Location, Location, Location: Why Place Matters in Team Building

When it comes to impactful team building events, the old maxim can still holds true: Location, Location, Location.

A novel or iconic outdoor setting does more than provide a scenic backdrop. It changes behaviour. And behaviour is where real teamwork lives.

Over the years we’ve been fortunate to deliver events in some great locations like Sydney (pictured), Dubai, Rome, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, Fiji, Hawaii, London, Brisbane, The Gold Coast and many more.

Finding a novel location for team building in an iconic destination can be great enabler for impact.

Stepping out of the meeting room and into a beachside venue, historic precinct, parkland or iconic landmark destination disrupts routine patterns. Hierarchies can soften. Screens disappear. People interact as humans first around the new challenge, job titles can start to fade in place of natural behaviours. That shift creates the ideal conditions for meaningful team collaboration and development.

From a Belbin behavioural perspective, environment can also influence which Team Role behaviours come to the surface. In a fresh, novel environment, you often see a broader and more natural spread and emergence of Team Role contribution.

Novel locations also enhance memory and retention. The sensory experience, open space, movement, shared challenge can all anchor insight in a way that a meeting room rarely can. When teams later reflect on performance, they recall not just the lessons, but the moments in which they became apparent.

Most importantly, outdoor settings reduce the crippling digital distractions. Genuine conversation replaces heads stick into devices. Real-time problem solving replaces passive listening. Shared experience becomes a nice shared story.

In short, if Belbin teaches us that balanced behaviour drives performance, then the right location can help to better unlock that balance for observation and transferral back to the workplace.

Choose the place wisely, choose the right activity to match that place and you will create the conditions for real contribution, connection, and teamwork that lasts well beyond the day itself.