Better Than Pizza

Don’t get me wrong. I love Pizza. I could eat the stuff all day. Not only that, but I love ordering Pizza for my team. Having said that, team building has to go beyond a Pizza eating exercise.

I know sometimes coming up with a team-building day can be daunting. It's challenging to come up with fresh ideas, and you'll never please everyone on the team. Some will want to participate, and some will not. That's ok.

You should still try to add some variety. Here's what I did this weekend. I took my team on a quick tour of the city. An adventure that took us across the river, trails, and rails. If you think your team would enjoy it, feel free to use any ideas that would help.

1) River: I rented some rafts and had my team meet me at Emily Murphy Park. Each raft took about 15 minutes to inflate using a foot pump. Once we were ready to go, we left the park around 10:30 AM. It took us about an hour and a half to paddle down the river to the Dawson Park Boat Launch. When we arrived, we returned the rafts and had lunch at River Adventure Co.

2) Trails. From River City Adventure Co, we walked west down a trail and rode up to the Hotel MacDonald on the funicular. Taking the funicular is much easier than taking the stairs up from the River Valley. Not only that, but the views are amazing. Once we reached the top, I gave each team member a ticket for the LRT at Central Station, and we road it down to the Government Centre.

3) Rails. Once we arrived at our destination, we walked over and boarded the High-Level Street Car. If you haven't experienced this before, you really should. The street car took us all the way to Old Strathcona, alive with the Fringe Festival's energy. That was the end of our outing, and I believe we all had fun.

Your team is worth it. Have some fun, enjoy the city and all it has to offer. Touch the river, walk the trails and ride the rails. Whatever you do, don't skip out on team building.

Friend, thank you for reading. I hope you'll sit down with a pen and paper and brain storm some ideas of what you could do with your team.