Planning a Team Offsite? Choose the Outcome Before the Activity
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
Planning a team offsite usually starts with a familiar question:
“What activity should we do?”
After almost four decades of designing and delivering team building and development programmes, we think there is a better question to ask first:
What does the team actually need?
Sometimes the answer is simply fun, connection and a memorable shared experience. At other times, a team may need more structured work around leadership, behaviour, communication, alignment or team effectiveness.
And sometimes the most powerful solution combines both.
Understanding that distinction can save time, money and effort, while helping ensure that your team day, retreat or offsite actually achieves what you want it to.
Two Different Team Needs
At Sabre, we increasingly see team interventions falling into two broad categories:
These are ideal when the primary objective is:
Fun • Connection • Charity • Conferences • Morale • Networking
A Team Experience may be exactly what is needed when people simply need to get out of the office, reconnect with colleagues, laugh together and share something memorable.
This might include an outdoor Quest, Amazing Team Race, creative challenge, charity programme, conference energiser or collaborative indoor business game.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with fun being the objective.
In fact, in busy workplaces where people are under pressure, working remotely or constantly moving between projects, simply giving people a positive shared experience can have real value.
Team Experiences can work particularly well for conferences, celebrations, new team introductions, social connection and larger groups where the main aim is participation and energy.
Development starts from a different place.
Here, the objective is not simply to have an enjoyable shared experience, but to deliberately explore how people and teams work.
This may involve:
Leadership • Alignment • Behaviour • Communication • Self-awareness • Team effectiveness
For these teams, the starting point might be questions such as:
Why are certain working relationships becoming difficult?
Are we making the best use of individual strengths?
How can this leadership team work more effectively together?
Where are communication or decision-making problems emerging?
How can the team develop greater self-awareness?
What behaviours are helping or hindering performance?
Team Development therefore usually involves a greater degree of facilitation, reflection and structured learning.
At Sabre, this may include the Belbin Team Role Model, Individual and Team Reports, Team DNA workshops, leadership development sessions, strategy simulations and facilitated team alignment programmes.
Sometimes You Need Both
In many cases, the distinction between Team Experiences and Team Development does not need to be absolute.
Some of the most effective programmes deliberately blend the two.
A leadership team might spend the morning exploring individual and collective behavioural strengths using Belbin, then put those insights under pressure during an experiential team challenge.
Another group may begin with a relatively light and enjoyable activity and then use observations from the experience as the basis for a deeper facilitated discussion.
The activity becomes more than entertainment, but the learning also avoids becoming overly theoretical.
This is where experiential learning can be particularly powerful.
People do not just discuss teamwork. They experience it.
Match the Format to the Need
A simple way to think about your options is:
If your team needs... | Consider... |
Fun and reconnection | Team Experience |
Conference energy | Team Experience |
Charity or CSR | Team Experience |
Better working relationships | Team Development |
Leadership alignment | Team Development |
Behavioural self-awareness | Team Development |
Improved team effectiveness | Team Development |
Fun combined with meaningful learning | A blend of both |
Strategy combined with team dynamics | A blend of both |
There is no universally “best” team building activity.
The best option is the one that matches the needs of the group.
Smaller Can Often Be Better
Another noticeable shift in recent years has been towards smaller team offsites and mini-retreats.
Organisations do not always need a large conference or elaborate event to achieve something worthwhile.
A team of 8, 12 or 20 people can often gain more from a focused half-day or full-day session than from a much larger generic event.
Smaller formats also allow programmes to be more tailored.
A half-day might combine:
a facilitated team discussion
Belbin Team Role insights
a practical team challenge
lunch or an informal social component
agreed follow-through actions
The result can still feel relaxed and enjoyable while producing meaningful outcomes.
Start With the Outcome, Not the Activity
When planning your next team day, retreat or offsite, try starting with these questions:
What would we like to be different after this day?
Do we primarily want people to reconnect and enjoy themselves?
Are there real issues around communication, leadership or working relationships that need attention?
Would an enjoyable shared experience be enough?
Or would the team benefit from deeper insight, facilitated discussion and practical follow-through?
Once those questions are answered, choosing the right activity becomes much easier.
A team does not always need development and team development does not always need to feel serious. The important thing is choosing the right intervention for the right reason. For some groups, that means a few hours of competition, laughter and shared experience, for others, it means behavioural insight, leadership alignment and deeper reflection.
And for many teams, the best solution sits somewhere between the two.
At Sabre Corporate Development, we have been designing and delivering Team Experiences and Team Development programmes since 1988, working with groups ranging from small leadership teams to major national and international conferences.
Our approach has always been simple:
Start with what the team needs, then build the experience around it.
From Serious Fun to Serious Outcomes.
