In Calgary, you have your pick of the standard team building exercises. You could do a games night with the team, go for a hike around the Grotto Canyon Trail or just order pizza and try and run over some boring icebreakers. None of these do especially well at achieving what they’re trying to achieve, namely to get the members of a work team to bond and work together. At best, they provide a daylong diversion from the desk. At worst, they’re just a waste of time.
But there is an option in Calgary that checks off all the boxes – an activity that promotes mutual learning, bonding, competition, diversion and stress relief: axe throwing. Yeah, that might not have been the first thing that popped into your head, but when you think about it, axe throwing makes perfect sense. You don’t need to join an axe throwing league to book an event for your team (though membership is awesome!), and what you’ll get is not only getting a day away from the office, but you’re getting a full-blown memorable excursion as well.
A Hands-on experience
At its most fundamental level, what axe throwing does is get employees up and out of their seats, engaging in a new activity (well, you can assume it’s new to everyone; there might be a secret pro axe thrower in your ranks!). Compare this to a games night, which has everyone sitting down focusing on a board the entire time – that’s not a far cry from the staring at a screen they do throughout the day.
Learning together
When you get to the axe throwing facility, you’re typically given an instructional lesson, where a professional axe thrower (yes, those exist) shows everyone on the team the proper way to throw an axe. You stand in across a lane from a big wooden target, and, using your newly acquired knowledge, attempt to smack that target dead centre. Learning a new skill together really allows people to bond, to help each other out and share a few harmless laughs at each other’s pratfalls.
Stress relief
Forget stress balls or mantras. If you really want to release the vent after a few hard months of work, throw an axe at a wooden target and watch it splinter. Immediate bliss!
Helpful competition
Whereas your company hike may have the physical element there, it’s missing a little something important: friendly competition is a great way for people to bond. Unless you’re racing up that hill, hiking doesn’t really offer that. Axe throwing on the other hand allows team members to challenge one another in a fun, safe environment, mirroring the competitiveness of the work environment, only with lower stakes.
A Communal sense of accomplishment
When all’s said and done, everyone got a surprisingly good work out, something you don’t really notice until after you’re finished. Fun activities have a way of doing that. Axe throwing doesn’t require anyone to be fit or athletic – in fact it’s great for kinds of people – but it does give you a physical, communal sense of accomplishment at the end of it all.
Combining the competitiveness of games night, the physical sense of accomplishment of a day out hiking, and the bonding process of an icebreaker session, axe throwing is the perfect amalgam of everything you want in a team-building exercise.
