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The suits amble into Paul Houle's seminars and promptly adopt confused looks. Expecting another flaky team-building workshop, instead, they see before them a confusing array of drums, gongs, djembes, cymbals and other percussion instruments.

"They usually think they're in the wrong meeting," says Mr. Houle, of the office workers who file tentatively into his classes. "Some of them will race towards the instruments, but most appear stunned."

Within a few minutes, ties are loosened, jackets are doffed, and the conference room fills with the chaotic beats of a dozen tin-eared cubicle-dwellers banging, whacking and shaking their instrument of choice.

Sure, team-building is all about promoting harmony in the workplace. But djembes?

Mr. Houle, head of the Toronto-based rhythmic seminar company Boom!, has joined a growing horde of small companies proffering offbeat team-building techniques.

Forget the oft-parodied group hugs and trust falls; the new era of team-building uses semi-trucks, clown suits, rifle ranges, improv sketches and, yes, djembes.

"In really successful companies, you need an element of fun to engage employees," says Doug Kube, director of health, safety and security at Purolator Courier, where managers have adopted bowling, horse-racing and nights at the casino to promote office cohesion.

Among Purolator's most popular team-building exercises is its annual truck rodeo, held last month. The company's top courier drivers from across the country (this year's roster includes drivers from Burnaby, B.C., and Truro, N.S.) take over the parking lot outside Purolator's Mississauga headquarters and navigate cube vans and semi-trucks through a tight obstacle course. Drivers are scored for speed and safe handling. The winning driver gets $500, just enough to blow at the casino, where the 100 or so participants usually head afterward.

"It's a bit novel," Mr. Kube says. "We're a very competitive group and this combines friendly competition with camaraderie and teamwork."

Camaraderie hasn't always been the goal of team-building. The term first entered corporate jargon in the 1960s when specialists in "organizational development" would conduct group therapy sessions.

"It was somewhat of an outgrowth of counselling," says Claude Balthazard, director of HR excellence at the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario. "They didn't always run so smoothly. Sometimes things would blow up."

Today, the blow-ups are more literal. Dozens of rifle ranges in North America offer corporate packages in which teams can bond over the barrel of a gun.

For a more lighthearted outing, the Toronto School of Circus Arts promises that learning a combination of juggling, tightrope walking and acrobatics can bond any workplace.

In Vancouver, the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts holds Iron Chef team-building events, where workers bond in the heat of a cooking competition based on the television show.

Or, how about a session with the famed Second City comedy troupe, training ground for the likes of Steve Carrell, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Eugene Levy. The group will employ its actors and writers to compose and act out an original sketch specifically about a given officeplace, as well as teach them to use improv techniques in business settings.

"If workers can take a moment to share a laugh about their corporate culture, they'll have something to bond over for months to come," says Second City's Bryce Maloney.

But urging reticent workers to improvise jokes or bang a drum in front of co-workers can be a challenge.

"There's a line between pushing somebody to the edge of their comfort zone and pushing them well beyond," says Dr. Balthazard.

Clowns and comedians aren't enough to convince some workers of the merits of team-building, a regular object of parody in Dilbert comic strips and the television series The Office.

"They seem so transparent," says Paul Brown, a TV director. "Younger workers might be drawn into them, but I just find them kind of fake. I've always found that nothing beats a few drinks at the bar for promoting group chemistry."

The conundrum for HR managers is finding team-building exercises with lessons that actually stick. Workers regularly emerge from quirky seminars sharing laughs and ideas, but, according to Dr. Balthazard, "lasting change is always the challenge.

"If you have a team where there is already rancour or distrust, a single team-building won't change everything overnight."