Team Building Action Day - Treasure Hunt

The office treasure hunt has come a long way since the early days as an office social event that was organised by a couple of willing volunteers. Generally, the office treasure hunt was a evening driving event, with the participants teaming up and visiting villages in the locality. The clues were simply based on on observations of signs, house names, road names etc and the treasure hunters ended up in a country pub for a drink and a buffet.

There is nothing wrong with that type of treasure hunt but gradually it dawned on management teams and corporate entertainment organisers that the treasure hunt could be used as an effective form of corporate entertainment or for team building and it suddenly became big business. The nature of the treasure hunt had to change though. It needed to become more sophisticated. Contemporary corporate treasure hunts develop the use of many skills that are extremely useful in the corporate environment. They are also great fun so that the participants do not realise that team building is taking place, the phrase 'team building by stealth' is at the heart of this type of corporate event.

But the treasure hunt can, and is, used simply for corporate pleasure, as a pure corporate entertainment event. However, team building will still take place so it can give a shrewd manager the chance to carry out a team bonding exercise whilst disguising it as a staff reward. It can also be used as a conference break, a short energiser event that can refresh delegates at an intense corporate conference. Corporate treasure hunts can be organised to be on foot walking events or be motorised such as by car, taxi or public transport!

So how can a manager recognise a quality treasure hunt? And what skills should he or she expect to be developed?

There should be more clues in the hunt than could possibly be answered in the time available. This develops team planning as the team need to decide how best to utilise their time.

There should be a wide variety of clues, some simple and easy, some really obtuse and difficult plus some in between. This will mean that everyone is included and feels part of the team, it also develops lateral thinking skills and a sense of togetherness as the team help each other, bounce ideas round for the harder clues and that too will develop a sense of belonging.

There should be other activities included in the treasure hunt, for example a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt will test the team's inginuity and negotiating skills. It will also develop their powers of persuasion as well as they try to persuade the organiser that their answers are correct when they are clearly just trying it on!!

There should be some sort of mopping up activity such as a word quiz, that teams can work on at times when they are not actively looking for clues. Again, this will develop their thinking skills and a sense of team bonding as different team members come up with the answers.

So all in all, the treasure hunt is the manager's dream corporate event - a company fun day which serves as a team building day, and it won't break the bank either!

Below are a few web sites that offer corporate treasure hunts:

Hunt for Treasure - Treasure Hunts in a venue of your choice or use their already prepared hunts

A Winning Team - corporate events including treasure hunts and archery

London Treasure Hunt - exactly as billed, ready made corporate treasure hunts in London, including Canary Wharf and the Jack the Ripper treasure hunt round Whitechapel

Irish treasure hunts in Dublin and Belfast

Team Building in the East Midlands - Off Limits

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