Why Escape Rooms Are Good Team Building Activities

Atlanta is a world-class city with plenty of options for team building activities – so why an escape room? Escape rooms are unique challenges. You and your team are “trapped” in a space with a time limit to get out, armed only with your wits, logic, and teamwork skills. You are granted three clues – but ultimately, how and when you escape is completely dependent on your team working together to analyze your tools and options, make sound decisions, focus on the goal, and take action to succeed. By the end of the game, your team will be effectively challenged in the following four ways:

  • Your team will need to work on a deadline and under pressure

Escape rooms are best for simulating a pressured situation without real-world stressors. “People respond well to deadlines because meeting them provides a distinct feeling of having achieved something within a time frame,” writes Phyllis Korkki for The New York Times. In an escape room, your team will have 60 minutes to escape, only three clues for help, and will need to think quickly and critically if they want to win. An escape room challenge gamifies deadline pressure, and allows your team to experience the demand of a time limit in a fun, creative environment.  This opens the door for healthy communication and effective team work when under real deadline pressure.

 

  • Your team will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses

You probably made your hiring decisions to create a robust and dynamic team, thinking each individual will bring their own unique problem-solving approach to various projects. Escape room puzzle challenges vary in the same way, and require critical, creative, analytical, and strategic thinking. By the end of the challenge, everyone will have had a chance to either (1) try and fail, and learn from another team member who attempted the same challenge, or (2) try and succeed, and help lead their team to success. During an escape room challenge, teammates will learn how they best contribute to the team, and what they need to work on.  Team members working cohesively will know when it’s time to put their individual strengths to the test, and when it’s time to let someone else take charge.

 

  • Your team will need to think quickly and critically in order to make sound decisions

Teams will need to assess the facts, analyze their surroundings, and stay focused on the objective if they want to solve puzzles in a timely manner. Using logic and critical thinking skills are important for deductive reasoning – a problem-solving process which participants will need in order to discover what direction a clue is pointing them toward. With only 60 minutes on the clock, its crucial for teams to make decisions quickly and follow through with them, even if they aren’t sure about the outcome. Escape rooms will test your teams ability to logically work through a challenge, and decide on a plan of action in a short amount of time.

 

  • Your team will share success together, which builds morale and productivity

The Atlantic’s article “The Importance of Shared Experiences,” they explained how extraordinary experiences build a strong bond and connection when shared with others. Studies found that by creating shared experiences and finding common meaning, people can create connection and reduce conflict. An escape room will involve your entire team working through a unique challenge, which then becomes a common topic of conversation among them. Even if your team doesn’t make it out in time, the shared experience and time spent dedicated to a team mission will be a memorable one.

 

Team Building Atlanta

 

Team Building Activities at Time to Escape

At Time to Escape, we have three thrilling team building escape adventures to choose from. Each of our rooms is wholly unique. They will tests your team’s critical thinking and problem solving skills, goal-setting and team work in different ways.

Al Capone’s Speakeasy is our favorite for team building events. The escape room can fit up to 14 participants. You are undercover agents trying to infiltrate a Speakeasy owned by the notorious gangster, Al Capone. Your team will need to convince the bartender (played by an in-room actor) to help you find the evidence to put him away. Al Capone’s Speakeasy will test your team’s ability to communicate with and influence one another. Everyone on the team takes on a character role with a Special Ability and Side Quest which affect how the story unfolds, allowing for unique ways to find clues and solve puzzles. Your in-game actions and decisions affect relationships between the characters, and determine whether or not you successfully escape.

Escape From Alcatraz is our most traditional escape room, and can fit up to 10 participants. As the story goes: The year is 1962, and Alcatraz is about to see its greatest escape attempt. Earlier this evening, a prisoner named Frank Morris made a successful prison escape. You must follow the clues left behind by Frank, but you have only one hour before daybreak.This is your last chance to escape. Escape From Alcatraz will test your team’s ability to assess the situation and combine efforts to discover clues and solve puzzles. You’ll need to make sound decisions and act fast if you want to escape within sixty minutes.

King Tut’s Tomb is all about abstract thinking and using the tools you’re given. It’s 1922, and you are members of Howard Carter’s archaeology team. Mr. Carter has discovered what he believes is the Egyptian Pharaoh King Tutankhamen’s (King Tut) tomb. Unfortunately Mr. Carter hasn’t discovered the burial chamber of King Tut, and the Egyptian authorities will arrive in 60 minutes to shut down the archaeology site for good. King Tut’s Tomb will test your team’s ability to focus and concentrate on detail-oriented puzzles and tasks. You’ll need to read thoroughly and listen carefully to instructions in order to discover clues and complete the challenge in time.