If you’ve been with a company that does employee development, the term ‘team building’ may elicit groans. From stale group exercises in the conference room to the risk-fraught outing at a neighborhood bar, the traditional options are often well-intentioned but less than productive. As escape rooms emerged in the recent years, they have been found to provide many benefits to families, friends, strangers and yes… to companies.

The still-new concept of escape rooms is storming workplaces. Escape rooms will give each group an hour to find clues and solve puzzles in an immersive and exciting environment. What’s fun is that these rooms have different themes to select from. Your team can step back in time and be detectives solving a crime in 1930s Cleveland. You can be tasked with stopping a rogue AI with the world on the brink of destruction or enter a magical world to complete a legendary quest. You’ll find numerous options to engage and entertain your team.

Employees are now asking their management for escape room adventures to be their primary team building activities in Cleveland. Here’s why it’s a win-win situation for both the company and the employees.

It will show the strengths and weaknesses of the team

Communication. In an office setting, there are certain challenges that can be difficult to overcome. One of those is communication. In fact, poor communication is one of the top 10 workplace problems that affects the company’s performance.

 

Cooperation and coordination. Due to the ticking clock, each member must cooperate to find the clues before the time is up. What accompanies cooperation is coordination. People can cooperate but won’t get anything done if they’re not coordinated and working together efficiently. Great things will happen once your team cooperates and coordinates together.

 

Trust. Lastly, in order to have coordination, each participant must trust each other with tasks in the escape room. Whether it’s finding the clue, decoding a riddle or even in decision-making.

It helps each employee know more of each other

 

Real personalities. Each of us acts differently at work. Some people may tend to be very lively at home but stern in the workplace. And in team building activities like escape rooms, that ‘workplace mask’ naturally and quickly wears off. Hey, you may even realize that the “snobbish” department head is actually compassionate!

Make new friends at work. Though some people say that having friends in the workplace is not ideal almost 8-12 hours of our life each day is reserved for work. It’s a second home to most of us and people in it should make you feel like a family.

 

Interns, during summer can bring a new blend of potential to the group. These new faces in the group adds more excitement to the escape room team building activity. It’s the perfect activity for regular employees to make friends with these young professionals and welcome them to the work team.

 

Build Great Memories. “You work to live and not live to work”. The need for money is inevitable but it’s also important to have fun and build relationships in the workplace. The success of every business lies on the happiness of the people behind it.

 

When people are valued and happy, they work the extra mile. Letting the team unleash their inner Sherlock Holmes or Rick of The Walking Dead can help them enjoy being in the company of their team members.  That way, companies don’t need to drive the engagement of people if it’s already there, deeply rooted.

It reveals the potential of naturally talented members

Undiscovered leaders. There’s a notion that the smartest person in the workplace is the best employee. However, no one is perfect. There are tendencies that these ‘smart’ people lack people skills. Same goes with that team member who’s not a performer but can get the team engaged and work productively. The escape room can open your eyes on those kinds of people. These undiscovered assets needs some shaking up to trigger that sleeping, hidden potential.

 

Communicator. During the game, there should be someone who keeps everyone on track. It is that person who lets the team know which clues needs analyzing and what comes after that.

 

Analyst. These people are the ones who solve the puzzles. The Sherlock who solve things logically.  These people have a lot of strength in solving problems.

Unveils how the team handles pressure and problems

Goal setting. Escaping the room helps the team focus and work together to achieve their goals. Whether they win or lose, escape rooms will teach them what worked and what needs improved. 

 

Conflict Handling. Each team member will be able to learn how deal with their differences.  It’s not uncommon that there are strong personalities and soft spoken ones in the group. Escape rooms can help those two personalities work together in achieving one goal.

Time Pressure. Escape rooms have cameras in place.  They will show how the team behaves in the game. In reality,  people have a varied approach with time pressure and deadlines. Each team member can learn from other’s best practices in dealing with the pressure of escaping the room.

Boosts logic, creativity and working smart

By analyzing and solving puzzles, escape room team building activities will help boost everyone’s logical and creative thinking. This helps greatly because in the workplace there’s a difference between working hard and working smart. And being busy is not the same as being efficient. You have one hour in an escape room in which you are ‘forced’ to work smart, work with your team and work efficiently to escape in time.

 

Fun. New. Entertaining

The new concept of escape rooms tends to bring about an element of surprise to the team. Thoughts like:” What would the puzzles be like?”, always ignites the interest, excitement and anticipation. Due to the light effects, clock counting down and sounds, your adrenaline rush will certainly make an appearance.

Perplexity has four themed rooms namely: The Eliot Ness Investigation, Clockwork Caper Escape Room, T.I.T.U.S escape room and Christmas-themed Naughty List Escape room.

Bring your summer interns, your employees and yourselves for a team building activity you won’t forget!

 

Escape games can be beneficial in stimulating one’s mind and enhancing cognitive skills. Discover new talents, build new friendships, welcome interns to your company, and ignite teamwork with the escape room experience.

May you also uncover the right ‘clues’ and hidden talents within your team for the success of your business.