Leadership activities can foster stronger relationships and improve skills among key team members. Check out these great activities for your next event.
Imagine a workplace where your team isn’t just good, but great — that should be the goal of any strong, cohesive team. A team where everyone feels like a leader can drive productivity and performance, but how do you cultivate this type of environment? Leadership activities — interactive exercises to foster leadership skills, team collaboration, and communication — are a great place to start.
They work well in groups of any size, and you can use them in team-building sessions, trainings or workshops, or regular team meetings — any time you want to enhance leadership skills to build a successful team. They can be especially helpful if your team faces communication or motivation challenges, as the activities offer a fun, thought-provoking way to address the issues. And best of all, they aren’t limited to formal leaders; all employees can participate.
Read on for a list of some of the top leadership-building activities to try today.
1. Silver lining
- Best for: Small groups
- Average time needed: 15 minutes
- Number of people: Any, in an even number
- Difficulty: Low
- Prep needed: Low
Try the silver lining exercise to help your team see the good in difficult situations. Divide the group into pairs, then give them a set amount of time. One person in each pair should share a negative situation they’re experiencing, and the other must find the positive or “silver lining” in the scenario. Then they can switch roles and tackle another situation.
If time allows, each pair can bring their experience back to the group and share what they learned to foster a broader discussion. This exercise helps people practice coaching others — or themselves — through negative situations and fostering a solution-driven mindset.
2. Leadership coat of arms
- Best for: Small groups
- Average time needed: 20 minutes
- Number of people: 4-10
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Turn a basic team meeting into an art class with the leadership coat of arms exercise, which is a great way to encourage employees to reflect on their personal leadership values and skills.
Provide paper, markers, pens, or colored pencils — or stickers, stamps, or stencils for those who aren’t good at drawing by hand — to each person, then ask them to draw a representation of their leadership strategy and values. For instance, someone may draw a sun or a heart if they strive to be cheerful or empathetic. Or someone who thrives on gaining and imparting knowledge might draw a book.
When everyone has completed their project, have them take turns sharing with the rest of the group. They’ll learn more about each other as leaders and maybe even find inspiration for their leadership style.
3. Escape rooms
- Best for: Small groups
- Average time needed: 45-60 minutes
- Number of people: 4-10
- Difficulty: High
- Prep needed: Low
Improve teamwork, problem-solving, and leading under pressure by engaging your team in an escape room. In this activity, teams work together to find their way outside of a themed room within a set amount of time.
By solving puzzles or finding hidden clues, they collaborate to discover the key to escape. Local escape room venues or virtual escape rooms take care of the preparation and setup, so your team simply has to show up and find their way out! They’ll come away with a renewed sense of team cohesion, a reminder of their talents, and a strong understanding of how everyone brings unique strengths to the table.
4. Explore your values
- Best for: Small groups
- Average time needed: 15-30 minutes
- Number of people: 4-10
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Use this exercise to help your team identify their core values and understand how they influence their leadership styles. You’ll only need a timer and list-making materials (whether writing or typing).
Invite each participant to write down their top 10 values in life. Then, set a timer for 30 seconds and have everyone pick their top three values. Set another timer for 20 seconds and let them pick their top two, and finally give them 10 seconds to choose their top choice. Then, ask each person to share why they chose that value as their top choice; this lets them reflect on their choice and how it impacts the way they show up as leaders.
5. Active listening
- Best for: Small groups
- Average time needed: 10-15 minutes
- Number of people: 2-10
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Truly listening to others is a skill, and your team can enhance that ability with this active listening exercise.
Break everyone into pairs. Then, have one person speak about a topic of their choice for 3-5 minutes. The other employee should summarize what the speaker said and provide feedback. Next, the pairs will swap roles and do it again. This helps everyone build the muscle of active listening, which is imperative in a leadership role — whether hearing feedback, suggestions, or concerns, a leader must be able to listen.
6. Trust battery
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 20-30 minutes
- Number of people: 8-20
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Evaluate and enhance team trust with the trust battery exercise. Imagine a battery that can range from full to empty, then envision that battery relating to the level of trust someone feels with another person. For instance, high trust equals a filled battery; low trust means you’re running on empty.
Start by asking participants to assess their level of trust with each other based on past interactions. Then have each person consider how they can improve that level of trust with each person and brainstorm specific examples, if possible. The goal is to find ways to charge the battery to its fullest potential.
7. Magic carpet
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 15-20 minutes
- Number of people: 10-20
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
The magic carpet exercise can help your team improve their problem-solving and collaboration while engaging in a fun, interactive challenge.
You’ll need a large piece of fabric or rug. Set it on the floor and have everyone stand on it, then begin the challenge—the team must find a way to flip the carpet over without stepping off of it. To succeed, they’ll need to work together, communicate effectively, and get creative — all traits of strong leaders.
8. Icebreaker Game
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 10-15 minutes
- Number of people: 10-30 people
- Difficulty: Low
- Prep needed: Low
Break the ice and get the team talking with a fun icebreaker game.
There are plenty of options here, whether you want to go with something silly, thought-provoking, or work-related. One fun option is the Desert Island icebreaker, in which each participant shares items they’d bring if stranded on a desert island and why. The idea is to help the team learn more about each other, enhancing team cohesion and helping leaders see direct reports and colleagues as unique individuals.
9. Untangle
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 15-20 minutes
- Number of people: 8-20
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
This activity helps enhance teamwork, problem-solving, and communication in a classroom or workplace.
Ask the team to stand up, cross their arms, and hold each other’s hands. The goal is to work together to untangle themselves without dropping the other players’ hands. Consider setting a timer and adding a “beat the clock” element for added fun. This builds leadership due to the collaborative problem-solving and strategy required.
10. Blindfolded obstacle course
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 20-30 minutes
- Number of people: 8-20
- Difficulty: High
- Prep needed: Medium
Help your team develop trust, enhance communication, and foster leadership skills in a challenging scenario.
Break the group into pairs, with one person wearing a blindfold. The other serves as the leader, verbally guiding the blindfolded player around obstacles until they reach the finish line. You’ll need blindfolds, enough space for folks to move around, and enough furniture (or other materials) to set up obstacles.
11. Describe and draw
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 10-15 minutes
- Number of people: 6-12
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
This activity helps improve team coordination and communication while fostering creativity.
Provide paper and pens, then ask one player to describe an item to their partner, without naming the item specifically. Based on the description, the other player must attempt to guess and draw the item. Each person gets a chance to take the lead and guide the other, building on their skills as a leader.
12. Leadership race
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 15-20 minutes
- Number of people: 10-30
- Difficulty: Low
- Prep needed: Low
Reinforce and enhance leadership qualities with this fun competition.
Ahead of time, prepare at least 20 statements about leadership qualities, each beginning with “I am…” Line up the participants, then read out each statement. If the statement applies to them, the participants take a step forward, and the first to reach the finish line wins. Everyone gets a chance to reflect on themselves as a leader while taking inspiration from others’ traits.
13. Tower building
- Best for: Large groups
- Average time needed: 20-30 minutes
- Number of people: 6-15
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Foster collaboration and creative problem-solving — and let the team feel like kids again — with this fun tower-building challenge.
Pull together materials like straws, tape, paper clips, or rubber bands. Task the teams with building the tallest tower using only these materials in a set time frame. They’ll have to get creative, practice their leadership skills, and work together to build their structure.
14. Best 30
- Best for: Virtual meetings
- Average time needed: 15 minutes
- Number of people: 4-10
- Difficulty: Low
- Prep needed: Low
This activity lets the team share impactful experiences and deepen their personal connections.
Ask the team to think about a life moment or experience that stands out. Then, have them narrow that moment down to the best 30 seconds. Each person can then share their 30 seconds with the rest of the group, explaining why it’s so important to them. They can reflect on how the experience impacts their leadership style, or simply use it to get to know each other personally.
15. Copycat
- Best for: Virtual meetings
- Average time needed: 10-15 minutes
- Number of people: 6-12
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep needed: Low
Team building happens virtually, too, and this copycat exercise is a great way to enhance attention to detail and communication in a virtual setting.
Divide the group into pairs. The meeting host shows a simple image to one group member, and then the pairs join private breakout rooms. The person who saw the image describes what they saw to the other person, who attempts to draw it. The only preparation required is a selected image, drawing tools, and familiarity with virtual meeting platforms.
Why incorporate fun leadership activities into your workday?
Incorporating fun leadership activities into the workday has several benefits for your team and their development. Not only do they create an opportunity for personal growth and development, but they also foster a sense of community and togetherness. Employees will break down barriers, develop trust, and build better communication skills, supporting your organization’s continuous improvement efforts.
These benefits include:
- Fostering teamwork: Promote collaboration and build stronger relationships among team members.
- Improving communication: Enhance verbal and non-verbal communication skills, including listening.
- Learning from others: Expand everyone’s knowledge as participants share their unique strategies and approaches to leadership.
- Boosting morale: Work is more enjoyable and fun with leadership team-building activities that take everyone out of the day-to-day grind.
- Enhancing problem solving: Using creative thinking and teamwork to solve challenges makes everyone a stronger problem solver.
Get more from your leadership activities with Mentimeter
Leadership activities are an excellent way to develop stronger teams, better leaders, and more productive employees. With all of these leadership activity examples, you’ve got a lot of options — but if you’re looking for a great place to start, consider Mentimeter.
Mentimeter provides interactive presentation tools that make leadership development activities more engaging, fun, and insightful. These tools include real-time polling, voting, and brainstorming. They are easy to use in person or virtually, keeping the whole team connected.
Elevate your team’s leadership activities with Mentimeter today.
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