Tropical Treasure Hunt doesn’t sound like a name that corporations would think is critical to maximizing their performance. It’s just for kids, right? But the data on the value of team building and the financial impact of employee engagement would beg to differ. 

 The Data

Analytics company Gallup completed a study on employee engagement of 1.8 million workers in 230 organizations across 49 industries and 73 countries. According to this global study, 85% of employees are either not engaged or are actively disengaged at work.* That means approximately 1 out of 10 employees are giving their best effort. A company can have the best equipment, best location, and best technology, but those expensive investments are wasted if the company doesn’t have engaged staff to work the equipment, manage the technology, and ultimately take care of customers. Gallup also examined the difference in business results between engaged and actively disengaged business units. The engaged groups had 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability, just two of many critical metrics proving that engaged employees are productive employees.

My Team Building Experience

I got a sense of the value of off-site team building activities when I was working at a software company in Dallas early in my career. My department’s services relied heavily on the IT department. Although we worked on the same floor of an office building, I had no idea who the people were that responded to my IT “service tickets.” This disconnect created a lot of wasted time writing emails without being able to confirm that the intended message was received. Then the company joined a WhirleyBall league. In WhirleyBall, you drive bumper cars and use lacrosse sticks to shoot a ball onto a backboard to score points – like basketball, but with no rim. My company sponsored a team and many members of the IT department and my department joined. We connected through this novel and fun shared experience that forced us out of our comfort zone. That connection helped productivity soar between the two departments. No longer would I spend 15 minutes struggling with technical jargon to email to IT. Now I would go right to the person’s cubicle to talk through the issue together. 

This experience had a strong impact on me. It was so simple. Allow employees to connect outside of the workplace through a fun shared activity. It is the opposite of wasting time or money, because the relationships that form improve productivity which ultimately saves money.

Tropical Treasure Hunt Team Building

So, what does this have to do with Tropical Treasure Hunt? In addition to immersive adventures for all ages, Tropical Treasure Hunt offers these team building services that are so critical for improving employee engagement and overall performance. During a team building treasure hunt, employees get to know each other in a meaningful way by participating in a challenging and novel activity outside of the office. For some companies, it could be the first time they interact with coworkers, especially new employees. And unlike WhirleyBall, the activities we provide help team members develop professional competencies such as communication, time management, delegation, critical thinking, and leadership. For example, our most popular activity, the Blindfolded Maze, requires a “communicator” to verbally guide their blindfolded team member around an obstacle course on the beach. Everyone enjoys plenty of laughs while both the listening and speaking skills of the two team members improve.

We are confident that as more businesses embrace team building as an investment rather than a cost, our name will be synonymous with better business performance.

Anthony Schultz

Owner & Founder

*See Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report”