There are simpler, more useful ways of building team spirit in a business than dumping employees on a Scottish hillside with a compass, some waterproofs and map showing them how to get back to their luxury hotel.

One method demonstrated by Birmingham Cares, a community involvement initiative managed by HSBC, is to issue volunteers from the bank with paint brushes so they can apply a fresh coat of emulsion to a school in the city.

It is a lot less macho than yomping across the Cuillins, but it works just as well, according to Mike Durkin, business banking manager at HSBC in the West Midlands city.

He says: “Participants got a sense of pleasure in doing something which was of such direct benefit to people, and it built camaraderie among those who took part.”

Around 80 bank employees rolled up their sleeves for three days this summer to complete the refurbishment of Quinton Junior, Middle and Infant School in Quinton, which serves the residential area of the same name and also the more deprived Lee Bank district.

“The kids thought it was fantastic,” says Mr Durkin, who helps manage the Birmingham Cares initiative which has been chaired by HSBC for the last two and half years under the auspices of Business in the Community.

The work is spearheaded by Alan Keir, general manager of the Midlands division of HSBC. Participation in the project helped bank staff leading a relatively comfortable existence in a city where there are extremes of deprivation to raise their gaze from the bottom line.

Mr Durkin says: “The bank encourages its people to undertake activities in the wider community because we recognise we have a wider responsibility to give something back to the communities in which we operate.”

According to David Darlaston, regional director of BITC in the West Midlands: “Participation in a project represents a big opportunity for a business to change its culture.

For example, for HSBC, it provided a chance for staff from six separate departments to meet for the first time.” Mr Darlaston believes office hierarchies are challenged beneficially during projects.

Ove Arup, the architects, took on the job of painting a mural for a nursery in the run-down Ladywood district. Mr Darlaston recalls: “A lady administrator had to explain gently to the managing director that, according to the plans, he was not supposed to be painting the giraffe green.”

The Cares initiative started in the US and was brought to 20 UK cities by BITC. Its aim is to match local businesses with local projects for the benefit of both sides. Mr Keir says: “There are two main benefits for the business. The first is external. Customers and people choosing an employer want a company that shows evidence of social responsibility.

The second advantage is internal. Participation builds strong teams within the organisation.” National sponsors of a scheme chaired by the Prince of Wales include HSBC, Zurich Financial and Marks and Spencer.

The sponsors to the Birmingham scheme are businesses with a strong local flavour: Cadbury Trebor Bassett, the confectionery business whose parent Cadbury Schweppes was founded in the city, Severn Trent, the water company, Transco, the gas supply group and Eversheds, the law firm with a big Birmingham presence.

Birmingham is a pragmatic place and the emphasis at Birmingham Cares is on providing practical help. HSBC has developed a line in sprucing up properties which extends to charity shops as well as schools.

Barclays collected second-hand clothes which jobseekers unable to invest in new outfits could use in job interviews. Marsh the insurance broker is providing volunteers for a reading scheme at Winson Green prison.

The initiative also aims to deploy volunteers in their everyday areas of endeavour: for example in fielding lawyers to draw up legal documentation for charities or small business advisers to help them get to grips with cashflow problems.

Increasingly, larger projects are dealt with by volunteers drawn from several businesses, which provides opportunities for networking. Reports in the local media provide a PR fillip, meanwhile.

Mr Darlaston believes Birmingham Cares is engineering a step change in the level of volunteerring from the private sector. He hopes a further catalyst will be provided by a charter for social responsibility launched in a joint initiative with Birmingham City Council, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Birmingham Forward, a lobby group representing professional services firms in the city.

The idea is that signatories to the charter will be encouraged to participate in Birmingham Cares as well. Birmingham Cares is fairly picky about the projects it is willing to help, relying partly on the advice of Birmingham Voluntary Services, a charitable umbrella group based in Digbeth, at the historic heart of the city.

Participant businesses need to know they will not stumble into a relationship with organisations whose activities or beliefs would be disapproved of by customers or senior executives.

Volunteers sometimes need coaching in dealing with clients of organisations they are helping who suffer from behavioural difficulties.

On one infamous occasion an argument between a Birmingham Cares volunteer and a client degenerated into fisticuffs. This showed that community volunteering, while more staid in image than the outward bound team-building event, is not entirely devoid of risks.