Team building needs to be better designed for Millennial and Gen Z workforces that value meaning and authnticity in workplace experiences.
Team-building activities can often evoke groans rather than excitement when poorly timed or poorly designed. And let’s face it: they can be boring, pointless, and sometimes downright infantilising. This can impact millennials and Gen Z in particular, more renowned for seeking meaning and impact from their workplace experiences.
Millennials and Z's, known for demanding authenticity and meaningful experiences, are particularly resistant to these outdated attempts at fostering camaraderie. Traditional team building can be a big fail — unless companies are careful to make it work by selecting the best providers and options. With the right options and depth of facilitation buy-in and engagement can be massive.
The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t cut it anymore. Millennials and Z's, who value purpose and personalisation, aren’t likely to engage with generic formats or cheesy and awkward icebreaker games. These activities often feel disconnected from the workplace challenges they face daily, offering no real value or skill development. If team building feels like a mandatory chore rather than an enriching experience, it’s bound to backfire, fostering resentment instead of unity.
Millennials and Z's thrive on experiences that resonate with their interests and values. This means they’ll expect team-building activities to be clever, relevant, and meaningful. Think a CSR based team build with solving community problem together, tackling a large cross-functional challenge related to work-related themes. The activity must foster genuine connection and collaboration—not just force participation for the sake of ticking a box.
Millennials and Z's also crave transparency. They want to know why they’re doing something and how it ties into broader objectives. A well-thought-out team-building activity can break down barriers, enhance communication, and drive innovation—if it’s designed with care. Otherwise, it’s just another “mandatory fun” event that disrupts schedules and drains morale. A proper purpose for the session needs to be established, use evidence-based methods like Belbin to ensure personal learning and insight, and an end-state that people can remember.
To engage millennials and Gen Z effectively, companies need to raise the bar for team building. It’s time to ditch the childish games and invest in clever, meaningful experiences that build genuine bonds and skills—because anything less won’t cut it these days.
To find out more about how we can help contact us: T - 1300 731 381 E - Admin@SabreHQ.com
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