The history and evolution of team building

How team building developed: a walk through the history of collaboration at work and of experiential training, from the last century to now

Team building has changed considerably over the years, adapting to advances in technology, to social change and to what companies needed. The journey takes us from the first scientific management practices to modern approaches that use advanced technology and concentrate on how employees are doing. Here’s how it transformed over time, answering the challenges and taking the opportunities of each period.

1900s to 1950s: team building arrives inside companies

Early 1900s: the theories of scientific management

• Frederick Taylor and scientific management: Taylor, an engineer and economist, developed the theory of scientific management, with its emphasis on efficiency and the division of labour. His philosophy shaped company practice deeply and laid the foundations for modern team management.
• Henry Ford and the assembly line: Ford’s introduction of the assembly line in 1913 revolutionised industrial production, demonstrating how much coordination and teamwork matter in getting exceptional results.

The 1920s and 1930s: the Hawthorne studies and employee motivation

• Elton Mayo’s studies: between 1924 and 1932 Elton Mayo ran experiments at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works. The findings, known as the Hawthorne effect, showed that paying attention to social conditions and to relationships between people could improve productivity considerably.
• Human relations theory: Mayo’s studies led to the development of human relations theory, which stressed the importance of employee satisfaction and group dynamics in improving performance at work.

The 1940s and 1950s: team building and the war effort

• The Second World War: during the war, both military and industrial organisations developed programmes to improve the cohesion and the effectiveness of teams. The need to collaborate well under pressure led to the creation of highly coordinated units.
• The rise of industrial psychology: industrial and organisational psychology emerged as a field of study, concentrating on improving productivity and morale through team building techniques.

The 1960s and 1970s: team building activities grow

The 1960s: management theory and employee participation

• Douglas McGregor and Theory X and Y: McGregor introduced Theories X and Y in 1960, suggesting that companies taking a participative approach (Theory Y) tend to get better results in terms of motivation and productivity.
• Abraham Maslow and the hierarchy of needs: Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs became influential, highlighting the importance of personal fulfilment and of meeting social needs inside organisations.

The 1970s: organisational development and team building

• Organisational Development: the OD field developed, taking in team building techniques to improve communication, conflict resolution and cooperation between the members of a team.
• Kurt Lewin and group change: Lewin’s work on change and on group dynamics became fundamental to team building practice, with its emphasis on active participation and continuous feedback.

The 1980s: outdoor activities take off

The mid-1980s: outdoor activities and physical challenges

• Outward Bound and adventure education: the Outward Bound movement, founded in the 1940s but growing in popularity in the 1980s, introduced adventure training as a way of developing team building skills. The activities included climbing, rafting and other physical challenges.
• Corporate retreats: companies began organising retreats in natural settings, using outdoor activities to improve team cohesion, leadership and problem solving.

The late 1980s: team building techniques evolve

• Adventure Based Learning: the idea of ABL developed, using adventurous activities to teach team building skills. These programmes were designed to improve trust, communication and collaboration between the members of a team.

The approach has obvious limits, though. The clearest picture of those limits is the corporate away day as television comedy has always shown it, from The Office onwards: five situations everyone recognises, and five reasons why none of them builds anything.

1. The match between staff and management. Somebody senior picks the teams, and the point of the afternoon turns out to be who gets picked last. A clear hierarchy on display, and no fair play, instead of an environment where people support each other.
2. The compulsory screening. A cultural event nobody can decline becomes an exercise in obedience, showing how a company event can turn into an instrument of control rather than something anybody gains from.
3. The sporting contest. A potentially enjoyable event turns into a humiliation for the least able participants, missing the objective of including and supporting people inside a team completely.
4. The swimming race. Differences in physical ability get amplified, and the activity was never adapted to what everybody can do, so it produces exclusion instead of cohesion.
5. The compulsory bike ride. Beyond being physically demanding for the less fit participants, it becomes a source of stress and discomfort, a long way from any idea of collective wellbeing and mutual support.

These are comic exaggerations, and they make the point: team building activities, if they aren’t handled properly, can turn counterproductive. Instead of bringing people together, they can sharpen the differences, embarrass people and isolate the ones who are less able or less favoured, running against the spirit of inclusion and collaboration that any real team building effort should have.

One way we try to hold on to inclusion is designing challenges whose difficulty is such that anybody can take them on. Here are some examples.

The 1990s and 2000s: technology gets involved

The 1990s: the digital revolution and virtual collaboration

• The internet and online collaboration: the arrival of the internet transformed communication and collaboration, letting teams work together in real time wherever they happened to be.
• Collaboration software: the introduction of collaboration software such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange made sharing information and managing projects easier.

The early 2000s: digital team building

• Virtual simulations and role play: companies began using virtual simulations and online role play for team building, letting employees develop skills in a controlled and safe environment.
• Communication platforms: the use of platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack and other collaborative applications became essential for coordinating and managing distributed teams.

The 2010s: virtual and remote team building

The early 2010s: globalisation and working at a distance

• Virtual team building activities: globalisation and the growth of remote work led to the development of virtual team building activities, using platforms such as Zoom and Skype.

The mid-2010s: digital integration in team building

• Online games and virtual escape rooms: companies began building online games, virtual escape rooms and other digital activities into their team building programmes.

The 2020s: remote team building and how people are doing

Early 2020: working from home, everywhere at once

• Remote work accelerates: the events of 2020 pushed remote work forward by years in a matter of weeks, and virtual team building became the way teams held their cohesion and their morale together. We developed fully online experiential training of our own in that period, and several of those formats are still in the catalogue.

The middle of the decade: how employees are holding up

• Support for mental health and wellbeing: companies concentrate on how their people are doing, promoting activities that support mental health, wellbeing and social connection through mindfulness sessions, virtual fitness and online social gatherings.

The 2020s after the peak: flexibility and hybrid work

2021-2022: hybrid working models

• Hybrid models get adopted: as the situation improved, companies adopted hybrid working models, combining office work and work at a distance. Team building activities adapted to that new reality, offering both virtual and in-person experiences.

2023: flexible and inclusive workplaces

• Building inclusive workplaces: companies shifted their attention to creating flexible workplaces that promote inclusion and collaboration. Hybrid team building events let employees take part both physically and virtually.

2024: new technologies appear

• Advanced collaboration technologies: new technologies and platforms made collaboration between distributed teams easier, among them augmented and virtual reality, which offer genuinely absorbing team building experiences. The activities included virtual reality simulations, advanced gamification and interactive workshops combining digital and physical elements.

Where it’s going

• Whole-person wellbeing: there’s growing attention to employee wellbeing taken as a whole, with team building activities that take in personal development, professional growth and environmental sustainability. Companies invest in programmes that promote mental health, diversity and inclusion, building a positive company culture. Along those lines we’re launching programmes that work on harmonising brain waves, so that the working day can include moments of wellbeing and physical and mental balance.

Final thoughts