8 Problem-Solving Team Building Activities

Soft skills are becoming more important in today’s workplace, with problem-solving skills becoming a top area in which skills are lacking. To work effectively as a team, it is important to learn how to overcome different challenges and find the best solution to resolve any issue. 

Our selection of team building activities, not only contributes to building cohesion and communication but they’re also designed to boost your team’s decision-making skills.  Teams will develop the ability to critically assess problems and explore different solutions, rather than getting stuck in the details. 

Developing problem-solving skills is linked to better company performance, as good problem-solving skills will lead to better decision-making. While some people are naturally good at the process of problem-solving, everyone can learn this skill through our selection of team building events.

Why Problem-Solving Skills Are Important in Today’s Workplace

Problem-solving and decision-making team building activities help teams break a problem down into 5 different stages:

1. Defining the problem: This very first step involves identifying the issue, and how important it is. 
2. Analysing: This step involves analysing the problem, and its nature and asking yourself why it is happening. 
3. Describe: Break down the problem in as much detail as possible with the goal of having a clear and comprehensive understanding of what must be done to overcome it.
4. Diagnose: Diagnosing the problem involves getting to the root causes. It’s about understanding why the problem exists and what factors or variables contribute to it.
5. Test: The testing stage is where you implement potential solutions to the problem. You examine whether the proposed solutions work and if they effectively address the issue. 

Going through this problem-solving process helps a team learn basic strategies they can apply at the workplace and in real-world scenarios. 

When engaging in problem-solving games and activities, it’s crucial to understand that there are no winners or losers. The primary goal is to cultivate teamwork and collaboration.

Benefits of Problem-Solving Team Building Activities

Adding any of these problem-solving team building activities will serve as an alternative to the traditional round of introductions. When done well, icebreakers and conference energisers can set a lively tone to any group session, encouraging laughter and an environment to start collaborating.

As the team building activities will be set in a relaxed and fun environment, they will put everyone in a positive frame of mind, where participants can express their thoughts with no judgement. 

• Real-World Application: 

Challenges presented in the different problem-solving team-building activities often mimic real-world scenarios. This will allow participants to directly apply the skills developed during the activity to their workplace, making the experience highly practical and transferable. 

• Active Participation and Engagement

Introducing any of these problem-solving team-building games will position participants as active contributors rather than just listening in. 

• Building Better Work Relationships

The addition of decision team building activities helps break up any existing cliques within groups and encourages participants to interact with other people they might otherwise not interact with.  This is an excellent way to help build effective work relationships for the future.

Our Top 8 Problem-Solving Team Building Activities

Here’s our list of fun problem-solving activities to try with your team, ranging from icebreakers to Olympic-style challenges. These team-building exercises aim to boost decision-making skills and foster teamwork, ensuring your team is adept at tackling challenges together.

It’s A Rat Trap!

“It’s A Rat Trap” is a unique corporate team building activity that draws inspiration from the fun and connectivity of board games. It focuses on fostering teamwork, problem-solving, and effective communication among participants, emphasising a collaborative rather than competitive approach.

Participants work together to construct a series of intricate contraptions using giant Meccano-like components. Each contraption is designed to trigger the next in a chain reaction, leading to a captivating finale where a one-ton weight drops onto a model rat. The key to success lies in the precise sequencing and coordination of each device.

This activity encourages group members to engage actively, enhancing their communication, leadership, teamwork, and morale. It’s an ideal team-building exercise for promoting unity within a team as they use their ingenuity to determine the proper order and roles in the contraption’s assembly

Give a Helping Hand

Give a Helping Hand centres around the real-world challenge of building prosthetic hands for people in developing countries. This gives participants a tangible and impactful problem-solving task, connecting the activity to a broader social issue. Teams will need to understand the mechanics of the prosthetic, learn to assemble the different components and troubleshoot technical issues that may arise during the construction process.

Robot Wars

In this fun and destructive team-building activity, participants will face engineering and design challenges, requiring problem-solving skills to conceptualise, plan, and execute the creation of a functional, competitive and destructive robot. Choosing the right components to wiring and programming will demand troubleshooting skills such as unexpected mechanical failures.

But Robot Wars is not only about construction; it also involves strategic gameplay. Your team will have to plan the strengths and weaknesses of their own robots and those of their opponents. This strategic element introduces resource management challenges as teams will have to make informed choices about the best components for their robots.

Around the World in 80 Minutes

The challenges in this activity often incorporate cultural elements, encouraging participants to problem-solve in contexts that may be unfamiliar. Around The World in 80 Minutes introduces a cultural sensitivity aspect, requiring teams to consider and adapt to diverse cultural nuances as they tackle each challenge.

The time constraint of completing challenges within 80 minutes adds an element of urgency. Teams must manage their time effectively, prioritising tasks and making quick decisions – key aspects of problem-solving in real-world situations where time is often a critical factor.

The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture involves working independently to collectively recreate a work of art. This collaborative process requires participants to envision the final picture. This activity involves limited art supplies and materials, so teams must manage these resources efficiently, deciding colour choices, brush strokes, and overall design. 

This resource management aspect encourages participants to make informed choices within constraints – a key aspect of problem-solving.

Build a Bike for Charity

Build a Bike for Charity serves as an excellent problem-solving team building activity as it involves your group working together towards a common goal. Assembling a bike requires following instructions and sorting components in order to construct a functional bike. With a duration of 2 – 3 hours, besides building the bike, your teams will rotate through different challenges lasting around 20 minutes each.

The added element of building a bike will instil a sense of purpose and community among team members. Knowing their efforts will contribute to a charitable cause will foster a sense of fulfilment, along with increasing their Social Responsibility.

Wheels for Walkies

Wheels for Walkies is an engaging team building activity where your team will build wheelchairs for our four-legged friends with mobility difficulties. When putting together the dog wheelchair, you have to follow instructions, understand the mechanics of each component, and troubleshoot any problems you run into. As a result, team members apply their problem-solving skills collectively, fostering a collaborative environment. 

Knowing that your team’s efforts will contribute to improving the lives of dogs and giving them back their freedom, will inspire a sense of purpose and motivation among your team members.

Treasure Hunts

Corporate Treasure hunts involve deciphering clues and navigating through a variety of interesting locations. Your team must use their problem-solving skills to interpret clues, choose the correct path, and navigate efficiently to reach each destination, improving navigational problem-solving skills.

Our treasure hunts incorporate codes, riddles, and puzzles to win different amounts of points. Teams must work together to decode messages and solve puzzles to progress in the hunt. Our questions draw upon all kinds of fine detail and hidden elements within the hunt location, with many clues based on the inscriptions on monuments as well as history, architecture, and modern life.

Choose Team Tactics to Boost Your Team’s Problem-Solving Skills

Our selection of problem-solving team-building activities is designed to boost engagement, uplift morale and improve decision-making in a fresh and different way. Sometimes, they even push colleagues beyond their comfort zones, having the entire group involved in overcoming challenges that can be applied to real-world scenarios. 

With almost 30 years of experience as corporate team-building event specialists, we’re dedicated to adding a refreshing twist to your team dynamics. For more ideas, check out our Top Team Building Activities and Events, and our Leadership Team Building Activities to boost other skills in your team. 

Get in touch with us and book your next problem-solving game today!