Successful Team-Building Programs in Different Industries (with Examples)

Imagine that you need to develop a team-building program for your law firm’s staff. Would you go with a codefest (an X-day coding event)?

100% that you wouldn’t. Why? Because it matches neither your business field nor your team’s interest, most likely. It’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It feels inappropriate and irrelevant. What instead, then? How can you set up a well-thought-out program to enhance team cohesion and engage employees in your niche? What is the best and most engaging team-building activity for tech squads/legal professionals/etc.?

Today, we’ll focus on niche-relevant activities for:

• Financial specialists
• Healthcare workers
• Law firm teams
• IT professionals

Afterward, we’ll share universal expert tips on creating a team-building program.

But before we dive in, let’s understand what it is and when it became trendy. 

What Is a Team-Building Program?

Specific programs designed for team bonding are not a fresh concept among employers. In fact, they are old-hat workplace practices.

First team-building programs started budding around the midpoint of the 20th century. The concept boosted its growth trajectory in the 1940s and 1950s with the rapid rise of social psychology and studies on Group Dynamics or Team Dynamics.

However, the modern form of structured team-building programs came into bloom at the dawn of the 21st century. Since then, companies have switched to the eagle-eye mode for better employee engagement, communication, and team collaboration. With the popularity of remote and hybrid work environments, team-building programs became a necessity rather than an option for distributed workers, who are often left in isolation without enough contact with teammates.

So, what are those?

A team-building program is a strategic set of activities, practices, and tools to help employees build relationships inside and outside the workplace. The major aim for developing such a program is to take a more structured approach to cultivating team bonds rather than injecting scattered activities and events into employee journeys.

Team-building programs may be planned for shorter and longer periods:

• Short-term team-building program → for one or several days.
• Medium-term team-building program → from five to ten days.
• Long-term team-building program → from one month to one year.

So, your task now is to select proper events and activities for your next team-building program in your particular industry, whether you plan it for a day or the whole year.

Best Ideas for Team-Building Programs in Various Business Niches

Team-Building Activities for the Finance Industry

• Financial Literacy Quiz
• Budgeting Challenge
• Finance-Themed Escape Room
• Stock Market Simulation
• Finance Movie Club (How about watching The Big Short (2015) or Margin Call (2011) and discussing their peculiarities?)
• Charity or Fundraising Initiative (e.g., Charity Bike Buildathon)

In the opinion of Gary Hemming, Owner & Finance Director at ABC Finance, “When you create a team-building program for financial specialists, it may consist of virtually any brain-teasing exercises or challenges to practice analytical, problem-solving, or other skills vital for finance teams.”

For example:

Outback helped Conexus Credit Union run a short team-building program with puzzles, riddles, and brainteasers to exercise problem-solving and creative thinking skills within the group.

Team-Building Ideas for Healthcare Professionals

• Medical Trivia Night
• The Patient’s Perspective Role-Play
• Healthcare Hero Storytelling
• Mindfulness Meditation Circle
• Wellness or Yoga Session
• Volunteering
• Simulation Drills

Regarding simulations from an innovative viewpoint, Chris Althoff, Head of Marketing at emtelligent, highlights a trend among healthcare companies. He observes that “many medicine and healthcare brands are designing team-building and training programs that utilize augmented and virtual realities, integrated with AI capabilities like language learning models (LLMs). These programs accomplish various natural language processing (NLP) tasks, generating realistic simulations—such as mock emergency rooms or surgery simulations—and analyzing and adapting scenarios for teams in real-time during the exercises.”

To take a break from patient care reports and medical topics, your team may enjoy a fast team-building activity just to melt away work-related stress and prevent burnout (a prevalent workplace issue in the healthcare industry).

For example:

Follow the lead of McKesson, a pharmaceutical distributor and medical supplier. The company’s healthcare team tackled a series of 60-second challenges (a Minute to Win It activity organized by Outback).

Team-Building Events for Lawyers

• Mock Trial
• Legal Jeopardy
• Social Media Investigation Challenge
• Lawyers’ Pub Quiz
• Negotiation Role-Playing Session
• Charitable Legal Aid Day

Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Sales and Marketing at Osbornes Law, believes that team-building programs in the legal sphere wouldn’t be substantial without philanthropic events. He shares, “Whenever we plan our team-building program, we try to schedule at least several community service projects or charitable events during the year to hold social responsibility and make a difference as a team.”

For example:

The Osbornes Law solicitors participated in the Great British Bark Off, a fundraising campaign organized by @alldogsmatter in Hampstead, UK.

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Yet, he says, corporate celebrations to commemorate particular milestones are significant for lawyers, too, just like for any other profession.

For example:

Just recently, the Osbornes Law team celebrated a 50-year firm’s anniversary (half-century!).

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Team-Building Ideas for IT Teams

• Build-a-Bot Workshop
• Virtual Happy Hour
• Drone Race
• VR Game Tournament
• Appathon or Hackathon
• Charity Walk/Run Team Challenge
• Cybercrime Mystery (best for cybersecurity teams)

Even if your staffers never peek into the cybersecurity nook, you may try something similar: a Clue Murder Mystery, quite a widespread activity in team-building programs for tech teams.

For example:

Outback made it possible for MyZone, Microsoft Azure, and SalesLoft, among others, to get a ton of excitement and fun with a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in their remote teams.

How to Design an Effective Team-Building Program in Any Industry

Start with onboarding.

It’s as straightforward as it sounds: you need to develop a team-building program already for the first day when your new hires step on board. 

Jarret Austin, Owner of Bankruptcy Canada, says, “No matter what sector of business you’re in, whether it’s retail or HVAC insurance, team-building during onboarding will help you create a supportive and engaging atmosphere and make new team members feel welcomed right at the doorstep of their employee journey with your company.”

When asked about universal team-building activities to welcome new hires, Roman Zrazhevskiy, Founder & CEO at MIRA Safety, the leader in the tactical gear market, said, “It’s a BBQ lunch, sure thing! BBQs symbolize communal gatherings where people share food and tell personal stories. It’s a simple yet, somehow, underrated team-building event to stir the feeling of belonging and fortify the team’s backbone from day one.”

For example:

Here’s how the MIRA Safety team gathered for a BBQ lunch to welcome newcomers to their Austin-based office.

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Adapt it to your team’s needs.

Do you have a hybrid, virtual, or in-person work environment? What activities do your employees prefer most?

Albert Kim, VP of Talent at Checkr, says, “Suppose your team is fully remote. You can plan virtual team-building activities like Zoom coffee breaks or online scavenger hunts. Alternatively, if you manage an in-office team, you can opt for indoor events, such as a cooking class, memory wall, or trivia night.”

However, according to Morgan Taylor, Co-Founder of Jolly SEO, this division is neither absolute nor rigid. “If you work remotely, it doesn’t mean you can’t arrange in-person events. Actually, you’d better do that anyway for a deeper personal connection and a sense of community. Of course, everything depends on your team’s preferences: ask your team to share their ideas or let them vote for their favorite team-building variant.”

For example:

The Jolly SEO team organized a week-long workation for employees to combine work and leisure and meet face-to-face, even though their team is distributed geographically worldwide.

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Alternatively, hand over the steering wheel to your workers and let them brainstorm team-building ideas.

For example:

Aiming to launch an employee-led team-building program, Pfizer kicked it off with a Joy Squad. The Joy Squad employees collaborate with the People Experience team to strategize and coordinate various team-building exercises and events throughout the year.

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And lastly—gamify!

Workplace gamification should not necessarily be limited to routine tasks or corporate training events. You can gamify your team-building programs, too, to engage workers regardless of industry. In fact, game-based activities boost employee engagement by 48% on average.

Add one or more of the following game elements (or game mechanics) to your team-building exercises:

• Levels
• Badges
• Challenges
• Leaderboards
• Awards
• QR codes for scavenger hunts or unlocking new levels and challenges during the event.

Let’s say you decide to play fun team-building games with rewards or prizes. You can prepare team awards for two or more competing teams. Consider a team lunch or a bowling night. For contests or games with only one employee as a winner, personalize gifts based on individual interests and needs. Let your workers choose a prize. It can be anything, from a luxury watch to a tech gadget to one extra day of paid time off.

For example:

One of the employees from Vitae Health Systems won a personalized gift certificate for a much-needed spa day by participating in gamified activities during the company’s annual holiday party.

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Create Your Team-Building Program with Outback

From virtual adventures to in-person events, Outback has something for every company in any business niche. It has already helped 14,000+ corporate groups across North America to organize team-building programs.

So, if you want to draft a unique team-building program for your company but don’t know where to begin, contact Outback and discuss your industry requirements.

Let it be a half-hour exercise or a set of activities for a day or two—Outback will make those unforgettable for your team.

Author Bio

Catherine Schwartz is an author who specializes in employee well-being and engagement.