Escape rooms are definitely a fun activity to do with your friends and family, but did you know that escape rooms also promote teambuilding and skill development that’s great for corporate events? Check out this list of 5 skills that escape room activities can help improve for your team!
Communication
Teambuilding starts with communication. Escape rooms are full of puzzles and tasks that may require the group to communicate with one another. Sometimes, escape rooms have activities that would require an individual in one part of the room to communicate with a team member in another part of the room, whether they be separated by barriers or just divided up by senses (i.e. one person can see but not touch, another can touch but not see). Escape rooms throw teams into unique and creative situations where they need to communicate with each other to achieve the goals necessary, and therefore this gives them practice in honing the art of conversation.
Teamwork
Alongside communication, teamwork is an important skill that can improve by playing escape rooms together. Puzzles and tasks in escape rooms are seldom solo activities; teamwork is often essential in completing the tasks. An example of this would be if there is an apparatus in which not every team member can fully interact with it by themselves. Perhaps one part of the escape room will have controls for the apparatus to move up and down, while another section of the room will have controls for moving the apparatus left and right. The group will need to work together and improve their teamwork ability to successfully complete the task and proceed forward.
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Puzzles in escape rooms are often intricate and need outside-the-box thinking. By looking at all the available information and assessing the situation, teams can improve upon their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Escape rooms allow teams to find creative solutions to problems, stimulating their ability to discover new methods and procedures for completing objectives. This can extend into their daily work environment, especially if the work environment commonly has project-based work.
Decision Making
There’s not a lot of time to get through an escape room. Some places give 45 minute, some others give up to 90 minutes, but the takeaway is that the group will have to make decisions and move forward to get to the goal quickly. In doing so, there’s less time for second-guessing and regretting choices; consequences of decisions need to be worked through and accepted quickly. Escape rooms therefore can help getting teams to improve their abilities to make decisions under pressure.
Relationship Building
Escape rooms require the group to spend up to an hour to work together and solve puzzles and escape the room. Not only does spending this time together improve the soft skills necessary for team dynamics, but the time spent can also foster better relationships with one another. Imagine a team completely not knowing each other but having only 60 minutes to get to know one another but also come together to complete a shared goal. Often times, relationships are built and the teams end up having a fun time together, which will carry on into their continued days together in their day jobs!