For a fun and varied team building day, consider tasking your team with building an actual bike. This team building idea will not only challenge their ability to work together as a team, it will also inspire everyone to dig deep and consider how they can best contribute to the project.
Building a bike sounds like a significant technical challenge, but rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty isn’t the only way you can contribute to this challenge. For a unique challenge that will enable your teams to work together to solve problems – and learn a lot about it each along the way – you should consider organising a charity bike build.
What is a charity bike build?
A charity bike build is a fun team building activity where teams compete to build a bike. But it isn’t just the technical aspect of constructing a bike that presents a unique challenge.
Before they can get their hands dirty and start putting their bike together, team members must complete a range of challenges to collect the components of their bike.
Once all challenges are complete and they have the parts of their bike, the team then work together to construct a fully-functioning bike. And when the bike is completed, it is donated to a partner charity that helps those in need access free bikes.
You could be helping to build a bike for an underprivileged child so they can cycle to school with their friends. Or you could be building a bike to help an adult on low income to improve their fitness.
Who does a charity bike build benefit?
There are many ways in which a charity bike build helps your wider community. To start with, you are raising money for a specific charity and can make donations as a part of the team building day.
For example, you could give your teams advanced warning of the day and let them start their fundraising in advance. The teams can then use their fundraising to “buy” the bike parts they need to get started.
You can then set challenges throughout the day, and they could buy advantages, such as extra time to complete tasks or a roadblock to slow down their competitors. Corporate sponsors might want to get involved and donate to the day, providing refreshments and a donation to your charity.
And finally, the finished bikes also provide a charitable benefit. The bikes will be donated to a good cause once they have been checked to ensure they are built safely.
How do you raise money with a bike build?
The first way you can raise money is to encourage participants to gain sponsorship ahead of the event or during the event. The more money they have secured at the start of the event, the more items they will be able to buy for their team.
You could offer fun upgrades to their bike build area, such as giving one team the opportunity to “buy” access to the speakers so they can make the music selection.
Corporate sponsors can gain visibility at the event by making a donation to your chosen charity. They could provide the refreshments and enjoy a PR boost at your event in exchange for a donation. They could also donate items that you could then sell to participants during the event.
The teams will be competing throughout the day to complete challenges so they can earn different parts of the bike. These challenges can be themed towards their work, such as creative, problem solving or physical challenges. This will enable each member of the team to provide a contribution based on their unique skills.
How does a bike build help with team building?
Building a bike is a fun challenge that most people won’t have tackled before. It’s a great way to work together to achieve something incredible. It will help those with natural leadership skills and technical ability to shine.
For those who don’t excel in these areas, the additional challenges to win the bike parts will allow them to flex their skills in other areas. Challenges could be creative, problem solving or physical.
Charity also helps to bring people together, while the competitive element fosters a sense of camaraderie. By allowing the teams to purchase boosts for themselves and roadblocks to slow down other teams, this will encourage a sense of closeness with their team.
There’s nothing quite like a team rushing ahead only to learn that a rival team has locked away their tools for 10 minutes so they are forced to wait until they can continue building.
Closing thoughts
If you’re looking for a creative and engaging way to bring your teams together with a touch of competitive spirit, consider a charity bike build. It’s the ideal way to raise money for charity while engaging in fun team building activities.
