Earlier in the year I was given the job of organising a team building event on behalf of my boss. The brief was to book an activity that wouldn't blow the bank, but would give everybody a chance to get to know each other better. It also had to test our teamwork without things getting too competitive – which of course it did!
After looking into a couple of different options paintball experiences seemed like the best value and the most fun, plus what is there not to love about shooting your boss with paintballs! Our office is a mixed group of men and women aged between 18-50ish, and when I broke the news that we were going paintballing it's safe to say it got a mixed reaction. But as our paintball experience got closer the nerves in the office were quickly replaced by excitement.
In total there were 35 of us in our group and as soon as we arrived at the site we were signed in and given special paintball outfits to change into, which meant there was no waiting around. After we'd all got changed into our overalls we sat down for a briefing from one of the instructors. With everybody eager to get down to action the briefing was kept fairly short but gave us plenty of information about what our paintball experience would consist of. Once the briefing was over we were given our guns and paintballs, which is when the excitement of heading into battle really kicks in.
I'd booked a morning paintball experience for the team and it got under way just after 9 o'clock, which gave us plenty of time try some of the different games before heading back to the office. We managed to squeeze five different games into our paintball experience before having to head back to work, and even though a lot of us were total newbies we managed to do fairly well. The games took place in a variety of different zones, and some of them even had forts and buildings to battle it out in. During the first few games teamwork was the last thing on our minds, and even though we had missions and objectives to carry out we were more interested in covering each other in paint!
One of the best games that we played was capture the flag, and it genuinely tested how well we worked as a team. The aim was to sneak into our opponents base and take their flag without being hit, which was virtually impossible. After loosing nearly all of our team we somehow managed to grab the flag, and even though I was eliminated before we managed to get it back to base It was definitely one of the highlights of the day.
So if you're looking for a team building event that really stands out, paintball experiences are perfect for injecting a bit of fun into the office, and also give you the perfect opportunity to settle a few old scores all in the name of fun.
