The best fun team bonding activities for adults are the ones that change how a team works together on Monday morning. Eran Thomson, founder of PowerProv, puts it simply in the video above. A pub lunch is a play day. Real team bonding comes from doing something a little risky together, and learning that your team has your back.
- Team bonding means finding a meaningful way to connect the people you work with every day.
- Pub lunches, axe throwing and mini golf are fun. They rarely change anything back at work.
- Teams bond when people can be open, take risks and fail together without blame.
- Fun and useful aren't opposites. The best team bonding activities are both.
- PowerProv measures what changes through its Personal Power Index™, a longitudinal study running since 2023.
What Does Team Bonding Mean?
Team bonding means finding a meaningful way to connect the people you work with every day. In Eran Thomson's words, the goal is a team that can "communicate, collaborate, support each other, move forward with a we, not me mindset, and get the work done joyfully."
That's a higher bar than a nice afternoon. A bonded team performs under pressure. Its people feel good about showing up, because they know their teammates will support their choices and make them look good. When someone makes a mistake, the team treats it as a chance to learn, not a reason to point fingers.
The friendships matter to the business too. Gallup's research found that employees who have a best friend at work are significantly more likely to get more done in less time, innovate and share ideas, and have fun while at work.
Why Does the Pub Lunch Change Nothing on Monday?
The pub lunch changes nothing because it asks nothing new of anyone. It's a break from work, not a change to how the team works.
Eran's biggest complaint about workplace team bonding is that businesses "default to the pub lunch or axe throwing or lawn bowls or mini golf." He's clear that there's nothing wrong with those things. They're fun, and everyone has a few laughs. But in his words, "when they come back to work on Monday, nothing really will have changed."
His summary is blunt: "You're not really paying for transformation. You're just paying for a play day."
“We laughed, had fun, and were challenged to work together differently and the whole group was involved and participating.”
What Bonds a Team at Work?
A team bonds when its people are open with each other, take small risks together, and find out that nothing bad happens. Eran says team bonding "can really only come from activities where people are vulnerable, open, willing to take risks, willing to fail."
There's solid research behind that idea. Harvard's Amy Edmondson studied 51 work teams and defined psychological safety as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Her study found that teams with more of it showed more learning behaviour, which in turn was linked to team performance.
This is what PowerProv's workshops are designed to create. Eran describes a session as being like a good DJ set. It moves a group through a playful, powerful sequence, and everyone walks out with a new toolbox of exercises and techniques. They use those tools to support each other, hold each other accountable, and work with an ensemble mindset.
Eran's favourite part is the change in the room. People come in "feeling stiff and a little bit nervous" and leave "fully connected", excited to put what they've learned to use.
Should You Book a Play Day or Team Training?
Book a play day if the goal is a reward. Book training if you want something to be different afterwards. Both can be fun, and it helps to know which one you're paying for.
| Play day | PowerProv workshop | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Pub lunch, axe throwing, lawn bowls, mini golf | Half-day or full-day improv-based workshop |
| Is it fun? | Yes | Yes |
| What the team takes back to work | Good memories | Good memories, plus skills they can use the next morning |
| Can you measure what changed? | No | Yes, through the Personal Power Index™ |
Want something to try this week? Start with PowerProv's three favourite ice breakers for work, or five ice breaker questions that beat small talk.
PowerProv isn't a comedy workshop, and nobody has to perform. The fun is real, and it's the reason the learning sticks. If you want to compare more options, PowerProv's guide to team building activities covers the main types and what each one delivers.
What Proof Is There That Team Bonding Activities Work?
Most team bonding activities come with no proof at all. PowerProv's do. Since 2023, the Personal Power Index™ has tracked how participants' skills change before and after PowerProv workshops.
PowerProv Personal Power Index™, ongoing study since 2023
PowerProv has been running workshops for 13+ years, for teams of 10 or more, with a 4.9-star rating and a money-back guarantee. The half-day workshop is the most popular format, and it's introvert-friendly by design.
“So much to take away and apply at work. Facilitators were awesome and time flew by. Highly recommended.”
- A play day is a reward. Team bonding is a result. If nothing is different on Monday, the team had fun but didn't bond.
- Pick the activity you can measure. PowerProv's workshops are fun, and the Personal Power Index™ shows what changed afterwards.
Want team bonding that still shows up at work months later? Book a discovery call, or see how it works first.
Read the full video transcript
If you're interested in fun team bonding activities, you have come to the right place. I'm Eran Thomson, founder of PowerProv, Australia's most loved team training provider. And I want to talk to you about team bonding activities for adults and fun group activities for adults at work, because that's primarily what we do at PowerProv.
So what does team bonding mean? It's really about finding a meaningful way to connect the people you work with every day so that they can communicate, collaborate, support each other, move forward with a "we, not me" mindset, and get the work done joyfully. There's more to it, but in summary, I think that's what you're hoping to get out of it. You want your team to perform under pressure. You want your team to feel joyful about showing up in the office every day, and arriving there feeling as if everyone else on the team has their backs and will support their actions and choices and decisions and make them look good. And if they screw up or make a mistake, use that as an opportunity for growth and learning rather than finger-pointing and blame.
There are so many things that teams can do that are fun. And I think the biggest complaint I have about what I see businesses doing now is they default to the pub lunch or axe throwing or lawn bowls or mini golf or whatever it is. And there's nothing wrong with those things. They are fun, and everyone will have a few beers and a few laughs, but when they come back to work on Monday, nothing really will have changed, unless somebody got drunk and did something stupid. So you're not really paying for transformation. You're just paying for a play day.
I think the fundamental difference between PowerProv and all those other kinds of options is we can prove what we do works. We started a longitudinal study back in 2023 called the Personal Power Index, which tracks the transformation that people have when they work with us, and it's incredible. So I invite you to check that out. It's called the Personal Power Index.
The idea of team bonding can really only come from activities where people are vulnerable, open, willing to take risks, willing to fail, and go through a proven process together that takes them, like a good DJ, through a musical set, a playful set, a powerful set, and lands them somewhere where they all walk out of the room with a new toolbox full of exercises and techniques and tools that they can use to support each other and hold each other accountable and move forward as a team with an ensemble mindset, a "we, not me" mindset. A way of feeling like they are all connected, they are all aligned, and they are all singularly focused on getting to the outcomes you want them to get to.
That's my favourite thing about what we do: watching people come into a room feeling stiff and a little bit nervous, and then leaving fully connected and fully alive and joyful and excited to start putting what they've learned into practical use.
So, fun team bonding activities. There are a lot of options out there. I invite you to explore all of them, but keep an open mind, and remember, if you're just paying for a play day, don't expect a powerful transformation. But if you really want to invest in your team, training in a way that provably makes them better at what they do, not to mention just better humans in general, give us a call. Thanks for watching.
Sources
- The Increasing Importance of a Best Friend at Work · Gallup
- Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams · Administrative Science Quarterly (Edmondson, 1999)
- Personal Power Index™ · PowerProv
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between team building and team bonding?
Team bonding is about connection: helping the people you work with every day trust and support each other. Team building usually also means building skills, like communication and collaboration. PowerProv's workshops do both. Teams bond by taking small risks together, and leave with tools they can use at work the next day.
What are some good team bonding activities?
Good team bonding activities ask people to be open, take small risks and support each other. Eran Thomson, founder of PowerProv, says a pub lunch or mini golf is fun, but nothing has changed by Monday. PowerProv's improv-based workshops are built to bond a team and build skills that last.
What activities are good for bonding?
Activities are good for bonding when people can be vulnerable, open, willing to take risks and willing to fail together. That's the test Eran Thomson, founder of PowerProv, applies. Shared food or a shared game is enjoyable, but a team bonds when its people learn they can rely on each other.
What is a good bonding game?
Friend and Enemy is a good bonding game for a work team. Everyone secretly picks one person as a friend and one as an enemy, then tries to stay between them. PowerProv's Eran Thomson says it bonds people in a way they probably never have been before at work, and puts everyone on the same level.
What are some good team bonding activities for a group of 10 people?
A facilitated workshop is a good team bonding activity for a group of 10. PowerProv's workshops are designed for teams of 10 or more, so everyone takes part and nobody watches from the side. A half-day workshop is PowerProv's most popular format, and it's introvert-friendly by design.
What are some fun team building activities that don't require any materials?
PowerProv has written up five improv-based exercises that need no props, no facilitator and no prior experience. Teams can download them from the PowerProv website and run them in a stand-up or at an offsite. They build communication, listening and quick thinking, and they're a simple way to start.
