Anita Weller is Pryda’s technical writer — and by her own description, the company’s fun police. Pryda is a subsidiary of ITW, a larger manufacturing group, and operates across multiple offices in Australia. When it came to the team building event for the first half of the year, Anita was the one who organised it — for the second time.
The reason she came back is specific and worth quoting directly:
“Last time we did it, it just had a lasting effect for like, you know, a year or so — just how people got along. It has ongoing effects for the team.”
A year of changed team dynamics from a two-hour event. That’s the standard Urban Quest is being held to — and the reason Anita kept booking.
Why Pryda Keeps Coming Back
Anita emphasised the importance of bringing the team together, especially in a world where remote work is prevalent and office interactions are limited.
“We just wanted to get the team together. We don’t go into the office that much anymore — we’ve got a number of offices, so we don’t always see each other all the time. We wanted to celebrate our first half of the year and just see each other in person and do some team building.”
Pryda’s choice of Urban Quest over other team building options comes down to what the challenges actually require — and what they don’t:
“We have used you before, and we like that your challenges are about using your brain and not about embarrassing yourself out on the street. No public singing, no running too fast unless you really want to. It’s just about using your brain a bit and figuring out puzzles and things along the way.”
That distinction — mental challenge over physical performance or social awkwardness — is what makes Urban Quest accessible to every team member regardless of fitness level, personality type, or seniority. Nobody is put in a position where they look foolish in front of their colleagues. The competitive pressure is real, but the social risk is minimal.
What Made the Difference
Urban Quest’s AR technology was a standout for team members who hadn’t encountered it before:
“The augmented reality stuff was really cool. Some of the team had never done that before, so they were a bit freaked out by it. But it was really cool — it eased us into it, we had to find easy things and then do stuff with what we found, so that was kind of cool.”
The structure of Urban Quest activities encourages teams to pair up members who don’t know each other well, which helps build stronger connections and improves overall team dynamics:
“Because we’re in small groups and we can pair people together that don’t know each other as well, it just has a lasting effect — just how people got along. It has ongoing effects for the team.”
The Winning Team — Adam, Nelson, Han and the Rest
The winning team from Pryda’s Urban Quest event — engineers, operations staff, and warehouse team members — shared their feedback immediately after the results were announced.
Adam, Engineering Manager, on what cross-departmental time actually produces:
“We don’t all get to work together all the time, so it was good to spend some time together. We were collaborating across departments, which I’m very happy about.”
Nelson, Warehouse Team Member, on the value of face-to-face time for a distributed team:
“A lot of us work remotely. I’m in the factory every day, but a lot of us work from different offices. So it was nice to put some faces to names and spend more time with people we don’t normally get to spend a day with.”
There were surprises along the way. One team member revealed a competitive streak nobody had anticipated:
“I came to know how competitive Han was. Oh, he was too competitive.”
On how the team approached the harder challenges:
“We listened to each other pretty well, didn’t let ourselves get stuck, kept moving and trying different things. Everyone listened to everyone, let everyone have a say in the answer, and just kept trying things until they worked. It didn’t matter about different roles and hierarchy — it’s just four guys trying to get the answers as quick as we can.”
On what everyone brought to the team:
“Everyone played a part and had their different strengths. You sort of learn how everyone thinks.”
On the competitive mindset that drove them to first place:
“Desire to win — win, win, win. That’s the best mindset. We talk a lot about an aggressive growth mindset. That was very much today — focused on the goal and getting there as fast as we can.”
That last observation connects the Urban Quest experience directly to Pryda’s internal culture. The team didn’t just win — they won in a way that felt consistent with who they are as a business. That alignment between the activity’s competitive format and a company’s own values is what makes the experience feel purposeful rather than recreational.
Explore Urban Quest’s corporate team building formats →
Read what actually changes after a team building event →
Anita Weller is a Technical Writer at Pryda ANZ, a subsidiary of ITW. Urban Quest has delivered multiple team building events for Pryda across consecutive years.
