Team Building on Lake Maggiore: Outdoor Challenges, Strategy & Teamwork

Team building is more than an activity to do together

A group of colleagues can spend a day on the lake, have fun and return to work the next day exactly as before.

Team building is different.

It means creating the conditions for a group to observe how it works, discover its own dynamics, experiment with new ways of collaborating and, when useful, be challenged in a controlled way.

This is where we start when we design a team building experience on Lake Maggiore.

The activities we offer are not simply entertaining extras. They are tools that can bring out communication, leadership, collaboration, decision-making, adaptability and group strategy.

Catch the Chicken: from canoeing to strategy

One example is Catch the Chicken.

The experience begins with Canadian canoes along the cliffs of Santa Caterina del Sasso, with the route leading towards the area beneath the Hermitage. Each canoe can accommodate up to four people, while the format can be adapted to very different group sizes, from seven participants to twenty-five, forty or more.

The Chicken — that is, me — is on a SUP.

I move across the water, change direction and try not to get caught.

The crews have to catch me.

But the point is not simply to paddle faster.

Three levels of teamwork

At first, each participant has to understand how to move and manage their own role. Then they have to learn how to function together with the other people in their canoe.

The paddling has to become coordinated. Decisions have to be shared. Someone may take the initiative, someone else may observe, communicate or suggest a change of direction.

The group moves from an individual dimension to that of a crew.

Then comes the third level.

The crews have to stop thinking only about themselves and build a shared strategy.

The challenge is organised around points, and success depends on the ability of the whole group to reach the objective. It is not simply a competition between individual canoes.

The participants have to observe the Chicken’s movements, anticipate where I am going, decide who should move and when, adapt the plan and coordinate with the other crews.

First the individual. Then the crew. Finally, the team.

What happens when the team does not find the strategy on its own?

This is where real team building begins.

Sometimes a team finds a solution naturally. At other times, it keeps repeating the same behaviour without noticing that it is not working.

When that happens, we do not simply let the game continue.

We guide the experience.

We may introduce a new variable, change a rule, ask a question, create a difficulty or put the group in a situation where its usual way of working is no longer enough.

The purpose is not to make people uncomfortable for the sake of it. It is to make group dynamics visible — dynamics that often remain hidden in everyday work.

The lake is a tool, not the goal

Canadian canoeing is particularly effective because it makes collaboration tangible.

If you do not communicate, the canoe shows it. If you do not listen to the rhythm of the others, the canoe shows it. If nobody makes a decision, the canoe simply keeps going in the wrong direction.

And when several crews are involved, the complexity increases.

The group has to function internally while also responding to a larger system.

This ability to observe behaviour as it happens is what makes the experience particularly valuable for team building.

Not only on the water: team building continues in autumn

The lake does not close when summer ends.

October and November are already months in which we organise team building experiences and activities for companies. Even in winter, the lake can offer beautiful days, especially when the sun is out and conditions are suitable for being on the water without getting wet.

With a Canadian canoe, participants remain seated and can take part without needing specialist technical clothing. Naturally, every outing is assessed according to weather and lake conditions.

But not everything has to happen on the water.

Oasi Gaia: when team building moves onto land

At Oasi Gaia, on Lake Comabbio, we also create land-based team building experiences and corporate activities.

We can develop workshops and hands-on activities around the group: from vegetable fermentation to making kombucha, from kefir to other experiences centred on food transformation.

We can explore natural cosmetics, work with the recognition of wild herbs and their use in cooking, or create an experience centred around Thai massage as a workshop.

These are not standard packages chosen from a catalogue.

We start with the people, the number of participants, the objectives and the kind of experience you want to create. Then we build the day around them.

Team building and corporate events are not the same thing

A corporate event can be about spending time together, celebrating, meeting people or enjoying a particular experience.

Team building adds another level.

Here we also draw on our psychological expertise and on the experience we have developed across our other areas of work to design experiences in which a team can be observed, challenged and supported.

We can work with a team that is still developing its identity. We can strengthen an established group. We can bring out communication patterns that work and others that may be getting in the way.

And, when appropriate, we can deliberately put the system under controlled pressure to see how it responds and which resources it is able to activate.

An experience designed around your team

That is why we do not offer exactly the same team building experience to everyone.

We can start on the water with Canadian canoeing, follow the cliffs of Santa Caterina del Sasso and reach the area beneath the Hermitage. We can create a challenge such as Catch the Chicken. Or we can move to Oasi Gaia and work with fermentation, nature, cooking, natural cosmetics or wellbeing.

We can also combine several experiences into the same day.

The starting point is not the activity.

It is the team.

Because good team building is not simply about having a great day together. It is about returning to work with a better understanding of how to communicate, collaborate and function as a team.

What happens when the team does not find the strategy on its own?

This is where real team building begins.

Sometimes a team finds a solution naturally. At other times, it keeps repeating the same behaviour without noticing that it is not working.

When that happens, we do not simply let the game continue.

We guide the experience.

We may introduce a new variable, change a rule, ask a question, create a difficulty or put the group in a situation where its usual way of working is no longer enough.

The purpose is not to make people uncomfortable for the sake of it. It is to make group dynamics visible — dynamics that often remain hidden in everyday work.

The lake is a tool, not the goal

Canadian canoeing is particularly effective because it makes collaboration tangible.

If you do not communicate, the canoe shows it. If you do not listen to the rhythm of the others, the canoe shows it. If nobody makes a decision, the canoe simply keeps going in the wrong direction.

And when several crews are involved, the complexity increases.

The group has to function internally while also responding to a larger system.

This ability to observe behaviour as it happens is what makes the experience particularly valuable for team building.

Not only on the water: team building continues in autumn

The lake does not close when summer ends.

October and November are already months in which we organise team building experiences and activities for companies. Even in winter, the lake can offer beautiful days, especially when the sun is out and conditions are suitable for being on the water without getting wet.

With a Canadian canoe, participants remain seated and can take part without needing specialist technical clothing. Naturally, every outing is assessed according to weather and lake conditions.

But not everything has to happen on the water.

Oasi Gaia: when team building moves onto land

At Oasi Gaia, on Lake Comabbio, we also create land-based team building experiences and corporate activities.

We can develop workshops and hands-on activities around the group: from vegetable fermentation to making kombucha, from kefir to other experiences centred on food transformation.

We can explore natural cosmetics, work with the recognition of wild herbs and their use in cooking, or create an experience centred around Thai massage as a workshop.

These are not standard packages chosen from a catalogue.

We start with the people, the number of participants, the objectives and the kind of experience you want to create. Then we build the day around them.

Team building and corporate events are not the same thing

A corporate event can be about spending time together, celebrating, meeting people or enjoying a particular experience.

Team building adds another level.

Here we also draw on our psychological expertise and on the experience we have developed across our other areas of work to design experiences in which a team can be observed, challenged and supported.

We can work with a team that is still developing its identity. We can strengthen an established group. We can bring out communication patterns that work and others that may be getting in the way.

And, when appropriate, we can deliberately put the system under controlled pressure to see how it responds and which resources it is able to activate.

An experience designed around your team

That is why we do not offer exactly the same team building experience to everyone.

We can start on the water with Canadian canoeing, follow the cliffs of Santa Caterina del Sasso and reach the area beneath the Hermitage. We can create a challenge such as Catch the Chicken. Or we can move to Oasi Gaia and work with fermentation, nature, cooking, natural cosmetics or wellbeing.

We can also combine several experiences into the same day.

The starting point is not the activity.

It is the team.

Because good team building is not simply about having a great day together. It is about returning to work with a better understanding of how to communicate, collaborate and function as a team.