Sydney is certainly a big city, and like any famous international destination, it also has an abundance of things to see and do.
There are also many choices when it comes to team building in Sydney these days. Almost too many in fact.
Some suit the center of town (be that the Sydney CBD, or the growing CBD of a satellite CBD like Parramatta), whilst others may be more suited to the quiter surrounds of the Blue Mountains at Leura or Katoomba).
It all depends upon whether your objectives are purely leisure based, requiring some genuine outcomes or perhaps even a little bit of both?
Leisure based Sydney team building:
If your aims are to simply have fun and perhaps get out and about to see the area surrounding your meeting / conference venue then it’s likely the idea of an Amazing Race has crossed your mind?
These can be a lot of fun, and get you around safely, when professionally delivered. Great locations like the City CBD, The Rocks or even North Sydney can be useful settings for the Race formats.
They can be considered a little bit passé of late though, as most people that attend conferences have now been on at least one of two of this style of activity.
So whilst Amazing Race and Treasure Hunt formats abound, you may need to consider some other formats that can also help you to get around.
One example that ahs worked well for Sabre clients lately is our “Agency” team event format where teams make their own TV Commercials or short films. This can also be a novel way to get teams outside to visit lots of different filming locations.
It can also be a great “Trojan Horse” for some subtle (or even overt) business messages that can be creatively inserted into the activity. This format can also be linked well to a dinner with an hilarious screening and awards ceremony.
Learning and outcome based Sydney team building:
If it’s some genuine learning and outcomes that you seek, then it certainly doesn’t have to be all work and no play, but it does require a more sophisticated formula to be applied to the activity content.
You might also consider putting aside another hour or two in the agenda to allow time for some proper formatting and reviews that will link the activity content to the required take-aways.
We find that using our “Team DNA” formula is very effective. This blends individual and team profiles using the Belbin Model with great business games or more sophisticated team building projects that have relevance to your teams. Targeted reviews and de-briefs then help to link the session to real world behaviours, issues and themes.
The required activity content usually needs to transcend the Race style activities with regards to their complexity, but they can also be great fun and even have novel themes (such as our business games “Battlespace” and “When in Rome” or team projects such as “Operation Rollerball”).
Weather is also becoming an increasingly unpredictable factor with meetings and events, so options that can work well indoors are becoming popular also.
The prospect of having a large scale team building event planned for the outdoors in Sydney with now et weather back up is almost unheard of these days.
It pays to think ahead these days with regards to wet weather back ups in terms of not just having the space ready to go, but also giving careful thought to having a Plan B that will offer similar impact to that of the Plan A.
So if you are Sydney bound, and are looking for a diversity of team and leadership development options, or just some good old “classic team building” then contact us, we’ll be delighted to help.