With the popularity of reality television shows today, there has been an increase in demand for corporate team building programmes that provide a similar experience.
People are captivated by the challenges and activities that contestants go through in these TV shows, and when they face such an experience, it can bring a lot of fun and opportunity for them.
Survivor is one such reality TV show which has now become one of our most popular team building programmes.
Typically, when groups want to do some team building, they want to do something that is fun, engaging and exciting for all participants.
Survivor ticks all of those boxes and more because it is such a great programme to create unity in teams.
So you may have seen Survivor on TV but how does it work as a team building programme?
It isn’t an exact replica of the TV show, however there are many familiar elements such as working in tribes, collecting immunity idols and focusing on team work.
As the whole group arrives at the location, they are welcomed by the sound of the Survivor theme music. There is usually laughter and smiles as participants just know it’s going to be a fun few hours ahead.
All participants are formed into tribes and provided with bandanas and a torch to represent their team.
Then they immediately get to work creating a tribal name and chant to get their creative juices flowing.
The rest of the Survivor programme is adapted to suit the objectives of the group doing it.
I love Survivor because of its flexibility to feature a variety of creative team building activities to suit any objective. It could be to improve communication, discover leadership qualities or foster trust between people.
There can be a mix of problem solving activities as well as physical challenges which we work out with the group organiser in advance of the day.
It’s important to know that there are no special skills required so everyone is on an even playing field in the programme.
We find that this maximises participation and encourages team work in all of the activities.
Once each tribe completes an activity, they earn an immunity idol which will become important for Tribal Council later.
Having the most idols will not ensure victory but it will increase the chance for that tribe to be crowned the Survivor champion.
At Tribal Council in an area set up with props, torches and a camp fire, each tribe answers a series of general knowledge questions on a chalk board.
If a tribe gets an answer right, they progress to the next round. If a tribe gets an answer wrong, they are eliminated.
However, tribes can use their immunity idols to automatically go through to the next round if they do not know an answer.
Ultimately there will be one sole surviving tribe who will be crowned the Survivor champions of that organisation!
Yes, they may have an understanding of some strengths from their workplace but putting them in a new environment with different pressures will unearth other strengths.
Staff also get a new-found appreciation of teamwork – relying on each other and contributing to the team. Most of the activities can’t be completed alone so people need the help of their team mates to get you through.
Survivor is one of the best outdoor team building activities which can be facilitated in parks, reserves, sporting grounds and on the beach. However, it can be delivered indoors in a suitable venue for the activities.
It usually requires three hours for maximum participation and benefit, however we have delivered them from anywhere between one to four hours.
Here is what some group organisers have said to us after undertaking Survivor…
“Our not-for-profit organisation had a great day completing Survivor at the beach for our annual team building day as it had an array of activities for all levels.” – Debbi Edwards, Adelaide PHN.
“I organised a Survivor for our students at our annual VCE camp. The objective of getting kids to work collaboratively in teams was fully realised. It was an excellent programme which had the kids fully engaged and having lots of fun.” – Natalie Farmer, St Andrews Christian College.
“Survivor has the perfect mix of activities for all ability levels.” – Kate Peters, RACV.
Michael Cromie, General Manager, Corporate Challenge Events
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