Immerse, engage, and excel - our mantra for a productivity hike!
Are you on the hunt for a team-building activity that ticks all the boxes, especially improving productivity?
We know the struggle...
Finding a team exercise that your group will actually engage with can feel like an uphill battle.
But guess what? Your search is over.
Enter the dynamic world of escape rooms, an immersive experience that your crew will absolutely relish and that's known to boost teamwork and productivity.
Escape rooms 101 (skip this if you know what they are)
In an escape room game, teams are placed in a thrilling and interactive environment where they work together to solve puzzles, crack codes, and unravel a mystery or accomplish an objective within a time limit (usually 60 minutes).
As it turns out, the games are designed to test participants’ skills, like those of communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
For those interested in more team-building options in Chicago, explore the top 11 team building activities available.
You’ve possibly guessed where this is heading - this is what makes escape rooms a unique opportunity for team members to engage in a fun and exhilarating activity while also developing valuable workplace skills - including productivity.
Team building in escape rooms
Unlike many other team-building exercises, escape rooms offer an immersive and challenging environment where participants must actively work together - under pressure - to achieve a shared goal.
This cultivates effective communication, trust, and a sense of camaraderie among team members.
The immersive nature of escape rooms adds an element of excitement and engagement that traditional team-building exercises often lack.
Participants are fully immersed in a story-driven environment that heightens their focus, problem-solving capabilities, and ability to work effectively as a team.
This level of engagement, similar to transforming corporate events with the unique appeal of escape rooms, translates into higher levels of motivation and enthusiasm, which positively impact overall team morale and productivity.
Did you know? You can even do a SWOT analysis of your team through an escape room.
How escape room team events build productivity
Escape rooms require diverse skills and encourage teams to create a holistic skill set by leveraging the individual strengths and expertise of each team member.
Moreover, these immersive challenges demand efficient time management, prompting participants to develop workflows that optimize their efforts and minimize unnecessary tasks or movements.
Effective communication, leadership, creative thinking, and problem-solving - all of which serve to improve overall efficiency - are essential in navigating the puzzles and obstacles and “escaping the room” before time runs out.
In summary - by engaging in escape room team events, teams can enhance their collaborative capabilities and cultivate a productive mindset that carries over into their professional endeavors.
Such experiences, like Gibbs rules, can offer unique insights and challenges that carry over into their professional endeavors.
It's interesting - in this context - to note the common myths about team-building activities and how they compare to the reality of escape room experiences.
Leveraging individual team members’ skills
Efficiently tapping into the unique strengths of each team member and integrating them into a collective group capacity is a tried-and-tested approach to improving team productivity.
Escape rooms, especially those that focus on team building strategies and planning, serve as effective practice grounds for this.
By requiring diverse skills to tackle challenges, escape rooms allow teams to experience firsthand the importance of leveraging individual strengths within a cohesive group - and give them a chance to actually do that.
This experience translates seamlessly to the workplace, where recognizing and utilizing the specific talents of team members can significantly boost overall productivity.
Improving time management
By optimizing the allocation of time, teams can accomplish tasks more efficiently and meet deadlines with ease.
Escape rooms, with their inherent time constraints, serve as practical examples for improving time management skills.
For instance, the time limit within which players must solve puzzles and “escape the room” pushes teams to prioritize, delegate, and strategize.
This fosters a mindset that values efficient use of time and highlights the importance of participating in team-building activities.
The experience gained from escape rooms can be directly applied to the workplace, empowering teams to streamline workflows, minimize time wastage, and ultimately enhance overall productivity.
Bettering communication
Clear and open communication ensures that tasks are understood, information is shared efficiently, and everyone is aligned toward common goals.
And, as you may have guessed, escape rooms provide a unique opportunity to practice and enhance communication skills.
In the immersive and time-sensitive environment of escape rooms, teams must communicate effectively to exchange vital information, coordinate actions, and solve complex puzzles together.
The lessons learned in escape rooms, such as active listening, clear articulation, and concise instructions, directly translate into improved communication in the workplace, fostering collaboration and boosting overall team productivity.
Developing a problem-solving approach
When teams approach challenges with a proactive and solution-oriented attitude, they can overcome obstacles efficiently and find innovative solutions to complex problems.
Escape rooms, whether they're about hilarious party games for adults or other themes, serve as a catalyst for developing and honing this problem-solving approach.
Teams are presented with intricate puzzles and tasks that require critical thinking, creativity, and resourcefulness.
By tackling these challenges, teams learn to think outside the box, analyze situations, and collaborate effectively to find solutions.
The problem-solving skills cultivated in escape rooms transfer seamlessly to the workplace, leading to increased productivity and success in overcoming work-related challenges.
The Fox in a Box (that’s us) approach to team building
As a top escape room in Chicago, we have multiple adventures featuring different and distinctive themes.
This offers a chance for people with distinctive tastes and interests to take part in a thrilling and memorable team building event.
We take pride in delivering professional, personal, and private escape room experiences that offer an exhilarating and valuable team experience that offers several practical benefits, including the one we’ve talked about at length - improving productivity.
Our escape games
The Bank - Can you break into the bank and recover the manager's stash of diamonds before the alarm goes off?
The Prison - Can you escape a maximum-security prison while the guard is distracted?
The Bunker - (Set during the Cod War era) Can you break into a bunker and prevent a devastating nuclear weapon from being launched?
Zodiac - Trapped in a psychopath's lair, can you find a way out before ending up in body bags?
The Final Exam - Our signature team building offering - a portable game that we can set up at a location of your choosing.
Our team building packages
Just Rooms: Experience our escape rooms designed for team building, accommodating up to 35 people per session.
Rooms With Appetizers and Drinks: Add some fizz to your team building experience with a package that includes appetizers and drinks (both soft and hard) alongside our incredible escape rooms.
Full Retreat: Take your team on a full retreat, facilitated by a noted organizational psychologist who will guide your group through discussions, exercises, and multiple escape rooms to enhance team performance.
Head to our team building page for more information on our group and corporate packages.
Boosting productivity through escape rooms - key takeaways
Effective communication, diverse skills, efficient time management, and problem-solving abilities are crucial for improving productivity in teams.
Escape rooms offer an enjoyable and immersive way for team members to develop these essential skills while engaging in thrilling adventures.
With diverse game themes, we at Fox in a Box appeal to players with different tastes and interests. If you're exploring team-building activities for the upcoming holiday season, consider checking out our team building activities to try this holiday season.
The Final Exam is our portable game and signature offering. It provides a unique and flexible team-building experience that can be set up at a location of your choice.
Choose from Fox in a Box's team-building packages, including Just Rooms, Rooms With Appetizers and Drinks, and Full Retreat, to tailor the experience to your needs.
Ready for a productivity-enhancing team event?
Take your team-building activities to the next level with Fox in a Box's escape rooms, designed to boost productivity and foster a cohesive and efficient work environment. Experience the thrill of our diverse game themes and challenge your team to communicate, problem-solve, and manage time effectively.
Whether you just want your teams to take part in our thrilling games, or whether you’re looking for a full retreat facilitated by an organizational psychologist, we've got you covered.
If you’re looking for escape rooms only, you can go ahead and make a multiple reservation by yourself.
For corporate bookings with elements like food & drinks, group assessments, and official merch, request a quote.
For any other questions, contact us!
BLOGS
Please wait