Escape the Office: 5 Benefits of Team Building for Small Businesses

Team building at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game!

When someone brings up team building, the first thing that pops up in many people’s minds is of 200 employees who barely know each other doing trust falls in a forest somewhere. But that’s not what team building means in 2017! And it’s not just for large companies where employees might not know each other’s names.

Team building activities are just as important and beneficial for small companies. Maybe you all work in the same room, just inches from one another, but there’s always room to improve communication, teamwork, and comradery.

Escape games are a perfect team building choice, especially for small businesses. Why? Because escape rooms usually fit maximum 7 people, which means you can get your whole team in on one game! Plus, they’re super fun (duh!).

Here are five of the best outcomes we see for small businesses who do their team building at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game:

1. Increased communication

When you have only 45 minutes to solve several puzzles and make your bid for freedom, everyone needs to step up their communication levels. In small teams, it can be easy to assume everyone knows what’s going on at all times when that’s not really the case.

2. A chance to bond

There’s a good chance everyone in a start-up knows everyone else’s name, but does everyone really know everyone? Especially if you have a recent addition to your team, a fun team-building challenge allows everyone to get to know one another on another level—and one that’s email free!

3. Testing relationships and skills

In small companies, relationships between staff members can become rigid out of necessity. A teambuilding activity like an escape game lets you see what skills your staff may not be getting a chance to use.

4. Oiling the teamwork machine

Small businesses don’t work if everyone’s commitment to teamwork isn’t in tip-top shape. A fun tune-up is a great way to make sure all is in working order for all team members.

5. Good vibes for all

The high of outwitting the puzzle master and solving an escape game puts everyone in a good mood for weeks!

Book one of Krakit’s four themed escape rooms for your team building day here.

Escape Game First Date: 5 Revelations You Will Learn about Your Future Bae

On paper, it may sound a little intimidating: enter a locked room with a person you’ve exchanged very few words with, and who you likely only just met in person for the first time, and then attempt to escape that locked room through close collaboration.

We’ve seen plenty of first dates at Krakit Vancouver Escape Room, and we’ll tell you why it’s a fantastic way to jump start what could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. (And OK, maybe it’s a little intimidating, but what first date isn’t?)

Here’s just a few of the qualities that a high-pressure situation, multiple brainteasing puzzles, and a 90-minute countdown will reveal about your next bae.

1. How they deal with stress

Put anyone in any situation with a countdown clock, and you’re guaranteed to get the stress hormones flowing. This is great for a first date, because you get to see if that guy who seemed so easygoing on Tinder is actually a tightly wound spring.

2. What their imagination is like

If you’ve chosen an escape room also your first date, odds are you’re a creative person who likes to immerse themselves in challenging situations and, yes, get lost in a little fantasy. No other first date will reveal if your future gal is on the same imaginative wavelength like an escape game date.

3. How well they communicate

We are all very aware that good relationships are built on good communication. So, why not throw this budding romance into the proverbial fire and see how quickly the two of you can get those verbal juices flowing. Without them, you certainly won’t win the escape game, and your date probably won’t win your love.

4. How they cope with failure

Whether or not you solve the escape room, there’s a good chance each one of you will fail at least one of the puzzles. Will your date take failure like a champ? Let’s hope so. Will they take your failures with grace? Let’s doubly hope so!

5. Whether or not they will put you first

A brain-hungry zombie rattles on the door—does your date shield you, or use you as a shield? VERY important to know. Might as well find that out asap.

Book your escape game first date in one of our four themed Vancouver escape rooms.

Escape Games: Corporate Team-Building with Flair

In today’s workforce, creating a strong and inviting team environment can be not only what makes your employees work better, but what might make them stick around for the long haul. According to Forbes, 88% of millennials prefer a collaborative work culture to a competitive one and definitely don’t want to be an anonymous cog in a faceless machine.

Luckily, escape games can help with that. No, really!

Escape games are only becoming more and more popular, especially among the millennial generation, precisely because of the reasons that also make escape rooms great team-building exercises.

1. Escape games force communication

It’s the rare person who can get through an escape room on their own, so putting your team into an escape game situation means they have no choice but to work collaboratively and—gasp—even speak to each other in person, rather than over email.

2. An escape game will put your team under stress—without any real consequences

Want to see how your employees work when they’re under the gun? Krakit Vancouver Escape Game’s ticking 45-minute clock will definitely give you insight into how your team behaves and works together when the pressure is on.

3. Scary escape room themes put everyone in a giggly mood

Though the 45-minute escape room countdown can put people on high alert, the scary themes of some escape rooms (including three of Krakit’s own) give people just the right dose of adrenaline to put them in a silly and playful mood. Bottom line: at the end of a creepy escape room, everyone is in a good mood—just what you want for a good team-building session.

4. Cracking clues—or the entire escape room—together builds camaraderie

Nothing builds feelings of trust and goodwill like making it through a zombie apocalypse or busting out of an insane asylum together. Solving any clue in an escape room comes with a sense of accomplishment, but if your team manages to solve the entire room—which isn’t easy—then the sky’s the limit for more corporate-minded collaborations.

5. Escape rooms are actually fun, and no awkward trust falls necessary

Corporate team-building events can have employees groaning, but escape rooms are bonafide fun. Most people want to try one if they haven’t already, so team-building at an escape room is sure to be a win in the eyes of even the most unconvinced of employees.

Looking to do some team-building in Vancouver? Why not book some time in Krakit’s four themed escape rooms, located right next to Lougheed Skytrain station. Visit our website or give us a call at (604) 484-6552 for more information.