15 Community-Building Activities That Strengthen Work Teams

Team building helps people work better together. But community-building activities go a step further – turning coworkers into friends and creating lasting bonds. Use these 15 activities with your team.

What’s Coming Up

• What Are Community-Building Activities?
• What Is the Difference Between Team Building and Community Building?
• 15 Community-Building Activities for Workplace Teams
• How Personality Affects Community Building
• From Colleagues to Community
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Further Reading

What Are Community-Building Activities?

Community-building activities are group experiences that foster connection and a sense of belonging among coworkers. They create genuine relationships and a shared purpose, encouraging team members to care about each other beyond the scope of their jobs.

While that’s valuable on its own, companies have another incentive: strong workplace communities help drive engagement – and “highly engaged teams see 59% lower turnover in high-turnover organizations”. Lower turnover means consistent productivity, reduced hiring and training costs, and smoother operations. And happier, more connected employees often lead to more satisfied customers – a true win-win situation.

What Is the Difference Between Team Building and Community Building?

Team building is about strengthening working relationships so the team functions more effectively. Activities often target specific outcomes like boosting morale, improving communication, building trust, or sharpening problem-solving skills.

Community building goes beyond day-to-day collaboration. It’s about creating a shared identity, fostering mutual respect, and nurturing an environment where people feel supported as part of something bigger. These activities might open new channels for dialogue, introduce inclusive practices, encourage recognition, and deepen trust and camaraderie.

Let’s look at 15 community-building activities that can be tailored to fit any team.

15 Community-Building Activities for Workplace Teams

Building a strong community doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of intentional, well-designed activities that strengthen relationships over time.

The 15 activities below are grouped into five categories, each aimed at a different dimension of community building. Some can be done in a quick session – others work best as ongoing practices woven into your team’s routine. Pick the ones that align with your team’s culture, schedule, and priorities.

Activities Focused on Connection

These activities help team members connect on a personal level beyond job titles. By creating safe spaces to share values and experiences, they break down formal barriers, build empathy, and make collaboration smoother.

1. Values Mapping

Materials needed: Wall space, sticky notes, markers

Time required: 60 minutes

Instructions:

1. Create a wall map with value pairs like “adventure vs. security”, or “structure vs. flexibility.”
2. Each team member writes their name on a sticky note and places it on the map where they feel they align most between the two values. They do this for all the pairs of values that are on the wall.
3. Each person briefly explains why they chose their spots. If the team has more than 15 people, consider splitting into smaller groups to ensure everyone has a chance to share.
4. As a team, discuss how the range of values contributes to the team’s strengths, collaboration, and success.

This activity helps teams see and respect their different priorities. It can also subtly reveal team members’ personality traits.

2. Community Circle Discussions

Materials needed: Chairs in a circle, question cards, object that serves as a “talking stick”

Time required: 30-60 minutes

Instructions:

1. The team sits in a circle with no tables in the way.
2. Have a selection of meaningful questions like “What makes you proud at work?”
3. Pass an object, like a talking stick, to show whose turn it is to speak. This person gets uninterrupted time to answer the question.
4. For those who are not holding the object, their task is to listen without interrupting.

This setup helps people share more deeply than in normal meetings.

3. Life Timeline Connections

Materials needed: Large paper, markers, sticky dots

Time required: 60 minutes

Instructions:

1. Create a timeline on the wall – depending on the age of the team-members, this can be a timeline that covers 20-70 years.
2. Everyone marks their key life and work events on the timeline.
3. The team gets a few minutes to go through the filled in timeline. They can learn about the key life events of their team members, and look for shared experiences across the team.
4. Allow for questions and discussion on how these shared events create bonds and strengthen the team.

This activity helps people find unexpected connections with their coworkers.

Activities to Create Shared Experiences

These exercises give teams meaningful moments outside normal work, creating stories and memories that become part of the group’s identity. They reveal new strengths, build trust, and foster a “we’re in this together” mindset.

4. Community Impact Project

Materials needed: Depends on the chosen project

Time required: Half-day

Instructions:

1. Pick a service project that matches company values. Appropriate projects could include a local park or beach clean-up, a volunteer day at a food bank or shelter, or a school supply or clothing drive.
2. Collaborate as a team to complete the project. Everyone should be actively involved and contribute in a meaningful way.
3. Take photos or short videos during the project to document the experience and impact.
4. Reflect as a group – talk about what this project meant for the workplace, the team, and the wider community.

Helping others as a team builds strong connections, boosts morale, and reinforces shared purpose.

5. Skill Share Festival

Materials needed: Space for stations, any materials needed for demonstrations

Time required: Half-day

Instructions:

1. Everyone shares a non-work skill they have. Team members can pair up too if they have the same or complementary skills.
2. Create mini-stations around the office where each person or pair can demonstrate their skill(s) or offer a short hands-on activity.
3. Team members visit each station to learn and try the skill their colleague is teaching.
4. Have a group discussion on what people learned about their coworkers and themselves.

This activity builds mutual respect and appreciation by revealing hidden talents and passions that don’t always show up in day-to-day work.

6. Team Cooking Challenge

Materials needed: Kitchen space, cooking equipment, ingredients

Time required: 2-3 hours

Instructions:

1. Split the team into small groups to cook a meal together. Every small group will get an individual assignment.
2. Select recipes that require collaboration and effort – think chopping, mixing, timing, and plating.
3. Teams prepare their dishes side by side. Encourage creativity and communication throughout the process.
4. Once the cooking is done, sit down and enjoy the meal together. Add a voting competition for fun categories like “Best Presentation” or “Most Creative Dish.”
5. Capture the fun – take photos of favorite moments.

Cooking and eating as a team naturally builds connection, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment – plus it’s a delicious way to bond.

7. Community Scavenger Hunt

Materials needed: Hunt lists, phones with cameras

Time required: 2-3 hours

Instructions:

1. Create a scavenger hunt that takes place around the workplace and nearby areas.
2. Include a mix of challenges that spark creativity and teamwork, such as taking a photo with a local landmark, finding something that represents the company’s values, recreating a famous movie scene as a group, or performing a random act of kindness and documenting it.
3. End the hunt at a local coffee shop, park, or pub. Share stories, laughs, and favorite moments from the day.

This fun and active challenge builds teamwork, connects the group to the local community, and leaves the team with shared memories and lots of laughs.

Activities to Align Values and Purpose

These activities connect personal values to the organization’s mission, making work more meaningful and boosting engagement. By making both individual and organizational value systems clear and finding the overlap, they bridge gaps that can cause disconnection.

8. Meaningful Moments Wall

Materials needed: Wall space, cards, pins, markers

Time required: Ongoing

Instructions:

1. Reserve a space on a wall and designate it as the “Meaningful Moments” wall.
2. Give cards to everyone to write about moments when their work mattered – moments like big wins, personal growth, positive impact, or acts of kindness.
3. Prompt people to add to the wall regularly, for example at the end of a week, after a project, or during team meetings.
4. Discuss patterns in what people share, and celebrate the meaningful moments.

This simple, ongoing activity helps team members recognize the purpose and impact in their everyday work – boosting morale, connection, and meaning over time.

9. Vision Drawing

Materials needed: Art supplies, large sheets of paper

Time required: 90 minutes

Instructions:

1. Break the team into small groups. Each group creates a drawing that represents a vision of future success for the team or company.
2. Encourage using images instead of words to make it more creative and open to interpretation.
3. Each group presents their drawing and explains what it represents.
4. Work together as one team to combine elements from each group’s drawing into one large, shared picture of the future.

This creative activity helps align team members around a shared vision, using imagination and collaboration to make the future feel real and inspiring.

Activities to Create Traditions

Traditions give a team its unique character, fostering continuity, belonging, and shared identity. Regular gatherings, seasonal events, and recognition practices create rhythms people look forward to and help new team members feel part of something special.

10. Recognition Rituals

Materials needed: Special token or object

Time required: 15-20 minutes weekly

Instructions:

1. Set aside a few minutes during a weekly meeting for peer-to-peer recognition.
2. Use a special object that gets passed around – for example, a decorated baton, a trophy, a stuffed animal or a symbolic item such as “the golden mug” or “team torch.”
3. The current holder uses it to recognize a teammate for something meaningful – great work, a kind gesture, or a team win.
4. Track who’s been recognized and why. This can be shared in newsletters, Slack, or a visible “Wall of Recognition.”

This small, consistent ritual helps build a culture of appreciation, strengthens relationships, and fosters a greater sense of belonging.

11. Monthly Meetups

Materials needed: Meeting space

Time required: 60 minutes monthly

Instructions:

1. Set a monthly gathering on the same day each month.
2. Each month, a different team member or small group takes the lead in planning an activity for the meetup.
3. Make sure there’s space in each meetup for casual conversation and personal connection – no pressure, just a chance to relax and chat.
4. Add small touches to keep things fresh – bring snacks or drinks or change locations.

Monthly meetups offer a regular rhythm for connection, helping teams build trust, celebrate milestones, and maintain a strong sense of community.

12. Community Art Project

Materials needed: Varies by project

Time required: Multiple sessions

Instructions:

1. Decide on a creative project that reflects the team’s identity, values, or journey. Ideas include a collaborative mural or painting, a team quilt, a growing photo wall, or a symbolic sculpture made from upcycled office materials.
2. Display the art project where everyone can see.
3. Leave room to expand on the project. As new people join or milestones are reached, keep adding to the artwork so it evolves with the team.

Physical symbols of teamwork and creativity help build a lasting sense of shared identity and pride in the community the team is creating together.

Activities to Strengthen Community

Inclusive community-building activities help everyone feel seen, heard, and valued while also breaking down barriers that can be created by different communication styles, cultures, and personality types.

13. Cultural Potluck

Materials needed: Space for a shared meal, info cards for each dish

Time required: 90 minutes

Instructions:

1. Ask each team member to bring a dish that reflects their cultural background, family tradition, or personal story.
2. Each dish should include a card which explains the dish’s story.
3. Gather as a large group to enjoy the meal together. As people eat, walk around, and talk, the stories behind each dish will spark deeper conversations and cultural appreciation.
4. Collect recipes and stories in a team cookbook.

Sharing food is a powerful way to celebrate cultural diversity, learn about each other’s backgrounds, and build authentic team connections.

14. Perspective Swap

Materials needed: Scenario cards (realistic work situations), role cards (different team roles or identities)

Time required: 60 minutes

Instructions:

1. Create a few short workplace scenarios, based on real or common situations the team faces such as “a last-minute project deadline is causing stress,” or “a new policy is rolled out with little notice.”
2. For each scenario, assign participants different roles or viewpoints. Roles could include a new hire, manager, remote team member, cross-department colleague, or customer.
3. Switch roles so everyone tries multiple roles or viewpoints.
4. As a team, share and reflect on the insights gained from seeing the scenario from different perspectives.

This activity builds empathy, enhances communication skills, and helps teams appreciate the diverse experiences and needs of the people they work with.

15. Shared Photo Albums

Materials needed: Digital photo sharing app

Time required: Ongoing, with optional weekly 10-15 minute check-ins

Instructions:

1. Create a shared online album where team members can upload and view photos. This should be accessible to everyone, including remote teammates.
2. Encourage all group members to add photos regularly.
3. Suggest weekly themes like “Your workspace” or “What inspires you.”
4. Set aside a few minutes during team meetings or standups to highlight a few photos, share stories, or react together.

Shared photo albums create a visual thread of connection, especially valuable for hybrid or remote teams. They humanize workspaces, spark conversation, and build a stronger sense of presence and personality across distances.

How Personality Affects Community Building

Not everyone responds to community-building activities the same way – what excites one person might worry another. Understanding personality theory can help you choose activities and run them in ways that consider different personality types, so everyone can participate comfortably and meaningfully.

Let’s explore how personality traits can shape participation in community-building activities.

Introverted or Extraverted

Introverted team members add depth to discussions and often build fewer, but deeper connections. They might need encouragement to share their thoughts.

Extraverted team members bring energy and start conversations easily. But they might talk over others without realizing it.

Intuitive or Observant

Intuitive personality types bring vision and future focus. They connect through ideas but might miss practical details.

Observant types ground the team in real-world facts. They connect through specific experiences but might question abstract ideas.

Thinking or Feeling

Thinking personality types add logical analysis to discussions. They connect by solving problems together and value skill recognition, but might seem emotionally distant.

Feeling personality types nurture the group’s emotional health. They connect through personal stories and value harmony, but might take criticism too personally.

Judging or Prospecting

Judging team members are good at creating helpful systems. They like planned activities and value commitment, but might seem a bit rigid.

Prospecting team members prefer spontaneity over fixed plans. They value open-ended activities that offer freedom, but might seem uncommitted.

By understanding these personality differences, you can design activities that feel natural and engaging for everyone.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it doesn’t have to be.

You don’t need to guess which personality types make up your team or what’s likely to resonate with your unique mix of people. Our Team Assessments do the heavy lifting for you, creating a customized personality profile that reveals your team’s unique makeup. From there, you’ll have a clear roadmap for tailoring your community-building approach to spark maximum participation and connection.

From Colleagues to Community

Building workplace community goes beyond team building. It takes steady effort to create spaces where people connect meaningfully, share experiences, align around purpose, build traditions, and ensure everyone belongs.

These 15 community-building activities can help turn a group of coworkers into a true community. The key is consistency – community grows through regular connection, not one-off events. You can’t force it, but you can nurture it by designing genuine opportunities to connect. And when you understand how different personality types engage, you can choose the right mix of activities for your team.

Done well, community building pays off: higher engagement, lower turnover, stronger teamwork, and a workplace where people genuinely care about one another.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between team building and community building?

Team building focuses on improving how people complete tasks and work together to accomplish goals. Community building creates deeper personal bonds, encourages your team to care about one another, and fosters a sense of belonging.

How often should you do community-building activities?

Do some form of community building monthly, with bigger activities every three months. Regular small activities often work better than rare big events. Mix quick activities into regular work and plan some dedicated community sessions.

Do community-building activities work for remote or hybrid teams?

Yes, many activities work well online. Digital photo sharing, virtual cooking classes, online skill sharing, and digital volunteer projects all work for remote teams. Virtual community building might need more planning but can be just as effective.

How do you know if your community building is working?

To know your community-building activities are working, look for signs like more cross-department teamwork, more personal conversations, fewer people quitting, better employee satisfaction surveys, and more people joining optional events. You might also notice fewer silos, more innovation between teams, and more support during tough times.

Further Reading

• 25 Essential Team-Building Activities for Work
• 12 Proven Team-Building Activities for Large Groups
• 15 Team-Building Activities for Communication Skills