Imagine that you’re in a dark room filled with random knickknacks and strange pictures on the walls. In the corner of the room, piled neatly on a small table is a stack of open boxes filled with a variety of objects; coloured books, numbered building blocks, and a jumbled-up puzzle. You turn to leave and find your path blocked by a door with a large padlock on it. In the palm of your hand you can feel the sharp bite of a key. The key that will release you. You insert the key, turn it, and the lock clicks open. Behind you, you hear a sound…It’s the sound of the rest of your office cheering that you all escaped with 5 minutes to spare!
Escape Rooms; they’re exactly what the name implies. Locked in a room, either by yourself or with a group of people, you must figure out the puzzles around you in order to escape. This task is made even more nerve-wracking by the time limit that is imposed on you. Sounds strange, right? Why would you pay to be locked in a room? The answer, it’s fun! And not only is it fun but is also fosters many skills that can be translated back to the workplace which is why escape rooms make a great team building activity.
But how would being locked in a room with my coworkers be a good thing? If anything, it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Top reasons why your next team outing should be at an escape room include:
Teaches people how to work together more efficiently. In escape rooms, every second counts which means that you and your teammates must work together to collect the necessary clues and figure out the puzzles before the clock runs out. This is the same in the workplace. Working together as a team may mean finishing an assignment on time or handing in something incomplete or late.
Improves communication. This is one of the most important aspects of escape rooms. If you do not communicate with the rest of your team members, you won’t realize that the stack of numbered playing cards you’ve been staring for the past 10 minutes corresponds to the lock that your teammate has been fiddling with for just as long. Communication also plays an important part in the workplace whether you deal with clients, customers, or colleagues face to face, or utilize the phone or email.
Develops problem-solving skills. Whether you’re trying to put together a puzzle to get a keycode or trying to figure out how to handle a situation in the workplace, you are using your problem-solving skills to find the most effective way to reach your goals.
So next time you’re looking for a fun team-building exercise, why not consider an escape room? Give it a try and let us know what you think.