Why Splash Projects are so much more than your typical team-building day out…

In the morning, there was an empty corner. Eight hours later, there was a cool yellow bus! 

Children at a school near Fontainebleau, central France, now have this inspiring outdoor classroom thanks to the tenacity of 23 professionals on an INSEAD Executive Education management programme in February 2025. 

We handed the team the plans in their planning exercise the evening before and then took them way out of their comfort zones giving them a day to learn how to build a bus, while learning about what it takes to work as a high performing team. 

Stephen Schubert, Professor of Strategy and Leadership and Programme Director, INSEAD, explained why Splash Projects are so much more than your typical team-building day out: 

“The objective was to give the team the opportunity to exercise collective responsibility in a fast-moving environment, where the objectives and needs are changing all the time. 

“Splash Projects fulfil this need because they offer the sort of exercises which imitate a VUCA environment, where objectives are purposeful not always clear and people are taken out of their comfort zones. 

“People learn most when they’re really engaged in doing something, and we engage most when we’re motivated, when we want to achieve something. 

“Building something for children and leaving a legacy for them is highly motivating.  

“This sets Splash Projects apart from traditional team building days, where people have a good time, but at the end of the day wonder, what now? 

“Here, people will leave France knowing they’ve worked on something together and left something behind that’s worthwhile. And that makes all the difference.” 

One of the participants, added:  

“What makes a good team? It’s about trust, each person doing something useful that fits together.  

“We really saw that on the project; there was no one standing around not knowing what to do, we had a plan, everyone had a tool or piece of wood in their hand, and we were all working together to make sure we accomplished the plan for the children.”