By now, we’ve all been quizzed to death. We’ve endured the awkward forced happy hours where everyone stares at their own thumbnail on Zoom, and we’ve played enough generic trivia to last a lifetime.

In 2026, the "Boredroom" isn't just a physical place. It’s a digital one. If your remote team feels like they are just a collection of avatars rather than a cohesive unit, you have a connection crisis.

Virtual team building doesn’t have to suck.

To move beyond the screen fatigue, you have to move toward purpose. At On Purpose Adventures, we believe that whether your team is in a kayak in Charleston or behind a MacBook in Seattle, the goal remains the same: creating productive discomfort that leads to genuine growth.

Here is how to make your virtual team building matter this year.

In every great story, there is a Hero... Someone who wants something but is facing a mountain of obstacles.

Most corporate cultures make the fundamental mistake of trying to position the company or the leader as the hero. They broadcast their history, their trophies, and their "why." But, when you try to be the hero, you’re actually competing with your team and your customers.

To fix this, I look to the StoryBrand Framework created by Donald Miller. If you haven't read his book, Building a StoryBrand, I recommend it. It’s a life saver for those trying to clarify their message.

At On Purpose Adventures, we’ve realized that if leaders want to build an organizational culture that sticks, you have to apply Miller's framework internally:

You aren't the hero of the story. Your team members are the heroes. You? You are the Guide.

Most businesses are obsessed with eliminating risk. They want predictable calendars, stable workflows, and safe environments. But there’s a hidden cost to all that comfort: Stagnation. If your team never struggles together, they’ll never innovate together. Innovation doesn't come from a comfortable chair in a climate-controlled office; it comes from the friction of a real challenge. At On Purpose Adventures, we call this Productive Discomfort.

The Comfort Zone is a Growth Killer

When a team is too comfortable, they stop thinking and start repeating. You’ve seen the symptoms:

• The Autopilot Meetings: Same faces, same ideas, same day-old coffee.
• The Fear of Failure: If the stakes are never real, nobody takes a swing at a bold idea.
• Surface-Level Trust: Everyone gets along when things are easy, but they fragment the moment a deadline turns into a crisis.

Comfort creates a digital facade where emojis replace real connection. To break that facade, you have to get out of the "boredroom" and into the struggle.

Leadership failure doesn’t announce itself.

It fails quietly.

It fails under pressure when a leader defaults to habit instead of principle. When the numbers dip, a deal collapses, or tension surfaces inside the team, leaders reveal what actually governs their decisions.

This final newsletter in our Values at the Core series is about that moment.

The moment leaders choose cohesion or slowly erode it.

Fear shows up at work every day. It just wears nicer clothes.

It looks like hesitation before speaking up.
Avoidance instead of accountability.
Staying quiet in meetings.
Holding onto “good enough” because the next step feels risky.

We don’t talk about fear in a "boredroom". We put people in motion and let the lesson reveal itself.

Whether it’s Kayak Team Building, Combat Archery, or other Outdoor Team Building experiences in Charleston, South Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina (also, we can create a custom team building experience wherever your team lives and works), one thing becomes obvious fast: fear doesn’t disappear when things get uncomfortable. It gets managed.

And that matters far more than confidence ever will.

Before you read this, make sure you go back and read Part 1 of this series over on Dr. Troy's blog.That blog post lays the foundation for why personal core values matter and how they show up through observable behaviors. This blog post builds directly on that work.

In leadership and in sales, most decisions don’t fail because of lack of skill or information. They fail because of misalignment.

Too many leaders and sales professionals are trying to make high-stakes decisions without a clear internal filter. When that happens, everything feels urgent, every opportunity feels tempting, and every no feels uncomfortable.

This is where personal core values stop being philosophical and start becoming practical.