Crystal Maze Challenge

A team building event case study

The Brief

A top performing oil and gas training company approached us to see if we could put together fun team building ideas for their team of 45 mainly male engineers, but also made up of female admin staff. The event had to be held within a one-hour drive of their office. Not only did they want their team to come together and bond, it was imperative that the team building activities involved problem-solving skills as the client felt that by developing their problem-solving skills, they could improve their ability to get to the bottom of complex situations and do better decision making.

Challenges

• To find activities that would suit both the male engineers and female admin staff allowing everyone to fully engage and get the most out of it!
• To find a suitable venue given the very short lead time
• To propose a solution that came within budget but did not compromise on quality

Solution

Given the above brief, and after much discussion with the client on what they had done in previous years, what worked, what didn’t work, one of the options we proposed was ‘The Crystal Challenge’ which was eventually chosen. After spending hours finding the perfect venue to host the Crystal Challenge, the client chose to hold it at the De Vere Horsley Estate, just outside Guildford in East Horsley and set in acres of beautiful Surrey parkland. The estate has lots of beautifully kept grounds as well as lots of indoor event space so a perfect choice, and also at only a fifty minute transfer by coach – perfect!

Based on the popular 90’s game show, Crystal Maze is probably one of the most popular team building events in the world. Working with our amazing team building partner, we managed to create the perfect event that boosted team moral, involved strategic planning, problem solving and communication.

The presenters running the activity were so enthusiastic. In teams they competed against each other in an exhilarating mix of activities, dashing between the Aztec, Medieval, Industrial and Futuristic zones. They faced an exciting range of mental, skill, physical and mystery challenges that when successful, yielded a precious crystal and seconds of time inside the crystal dome.

As the day came to a close, a representative from each team completed a battle and collected as many gold tickets as possible in the dome, the team with the most gold tickets were crowned the winners! The Crystal Maze works well as it can be run as an indoor or outdoor team building event, so given this was in December we had to have a wet weather option!

Results

I think the review below speaks for itself!

“The event you provided was spot on and exceeded all our expectations. We were very lucky with the weather on the day, the staff were so friendly and knowledgeable. Quality of food and drinks provided throughout was exceptional, and we have a very happy team. Overall a fun and very nostalgic day!”