5 Tips for Making Team Building
Affordable for Small Teams

From time to time, we get requests for team building from very small teams. If it’s an executive team planning a retreat, this usually isn’t an issue. If it’s a non-executive team, and it’s a shorter team building session, there is often sticker shock.

Regardless of the size of the team, there is a certain minimum amount of planning and staffing that is needed in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly. For example, if facilitated team building for a team of 25 is $5000, the expectation is that 8 people will only pay $1600. When it is pointed out that there is a certain minimum based on the amount of work involved to plan and facilitate the session, it slowly sinks in that the per person price for a small group will always be significantly higher.

So what’s a small team to do? Fortunately, there are a few strategies that small teams can do to make team building more affordable?

Select on-site team building to save on the cost of renting a venue.
Swap locations with a supplier or use a venue at another office to ensure that you don’t get interrupted.
Team up with other small teams. Ask the facilitator to keep the teams from the 2 or 3 departments separate but this will give you access to the experience and bring the per person price down significantly.
For outdoor team building, do part of your session on-site and use an affordable location like a conservation area, campsite or a summer camp off-season and devote half a day to the outdoor team challenges.
Put the team building firm in touch with your VP.
If there are enough departments within the company that are interested in the same programme, a contract can be negotiated to provide the same programme to a number of departments and still make bulk pricing available to smaller departments. Cross charging can be handled internally.
Arrange for 2 or more departments to have their team building sessions consecutively at the same location.
Logistics, set up and take down can all be done at one time. Cost savings can be realized by bulk printing of handouts and a larger order for catering.
Let the facilitator know that you are willing to be flexible with your dates and schedule the team building session on the same day and time and at the same location as another client.
The team building firm can match companies together and bring down the per person cost.
Begin Day one after lunch and end the last day before lunch to save on some catering costs.
Ask participants to brown bag it for lunch on the first day.

These strategies can also work for corporate events that are strictly recreational.

With some out of the box thinking, team building can become more affordable for small teams.

Suggested Team Building For Small Teams

A small team can have any programme a large team can have as long as there is enough budget for a higher per person cost.

Visexecutaries: Seizing Opportunities in Our Shifting Corporate Landscape (Global)
Restaurant Inc. (Global)
Arctic Survival Winter Team Building (Canada, Japan, USA)
Island Survival (Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Abu Dhabi, Singapore)
Desert Survival (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Jordan, USA)
Jungle Survival (Malaysia, Costa Rica)

Team Building for Small Teams with Limited Budgets

Cash Flow Game

Cooking Team Building

Strictly Recreational for Small Teams with Limited Budgets

Urban Safari

Visit Executive Oasis International Website

Keep Executive Oasis International in mind the next time your team requires team building, an executive retreat or corporate event planning in Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, or Jodan.