Before diving into what leaders can expect from a team-building event, here’s one expectation of my own: let’s stay grounded in reality.

We’ve seen the “everything and more” approach many times before. Don’t get me wrong — we love a challenge. But even genies with magical powers only grant three wishes, and we believe that someone who claims to do everything probably excels at nothing.

The foundation of successful organisations is productive teamwork, and the foundation of productive teamwork is a happy, collaborative team built on strengths. Creating those foundations depends largely on the leader. Many leaders believe that sending colleagues to a team-building event will solve most of their problems. In many cases, it’s a great idea — but let’s be clear: this is a short-term solution.

Expecting a single event to entertain, connect, develop, align the team, and magically resolve conflicts or communication issues? If only it were that easy. The hard, consistent work can’t be skipped here either. So, what can we realistically expect from a team-building?