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Why orffsites are more than just a team event – and why shared time at work is often underestimated
Remote work, hybrid models, and flexible working hours have become part of everyday business life for many companies. At the same time, this also changes how teams build and maintain relationships with each other.
Collaboration often works extremely well digitally today. Projects are managed through ticket systems, alignment happens in calls, and even quick questions are handled via Slack, Teams, or WhatsApp. Operationally, this can be very efficient.
What often gets lost in the process, however, are the moments in between: small conversations without a specific agenda, shared memories, or simply the feeling of perceiving colleagues beyond tasks and responsibilities.
This is especially true across teams. Daily interaction with direct colleagues usually happens automatically, while people from other teams often only interact during specific projects, handovers, or meetings.
Offsites create a different kind of environment for exactly this reason. Conversations happen more naturally, hierarchies temporarily fade into the background, and colleagues experience each other beyond their specific roles and responsibilities.
That is exactly why team events, offsites, and retreats continue to play an important role in many companies – not as a “nice extra,” but as a conscious counterbalance to an often highly functional and task-driven work environment.
And this is not only relevant for remote teams. Companies with physical offices or hybrid setups also repeatedly notice that spending time together outside of day-to-day business can make a real difference.
Collaboration does not work through processes alone
Many teams today operate in highly structured environments. Processes are documented, roles are clearly defined, and communication runs efficiently through digital tools.
The challenge: Efficiency does not automatically create connection.
Especially during stressful phases, collaboration is often reduced to to-do lists, deadlines, and quick alignments. Colleagues mainly interact in meetings or under time pressure. While this may work well in the short term, over time teams can lose what actually makes them stable: trust, personal connection, and mutual understanding.
Psychologically, this effect has been well researched. Various studies on modern work environments show that teams benefit not only from functioning processes, but also from personal connection, informal exchange, and cross-functional communication.
Microsoft published several studies on hybrid and digital work models showing that while collaboration can work efficiently online, spontaneous interactions and informal relationships may decline at the same time. New employees in particular, or colleagues outside the immediate day-to-day business context, often have fewer natural touchpoints within the workplace as a result (Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2022 & Microsoft Research, 2021).
And these informal connections are often crucial for how well collaboration works in the long term.
Shared experiences create something meetings cannot replace
Many companies invest significant time into processes, tools, and communication structures. Much less frequently, however, do they intentionally create space for people to connect outside of their formal roles.
And yet, this is often where the strongest connections are built.
A shared dinner, a walk, a workshop, or simply relaxed conversations unrelated to work can noticeably change how teams collaborate afterward.
This does not mean everyone suddenly needs to become close friends or that conflicts disappear. Healthy team culture is not created automatically through a single event.
But shared experiences create context. People often understand each other better when they do not only experience one another in stressful situations or project meetings.
Many leaders also underestimate how strongly unspoken tension or emotional distance can impact collaboration over time. Hybrid or fast-growing teams in particular often reach a point where collaboration technically works, but increasingly feels transactional.
Team events can help consciously interrupt exactly this dynamic.
Not everyone experiences team events the same way
Not everyone approaches team events in the same way. While some people immediately gain energy from them, others need significantly more downtime or moments to themselves. More introverted personalities in particular often experience these kinds of formats differently than more extroverted colleagues.
At the same time, this does not automatically mean that shared time together should be avoided. In teams, collaboration also depends on being willing to engage in shared situations and to actively contribute, at least to some extent, to the shared experience.
This is why offsites tend to work best when different needs are considered while still leaving room for shared experiences as a group.
This can include:
- optional opportunities to step away and recharge
- intentional breaks
- avoiding minute-by-minute scheduling
- while still encouraging openness toward participating in shared activities
Because team culture is not built solely by respecting individual needs, but also by people being willing to create shared experiences together and contribute positively to the overall group dynamic.
Team culture rarely develops in large workshops
Many companies still associate team culture primarily with strategy meetings, vision workshops, or highly structured teambuilding programs.
In reality, however, stable teams often develop in much less spectacular ways.
Very often, it is the small moments that matter most:
- conversations over breakfast
- laughing together
- spontaneous discussions
- personal stories
- quiet moments without an agenda
These kinds of situations are difficult to fully recreate digitally.
This does not mean in-person work is automatically better than remote work. Many teams work remotely extremely successfully. At the same time, it becomes increasingly clear that intentional personal interaction remains emotionally important for many people – even for those who generally enjoy working flexibly or remotely.
According to various workplace studies, younger employees in particular continue to value social belonging and genuine team connection despite wanting flexibility. Companies therefore increasingly face the challenge of enabling both at the same time: flexibility and community.
Our KUNO Offsite with Offside – intentionally different from traditional team events
At KUNO, this question comes up regularly as well. Most of our collaboration happens digitally – through calls, tickets, Teams messages, and joint project work. At the same time, we repeatedly notice how important personal interaction remains, especially across teams.
That is why, during the first week of May, we consciously took two days away from everyday business together with Offside – without parallel client appointments, without calls in between, and without the feeling of “still needing to quickly handle work on the side.”
What stood out positively from the beginning was already the preparation phase. Conversations with Offside felt far less like traditional event planning and much more like collaboratively developing a format that genuinely suited our team.
Instead of immediately starting with fixed agenda items, the focus was first on understanding how we work as a team, what dynamics exist, and what kind of format would actually fit us best.
This relaxed and flexible approach later carried through the entire offsite.
We also found the proposal process itself very pleasant. Instead of receiving one rigid package, the planning became a dynamic process where different options and components could be combined flexibly. At the same time, accommodations and activities were already being checked behind the scenes to see what would realistically be available during our preferred dates. This noticeably reduced the workload for us and made the entire planning phase much more relaxed.
The same experience continued on-site. The very same contacts who had supported the planning phase were also present throughout the offsite itself. That may sound like a small detail at first, but for us it made a significant difference. It created a very personal atmosphere without the feeling of the classic “telephone game” between planning and execution.
The offsite itself was intentionally not built around constant teambuilding or a completely packed schedule. Instead, it became a balanced mix of workshops, shared activities, and enough free space in between. There was still plenty of room for conversations, walks, or simply quiet moments to recharge.
The culinary side of the offsite was also handled very thoughtfully – from snacks and lunches to a shared dinner and brunch on the second day. Different dietary preferences or intolerances were already considered in advance, while everything still felt uncomplicated and relaxed throughout.
Offsites do not solve problems – but they can strengthen teams
Of course, a team event does not replace good leadership, healthy processes, or a functioning company culture.
Offsites do not solve structural conflicts, nor do they automatically turn every team into a “perfect match.”
Still, they can create something that often gets lost in everyday work: closeness. Not in a private sense, but in a human one.
Especially in work environments that are increasingly digital, fast-paced, and heavily scheduled, shared time outside of daily operations has become both important and valuable for many teams.
Not as artificial teambuilding or because everyone suddenly needs to become best friends. But because collaboration often works better when people do not only encounter each other between meetings, tickets, and deadlines.
Sometimes, that alone can already be enough to noticeably strengthen a team in the long term.
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