Transforming Team Building for 2025: What You Might Be Doing Wrong

Sense Group
Nov 5, 2025
2 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

In 2025, the nature of teams has shifted dramatically. With hybrid and remote work now firmly part of the norm, the stakes for strong team-building have never been higher. Yet many organisations are still running old-school “one-off” events that don’t move the needle.

Here’s What’s Changed — And How Your Team-Building Strategy Must Evolve

If your team members feel disconnected, unseen or siloed, you’ll see the consequences in trust, morale and ultimately performance.

1. Connection is Harder to Build (and Easier to Lose)

Remote and hybrid teams face less spontaneous interaction. There are fewer corridor chats and fewer “water-cooler” collisions. In fact, one source found that up to 59% of hybrid workers report fewer friendships since moving away from the office. Remote work can reduce collaboration by as much as 25%.

If your team members feel disconnected, unseen, or siloed, you’ll see the consequences in trust, morale, and ultimately performance.

If your team-build focuses only on “fun” without aligning to growth, belonging or meaning, you’re doing half the job.

2. Traditional Team-Building Doesn’t Always Translate

Many of the team-building formats developed for full in-person teams don’t work as well when half the team dials in from home. Challenges include unequal participation (remote vs in-office), communication gaps, and technology disruptions. If your exercise assumes everyone is co-located, you’re probably missing out on a major portion of your team’s experience and impact.

3. People’s Motivations Have Evolved: Career + Community + Cause

Employees no longer just want to work together. They want growth, connection, and purpose. One recent piece breaks this into three pillars:

Career (growth & development)
Community (belonging)
Cause (purpose beyond profit)

All these elements are anchored in how team-building operates.

4. The Business Outcomes Are Real

Investing in team-building is not fluff. When designed well, hybrid-capable team-building drives engagement, strengthens culture, and reduces turnover. For example, remote/hybrid teams with strong connections performed significantly better in measured studies.

Learn More

Neglect Team-Building and You Risk Hidden Costs: Disengagement, Attrition, Diminished Innovation

What You Can Do Immediately

STOP: Running One Large Annual Outing

Assuming it “covers” team building is a mistake.

DO: Embed Regular Micro-Experiences

Design these for hybrid/remote formats. Consider monthly 30-minute breakout sessions or virtual-in-office blends.

STOP: Activities That Favour In-Office Participants

This creates an unfair format where remote team members feel left out.

DO: Use Deliberately Inclusive Formats

Incorporate remote access, breakout pairs, hybrid teams, and asynchronous options.

STOP: Focusing Only on “Fun”

Doing this without aligning to business or people outcomes is shortsighted.

DO: Link Each Activity to One of the Pillars

Focus on growth, belonging, or purpose. Communicate the “why” in advance and debrief effectively.

STOP: Letting Tools/Format Dictate Design

For example, saying “we’ll do Zoom games because we’re remote” limits creativity.

DO: Let Your Objective Dictate Design

Ask yourself: What outcome do you want? Trust? Innovation? Cohesion? Then pick the format that best serves that goal.

STOP: Acting Reactive

Avoid the mindset of “we’ll do a team outing now.”

DO: Create a Year-Long Team-Building Roadmap

Align this roadmap with business cycles, hybrid work rhythms, and measurement.

These tips are applicable wherever your team is hybrid or remote. Now is the moment to rethink your approach to team building.