Communication between departments in a business is crucial. If a customer orders 23 widgets, they expect 23 widgets, not 23 gizmos. If communication within your business breaks down, that is what the customer may end up with. Not good for business. There are many reasons why lines of communication break down in even small businesses, many of these are personal. If your staff don't socialise, they do not develop relationships, they don't help one another out in times of crisis and the business falters. There are many ways that you can encourage this socialisation but perhaps one of the best is a corporate treasure hunt. Why should this be? A corporate treasure hunt will develop planning skills, communication skills and lateral thinking skills as well as building a team atmosphere between different departments.

First, the team building aspect. Many departmental teams will function well together however if they have not been encouraged to develop a team ethos with other departments, this is where problems can arise. Traditional team building events are often despised by the participants, with the usual corny icebreakers, contact games, barrel and plank tasks etc. There are plenty of opportunities for the participants to avoid being just that. They let others do the work, do not contribute and a resentment can build against being sent on another team building day. At least they don't have to work! In a corporate treasure hunt, the teams are generally quite small and work at their own speed through a number of tasks. The team will fail if they do not all pull together. Set up the teams carefully, make sure that each team has people from different departments for maximum advantage.

Second, the planning aspect. When choosing a provider for your corporate treasure hunt, make sure that the hunt they provide has more questions than can be answered in the time available. That way, each team must plan and agree what they perceive as the most efficient route to answer more questions. A straightforward hunt with say 30 clues, everyone following the same route at 5 minute intervals does not have this essential planning skills element and should be avoided.

Third, the communication aspect. Communication is about listening, thinking and responding. For a team to be successful in a corporate treasure hunt, all 3 aspects need to be there. Someone reads out the clue, the others listen contribute, feed off each other's ideas and eventually will arrive at a conclusion. Sounds familiar? Of course it does, that is how businesses move forward too. Again, mixing the departments in the teams can improve the communication on a day to day basis in your company. That's good!

Finally, the lateral thinking aspect. A corporate treasure hunt should be arranged with a variety of clues to make sure that everyone is included. Easy clues and hard clues should be mixed up in there. Naturally, it is the hardest clues that will develop the lateral thinking skills of your employees best. Lateral thinking can be an individual effort but would it not be better if your entire company became problem solvers? OK, it won't happen but a treasure hunt could help some employees become more creative thinkers. Lateral thinking can be an individual thing but it works fastest in most situations if it is a group effort. Someone says something that will trigger off another thought and so on. If that is happening in your business, think of the benefits.

A corporate treasure hunt is also great fun, team building without the pain! Your staff will be buzzing for days afterwards, debating clues and continuing the processes started during the event. A single event is probably not enough, it can kick start your team building strategy. Skills need to be practiced so maybe make a treasure hunt a regular part of your staff development programme.