risk of failure.

17 Science-Based Ways To Apply Positive CBT

These 17 Positive CBT & Cognitive Therapy Exercises [PDF] include our top-rated, ready-made templates for helping others develop more helpful thoughts and behaviors in response to challenges, while broadening the scope of traditional CBT.

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A great deal of software “targets different skills and offers a variety of opportunities for contextualization and personalization” (Medalia et al., 2009, p. 43).

We focus on three suppliers of extensive CRT software resources below (recommended by Medalia et al., 2009).

1. Happy Neuron

Happy Neuron provides a wide variety of online brain training exercises and activities to stimulate cognitive functioning in the following areas:

Visual-spatial

When you’re performing well, the exercises become increasingly difficult.

The exercises are grouped into the following areas:

Brain speed
People skills
Intelligence

3. Games for the Brain

Cognitive difficulties, such as challenges with paying attention, planning, remembering, and problem-solving, can further compound and exacerbate mental health issues

While initially created for schizophrenia, CRT is also valuable for other mental health problems, including eating and mood disorders. Treatments are effective in one-to-one and group sessions, and lessons can be transferred to the outside world, providing crucial gains for a client’s mental wellbeing and social interaction.

Through repeated and increasingly challenging skill-based interventions, CRT benefits cognitive functioning and provides confidence gains to its users. The treatment adheres to learning theory principles and targets specific brain processing areas such as motor dexterity, memory, and visual-spatial perception, along with higher-order functioning.

Involving clients in treatment choices increases the likelihood of ongoing perseverance, engagement, and motivation as activities repeat with increasing degrees of difficulty.

This article offers a valuable starting point for exploring CRT and its benefits, with several worksheets and forms to encourage effective treatment.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. For more information, don’t forget to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free .

Bristol Mental Health. (n.d.). Cognitive remediation therapy: Improving thinking skills . Retrieved December 15, 2021, from http://www.awp.nhs.uk/media/424704/cognitive-remediation-therapy-022019.pdf
Corbo, M., & Abreu, T. (2018). Cognitive remediation therapy: EFPT psychotherapy guidebook . Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://epg.pubpub.org/pub/05-cognitive-remediation-therapy/release/3
Medalia, A., & Bowie, C. R. (2016). Cognitive remediation to improve functional outcomes . Oxford University Press.
Medalia, A., Revheim, N., & Herlands, T. (2009). Cognitive remediation for psychological disorders: Therapist guide . Oxford University Press.
Tchanturia, K. (2015). Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) for eating and weight disorders . Routledge.
Tsaousides, T., & Gordon, W. A. (2009). Cognitive rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury: Assessment to treatment. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine , 76 (2), 173-181.

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To my surprise this is a treatment that has not been discussed in the area I live and work. I just stumbled upon this when I was researching cognitive impairments with schizophrenia. I currently work on a team with multiple mental health professionals that go out into the community, to work with people diagnosed with Schizophrenia. It seems like most of what we do is manage and monitor symptoms. Are you aware of anyone or any agency in Buffalo, NY that uses this method of treatment? I am trying to figure out how to get trained and use it in practice, if that is possible. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

This looks like the treatment my daughter needs. She has struggled for years with the cognitive problems associated with depression. How do we find a therapist near us who can use these techniques?

I’m sorry to read that your daughter is struggling. You can find a directory of licensed therapists here (and note that you can change the country setting in the top-right corner). You’ll also find that there are a range of filters to help you drill down to the type of support you need: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

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Adults Get Creative: Problem-Solving Activities

As adults, we often face different challenges in our personal and professional lives. These challenges require effective problem-solving skills. Engaging in problem-solving activities can help us sharpen our critical thinking and creativity.

In this article, we will explore a range of fun and engaging problem-solving activities that adults can participate in to enhance their ability to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to everyday problems. Whether it’s solving riddles, participating in escape room challenges, or engaging in group brainstorming sessions, these activities offer valuable opportunities for adults to flex their problem-solving muscles.

Why Solving Problems Matters for Grown-ups

Solving problems is important for adults, especially in the workplace. It helps them enhance their risk-handling abilities, improve communication skills, and increase productivity. When adults work together to solve tough problems, it fosters better communication and teamwork. This helps team members understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, making collaboration more effective.

Creative problem-solving activities enable adults to develop a proactive mindset and think critically, preparing them for future challenges. By honing their problem-solving skills now, adults can equip themselves with the abilities necessary to navigate unforeseen obstacles in the future, making them more adaptable and resilient in a rapidly changing work environment.

How Solving Tough Stuff Helps You at Work

We talk better when we solve stuff together.

Solving problems together is beneficial for improving communication and teamwork. It fosters open dialogue and encourages individuals to listen to each other. This promotes trust and rapport among team members, leading to a more cohesive work environment.

Solving tough stuff as a group contributes to better communication and collaboration in the workplace. It allows team members to share ideas, think critically, and align their efforts to achieve common objectives. It also encourages the diverse expertise of team members to be utilized effectively, enhancing problem-solving capabilities and strengthening collaboration.

These activities prompt team members to communicate more effectively and empathize with each other. This results in improved working relationships and the development of collective problem-solving skills within the team.

Getting Smarter at Work by Solving Stuff

Creative problem-solving is important for adults in the workplace. It helps with risk management , communication, and productivity. When adults work together on tough problems, they develop a proactive mindset and improve decision-making. These skills are important for handling complex projects in a team. Problem-solving activities help with thinking outside the box, analytical skills, and logical reasoning, all of which are important for workplace challenges.

Thinking Ahead: How Solving Problems Now Helps Tomorrow

Problem-solving skills are important for adults and their careers. They help improve communication, collaboration, and adaptability.

Solving tough problems now can benefit someone in the future by fostering creativity , analytical thinking, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning.

Thinking ahead and solving problems now can contribute to a person’s success in the long run. It can promote a proactive mindset, better risk handling, improved productivity output, and better decision-making skills.

These skills are important for workplace success and personal development.

Cool Games that Make You Think Fast

Play detective with espionage games.

Playing espionage games can help adults improve their problem-solving skills. Games like Espionage! and Art Heist challenge players to think quickly and strategically. By practicing problem-solving in a fun way, the learning process becomes more enjoyable and memorable. These activities are great for team building, enhancing collaboration, and improving communication.

Crack the Code in Van Gogh’s Art Heist

Players can solve the code in Van Gogh’s Art Heist. They’ll use their problem-solving and logical reasoning skills to decipher clues and puzzles. Working in teams, they strategize to recover the stolen artwork and identify the thief.

The game emphasizes the importance of teamwork and effective communication. It encourages players to collaborate closely to overcome challenges and reach the goal.

Participating in the game helps players develop their critical thinking and decision-making skills. It prompts them to think creatively and make informed decisions under pressure. The game also fosters a proactive mindset and strengthens communication and leadership skills.

Wizards’ Battle: Who’s the Smartest

“Wizards’ Battle: Who’s the Smartest” is a game that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It offers an imaginative and dynamic role-playing scenario. Players are prompted to develop unique and innovative strategies to outsmart their opponents. This involves creative and logical thinking.

The game challenges players to think creatively and strategically. They must make quick decisions and adapt to changing situations in the battle.

Players will benefit from the game as it promotes adaptability, quick thinking ability, logical reasoning, and motivation skills. They engage in a collaborative effort to solve problems and achieve their objectives.

Secret Words and Crosswords: Puzzle Time

Playing puzzle games like “Puzzle Time” has many benefits. It can help improve curiosity, concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Adults can expand their vocabulary, enhance cognitive abilities, boost memory, and reduce stress by solving secret words and crosswords. Engaging in these activities can also improve communication, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, leading to better decision-making abilities and quick-thinking.

“Puzzle Time” also helps develop problem-solving skills by encouraging strategic thinking, associative thinking, and spatial reasoning. It promotes effective time and resource management, adaptability, perseverance, and team collaboration and communication.

“Puzzle Time” features a variety of puzzles and games, such as secret words, crosswords, Sudoku, riddles, word search, escape rooms, and treasure hunts. These games are designed to offer word and number challenges, improve lateral thinking, and enhance teamwork, making them a fun way for adults to hone their problem-solving skills and work together effectively.

Lost in Space: What Would You Do?

When you’re lost in space with limited resources and communication, you need problem-solving skills and creativity to survive. Prioritizing problem-solving and decision-making in this high-stress and uncertain environment is crucial. Strategies like staying calm, focused, and communicating clearly with team members, as well as using available resources effectively, are vital for survival.

Drawing inspiration from well-known individuals and their problem-solving approaches can offer new perspectives and innovative ideas in these dire circumstances. Being adaptable, collaborative, and creative in problem-solving is key to overcoming the challenges of being lost in space.

Build the Highest Spaghetti Tower

Building the highest spaghetti tower is a challenging and fun activity. It helps develop teamwork and problem-solving skills among adults.

By working together to create a stable structure using limited resources, participants learn to communicate effectively. They also understand each other’s strengths and collaborate on finding creative solutions to a common goal.

Engaging in challenges that require problem-solving and creativity fosters a sense of camaraderie. It also encourages out-of-the-box thinking, resilience, and adaptability.

Building the spaghetti tower necessitates critical thinking. Participants need to strategize, innovate, and come up with unique solutions to the problem at hand.

It also promotes innovation by urging individuals to think creatively and experiment with different approaches to build a sturdy tower.

Through this activity, adults can enhance their critical thinking, analytical, and decision-making skills. These skills are essential for effective problem-solving and innovation in various professional settings.

Off to Space: The Frostbite Challenge

“Off to Space: The Frostbite Challenge” is an activity that promotes teamwork and problem-solving skills. In this simulation, teams navigate space with limited resources to survive a frostbite situation. It encourages quick thinking, effective communication, and collaboration to find innovative solutions. Participation can lead to benefits like improved risk handling, enhanced communication, increased productivity, and a proactive mindset.

Strategies include brainstorming, effective communication, using available resources, and adapting to change. The activity aims to encourage critical thinking, decision-making, and effective problem-solving within a team.

Twisty Puzzles and Brainteasers

Escape rooms: can you get out.

Escape rooms are designed to be exciting and challenging. They involve problem-solving activities, collaboration, time constraints, and immersive storytelling.

Participating in escape rooms can improve problem-solving skills for adults. It helps in thinking critically and analytically, fostering adaptability and teamwork.

Strategies for solving puzzles and escaping from an escape room involve effective communication, strategic thinking, resourcefulness, and approaching challenges from different angles.

These activities offer an engaging and interactive way for adults to work on their decision-making skills and creativity.

Treasure Hunts: Search for Hidden Clues

Treasure hunts are a fun way to boost problem-solving skills. Participants use logic and critical thinking to find hidden clues and the treasure. This activity encourages creativity and thinking outside the box as people work together to interpret the clues.

Using treasure hunts to develop problem-solving skills has many benefits. It improves critical thinking, analytical skills, perseverance, motivation, and quick thinking. Solving puzzles under time constraints also helps develop a proactive mindset and decision-making skills.

Treasure hunts also promote teamwork and collaborative problem-solving. Participants need to communicate effectively, share ideas, and work together to find and interpret clues. This fosters improved team collaboration, communication, adaptability, and logical reasoning within a group.

Poems and Stories: Who Can Make the Best?

Creativity and storytelling are important in problem-solving. They help people think innovatively. By mixing poetry and storytelling into problem-solving, people can use their imagination to find unique solutions.

To create problem-solving poems and stories, individuals need strong analytical, lateral thinking, and communication skills. They should identify the core issue, think critically, and develop a narrative that captures the problem and offers a resolution. Using metaphor, symbolism, and vivid imagery makes the story emotionally engaging.

Poems and stories can inspire others to solve real-world issues by connecting emotionally and conveying a sense of urgency. Through storytelling, individuals can raise awareness, evoke empathy, and motivate others to take action. This makes poems and stories powerful tools for driving problem-solving efforts.

Choose Your Path in Adventure Games

Playing adventure games is a great way to improve problem-solving skills. These games require players to make strategic decisions and think about potential outcomes, which can boost analytical thinking and quick decision-making. These skills are important in both personal and professional situations, helping individuals handle risks, communicate effectively, and stay proactive.

In adventure games, players must plan their moves and consider different scenarios to solve challenges and puzzles. This enhances their strategic thinking, decision-making, lateral thinking, logical reasoning, and ability to work under pressure.

Dumbest Idea Wins: Be Silly and Smart

Silliness and smarts together can help problem-solving. It encourages creativity, thinking outside the box, and finding different ways to solve problems.

For instance, playing ‘Dumbest Idea Wins’ can lead to better solutions. It lets people think of outrageous ideas without worrying about being judged. This can spark unconventional ideas that may lead to more practical and effective ones.

Using the ‘Dumbest Idea Wins’ concept can enhance teamwork. It creates an environment where team members can freely share ideas without fear of criticism. This can improve communication, idea generation, and team bonding, resulting in better problem-solving.

Steps to Be a Problem Solving Pro

Get ready: prep your brain.

It’s important to prepare your brain for problem-solving. Developing these skills can improve your work performance. Practicing creative problem-solving activities helps you think critically, make better decisions, communicate effectively, work collaboratively, and adapt to new challenges.

These skills are vital in project management. They lead to better risk handling, increased productivity, and a proactive mindset. Solving tough problems can benefit your work performance by enhancing your ability to think outside the box, analyze complex situations, and develop innovative solutions. These skills can also improve decision-making, communication, and project management.

To become a problem-solving pro, you can enhance your critical thinking and decision-making skills. Engage in activities like brainstorming, gamification, word and number challenges, social deduction games, and role-playing exercises. By participating in these activities, you’ll develop skills like creative problem-solving, analytical thinking, lateral thinking, perseverance, motivation, adaptability, quick thinking, and logical reasoning. These skills are essential for becoming a proficient problem solver in project management and other professional fields.

Make a Plan: Setting Up for Success

Solving tough problems at work can enhance an individual’s decision-making and critical thinking abilities. By solving tough problems, the individual learns how to handle complexities and uncertainties. This leads to improved risk management in the workplace. Problem-solving skills prompt employees to think innovatively and foster a proactive mindset. This contributes to increased productivity and improved communication within a team.

Making a plan is crucial for setting up success. It provides a structured roadmap, enabling individuals to foresee potential obstacles and strategic measures to overcome them. A well-thought-out plan facilitates effective time management, resource allocation, and goal attainment.

Becoming a problem-solving pro involves practicing creative problem-solving activities, developing analytical skills, and cultivating a general ability to think out of the box. Activities such as:

“40-20-10-5”
“Brainstorm Ideas”
“Gamification”
“Egg Drop Idea”

enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills. Meanwhile, “Legoman,” “Espionage!” and “Online Escape Rooms” promote adaptability and team collaboration.

Do It: Putting Your Plan into Action

To put your plan into action effectively, you should:

Communicate the desired outcome and steps to the team.
Assign roles and responsibilities.
Establish a timeline for execution.

An example of this is the “Reverse Pyramid” activity, which involves teams working together to flip a pyramid shape. Teams collaborate, communicate effectively, and adapt as needed to accomplish the task.

It’s also important to encourage adaptability, collaboration, and creative thinking. For instance, the “Dumbest Idea First” exercise requires participants to think of the most absurd solution before analyzing and brainstorming more feasible options. This allows teams to assess and reflect on different approaches, leading to more refined and innovative solutions.

Make It Better: How to Improve Your Ideas

Problem-solving skills are very important for adults at work. They help with risk management, communication, and productivity. To get better at problem-solving, try activities like “Dumbest Idea

First,” “Reverse Pyramid,” and “Human Knot.” These games help with creative problem-solving, thinking outside the box, perseverance, and teamwork. Games like Espionage!, Art Heist, and Online Escape Rooms also improve critical thinking and decision-making. Playing these games in person or online is a fun way for teams to get better at problem-solving.

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Critical thinking puzzles for adults (with answers)

Critical thinking can help to better navigate the information-dense and complex world we live in. By thinking critically we can better identify priorities, take a sensible approach to problem-solving and reach conclusions logically in line with evidence. Puzzles are an excellent way both to learn and practice critical thinking skills.

If you’d like to learn more about critical thinking or simply practice your skills with some puzzles, then this is the article for you. Read a little bit more about critical thinking skills and how to apply them first, or just skip straight to the puzzles and see how you get on.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is a broad approach to problem solving and analysis based on logic and evidence. It brings together a wide range of intellectual competences and the ability to combine and cross-reference them. Some of the most important elements of a critical thinking approach include:

Analytical skills:

understanding of questions and concepts
differentiation of relevant / irrelevant evidence and information
identification of similarities, connections and differences
use of metaphors or analogies to communicate ideas

Powers of inference:

extraction of meaning from data using inductive or deductive reasoning
extrapolation of data or abstraction into concepts and patterns
correct identification and deployment of analogies and assumptions
grasp of causal relationships, allowing development of conclusions and theories.

Data and theory evaluation:

assessment of how strong, important or credible a theory might be
taking on board new data and new arguments which alter understanding of ideas and theory

Rational decision-making:

– application of all the skills and competences above in order to come to a rational conclusion.

Problem-solving attitude: In addition to being able to think critically, you must also be personally inclined to think critically when facing a difficult or complex challenge. Developing qualities including curiosity and fairness, while distancing yourself from ideologies and group-think, should all help to create the kind of psychological landscape where critical thinking can flourish.

How can I learn critical thinking?

Critical thinking skills are hard to develop from only reading books or listening to lectures. The most effective way to sharpen and deepen critical thinking faculties is to practice critical thinking . Critical thinking puzzles offer a fun way to learn and the eight critical thinking puzzles we’ve chosen for this article should help you make a good start.

The aMAZEing PuzzleBox

Level 7 sequential discovery puzzle box

Made from original LEGO® bricks

Find the GOLDEN BAR to complete the challenge

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?..

Eight critical thinking puzzles – with answers

Puzzle 1 – letter puzzles.

What common feature do the following words share?

Answer: All of these words begin with a vowel. This type of puzzle may send your mind off in the wrong direction, thinking about the objects or concepts described by the words, and the properties they might share. In fact, the solution lies in a far more simple consideration of the alphabet. Puzzle 1 is a simple example of a common type of letter or word puzzle.

Puzzle 2 – Commonalities and differences

What do the following items have in common and which is the odd one out?

Orange Juice

Answer: These items are all liquids and the odd one out is petrol, since all the others are drinkable liquids.

Puzzle 3 – Falling on his feet

A man who lives in a high-rise building decides to exit through the window one morning rather than using the door. Somehow he survives the fall without a scratch and walks away to work. How did this happen?

Answer: The man lived on the ground or first floor and merely stepped or jumped down to the pavement outside. By stating early on that the building in question was a high-rise building, it’s easy for someone reading quickly to assume that the man jumped from a window on a high store but this it s not necessarily the case.

Puzzle 4 – Walk this way

A group of five people enter a windowless meeting room together. An hour later when the meeting ends, four walk out of the door, leaving the room empty. What has happened to the fifth member of the group?

Answer: The fifth person was in a wheelchair and wheeled out of the room rather than walked. Solving this puzzle requires you to think laterally about the question and the possible solutions. The answer can be found by asking yourself whether the emphasis of the question is on the emptiness of the room or the means by which the other four people left.

Puzzle 5 – Shapes and symbols

When lying on my side, I am everything, but when cut in half, I am nothing. What am I?

Answer: The number 8. This puzzle requires that you think about a shape being repositioned or cut in a way that can change it to “everything” or “nothing”. Number 8 on its side is the mathematical symbol for infinity (i.e. everything) and also shaped like two small number 0s put together.

Puzzle 6 – Three hard options

The hero is escaping the lair of an evil super-villain and is faced with three possible exits:

Door A leads into a pit of bubbling lava
Door B leads to a room housing a deadly hitman
Door C leads to the den full of lions that haven’t had a meal for a year.

Which door should the hero choose?

Answer: Door C. If the lion hasn’t eaten in a year, it will definitely be dead by now. This type of puzzle requires you to consider the full implications of the information given, rather than being drawn into a comparison of the relative dangers of lava, hitmen and lions…

Puzzle 7 – The bus driver’s eyes

You are a bus driver. Today the bus is empty at the start of your route but at the first stop, four people get onto the bus. Eight people get on at the second stop, while three alight. When the bus reaches the third stop, one more gets off, and three get on.

At the fourth stop, two people get off the bus and one gets on. The bus is traveling at an average speed of 30mph and its tires are new. What color are the bus driver’s eyes?

Answer: You are the bus driver so the color will be the color of your own eyes. This type of puzzle tries to confuse you and obscure the single piece of relevant information by presenting large quantities of irrelevant information.

Puzzle 8 – Losing weight

A man walks into a room, closes the doors behind him and presses a button. In a matter of seconds the man is 20lb lighter. Despite this, he leaves the room at the same weight he entered it.

Answer: The room in question is actually an elevator. When the man gets in and presses the button, the elevator moves downwards with an acceleration that reduces the effect of gravity and makes the man temporarily 20lb lighter. Once the lift stops moving, the man’s weight is subject to normal gravity, just the same as before. Solving this puzzle requires a small piece of general physics knowledge.

A final word…

We hope you’ve enjoyed our critical thinking puzzles for adults and that your critical thinking skills are feeling refreshed and sharpened after reading our article. Whether at school, in the workplace, or in general life, critical thinking can be a valuable tool for success and anyone can learn to use it.

Get more critical thinking puzzles on our Youtube channel:

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Problem Solving Games, Activities & Exercises for Adults
There are many types of problem solving activities for adults. You can do online problem solving games, which require a different skill set than in-person problem solving. For instance, communication must be much clearer and more abundant when group members are far apart and unable to demonstrate or pick up physical cues.
22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities
This means learning and having fun don't have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time. Table Of Contents. show. 16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group. 1. Cardboard Boat Building Challenge. 2. Egg Drop.
Team Building Exercises
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.
14 Brain-Boosting Problem Solving Group Activities For Teams
Jeopardy. Problem-solving activities such as Virtual Team Challenges offer a great way for teams to come together, collaborate, and develop creative solutions to complex problems. 2. Problem-Solving Templates. Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue.
Best 20 Problem-Solving Activities to Challenge Your Team
Quick and easy problem-solving activities 12. Unpuzzled (in-person, virtual, hybrid) Activity Focus Areas: Communication, reasoning, collaboration under time pressure. Objective: Unpuzzled is an engaging team-building game that combines problem-solving and trivia elements. The goal is for each team to work collaboratively to solve a series of puzzles and then unscramble them to uncover a meta ...
13 Problem-Solving Activities & Exercises for Your Team
Here are nine easy-to-implement activities that can bring substantial change to your team culture and overall workplace dynamics. #1. Crossword Puzzles. Objective: To enhance problem-solving skills, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities through engaging crossword puzzles. Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes.
Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master
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.
17 Fun Problem Solving Activities & Games [for Kids, Adults and Teens]
For this problem solving activity for older kids or teens, you will need four 2×6 boards. Divide your group into two teams with an equal number of children on each team. Place two of the four boards end to end on the ground or floor. Set the other two parallel to the first two about two or three feet apart.
Unleashing Creativity: 23 Group Activities Ideas For Problem Solving
16 In-Person Group Activities Ideas For Problem-Solving. Word Association: Word association is a game in which groups must collaborate to come up with a list of words that are connected in a given amount of time. Picture Association: Teams must cooperate in order to connect a collection of images to create a narrative.
Top 10 Problem Solving Group Activities for Your Team
5. Tallest tower. One the classic group problem-solving activities, simple construction projects can help teams develop strategies to overcome out of the box problems. Using only two materials, teams will compete to make the tallest marshmallow spaghetti tower in a set amount of time.
12 Team Building Puzzle Games to Solve With Groups in 2024
5. Rube Goldberg Off. For the ex-Science Olympiad participants in your team, Rube Goldberg Off is a team building puzzle for adults that challenges teams to create the most complex Rube Goldberg contraption. Rube Goldbergs are intricate machines designed to fulfill a simple purpose, like the ones in Back to the Future or Wallace and Gromit.
Top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles for remote teams
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. Materials Required: N/A
14 Brain-Tickling Team Building Problems
Shrinking Feeling underscores adaptability and group response to change. 9. Trading Pieces. Trading Pieces is a spin on the barter puzzle, one of the most well-known team building problems. In this exercise, groups race to complete a jigsaw puzzle, with a twist that each team receives a couple of the other teams' pieces.
45 Team Building Games to Psych Up Your Team [2024] • Asana
This game imitates this scenario while challenging your team to collaborate on solving a creative problem. 21. Create your own. Team size: 5-12 people. Time: 30-60 minutes. 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 ...
10 Best Problem-Solving Therapy Worksheets & Activities
We have included three of our favorite books on the subject of Problem-Solving Therapy below. 1. Problem-Solving Therapy: A Treatment Manual - Arthur Nezu, Christine Maguth Nezu, and Thomas D'Zurilla. This is an incredibly valuable book for anyone wishing to understand the principles and practice behind PST.
Adequately Intriguing Group Problem Solving Activities for Adults
These activities are a mix of both - simple and tough. List activities like solving a puzzle, writing a poem on a particular theme, physical activities like retrieving a packet from the company lobby, drinking 5 glasses of milk, etc. This activity requires for continued levels of motivation to last throughout the course of the exercise.
33 Group Therapy Activities, Exercises & Questions
These light-hearted activities, like "Two Truths and a Lie" or "Human Bingo," help members to introduce themselves and feel more comfortable within the group. 2. Problem-Solving Exercises. Activities such as "Survival Scenario" can enhance teamwork and demonstrate the benefits of group decision-making. 3. Role-playing. By acting out different ...
8 Team Building and Problem-Solving Activities
2. Every 10-15 minutes, make the shape smaller. 3. Your team should work together to find ways to stay inside the shape, even as it slowly gets smaller. Activity 2: Lego Copycat Challenge. This activity helps build trust among team members and exercise their creative problem-solving skills.
Cognitive Remediation Therapy: 13 Exercises & Worksheets
Games for the Brain offers a selection of free games and activities involving pattern matching, problem-solving, and memory to train your thinking. A Take-Home Message. Cognitive difficulties, such as challenges with paying attention, planning, remembering, and problem-solving, can further compound and exacerbate mental health issues
Adults Get Creative: Problem-Solving Activities
These games help with creative problem-solving, thinking outside the box, perseverance, and teamwork. Games like Espionage!, Art Heist, and Online Escape Rooms also improve critical thinking and decision-making. Playing these games in person or online is a fun way for teams to get better at problem-solving.
16 Team Building Activities, Exercises & Ideas for Small Groups
Here is a list of more problem-solving games and a collection of starter questions for trivia. 4. The Clueless. The Clueless is one of the best small group activities for adults that nurtures problem-solving and communication skills. Your team will enjoy this fun and straightforward exercise. Required: Divide your group into smaller teams.
22 Executive Functioning Activities For Adults
Task Analysis: We break "using the call light" down into three steps: 1) Identify the goal to call the nurse 2) Find the call light and 3) Push the button. Errorless Learning: Focus on accuracy by giving enough cues and emphasizing not guessing. High Number of Practice Trials: Practice the task many times.
Critical thinking puzzles for adults (with answers)
2 The aMAZEing PuzzleBox. 3 Eight critical thinking puzzles - with answers. 3.1 Puzzle 1 - Letter puzzles. 3.2 Puzzle 2 - Commonalities and differences. 3.3 Puzzle 3 - Falling on his feet. 3.4 Puzzle 4 - Walk this way. 3.5 Puzzle 5 - Shapes and symbols. 3.6 Puzzle 6 - Three hard options.

22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.

16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group

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People Also Ask These Questions About Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

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Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

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What Are Problem Solving Activities?

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

#1. Crossword Puzzles

#2. A Shrinking Vessel

#3. Human Knots

#4. Egg Drop

#5. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

#8. Frostbite for Group Problem Solving Activities

#9. Dumbest Idea First

#10: Legoman

#11: Minefield

#12: Reverse Pyramid

#13: Stranded

Types of Problem-Solving Activities

Creative Problem-Solving Activities

Group Problem-Solving Activities

Individual Problem-Solving Activities

Fun Problem-Solving Activities

Team Problems You Can Address Through Problem Solving Activities

The Benefits of Problem Solving Activities for Your Team

#1 Better Thinking

#2 Better Risk Handling

#3 Better Communication

#4 Improved Productivity Output

How Onethread Enhances the Effect of Problem Solving Activities

What are the 5 problem-solving skills?

What are the steps of problem-solving?