Dallas Team Building

Is Your Team Connecting More But Communicating Less?

Connie Timpson — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:21:16 +0000

We connect 24/7, but that does not always mean that as a team, we are communicating, solving issues, trading, and team building. If you truly want to communicate, you must take responsibility to make sure the message was understood. If you have an important issue – say it in person. And please realize that what you say into the ether can be captured, read, and re-released.

For the shy person, the Smart Phone is a dream come true. No more face-to-face meetings. Joy! Unless, the receiver doesn’t get the emotion that the sender hoped was in the message. I cannot see your face, read your expression, body language, nor hear your tone of voice. In short, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. One little rule can help work relationships stay intact and on-track.

Take Responsibility For Clear Digital Communication

Voice mail – full, and who listens to the end? email – like junk mail in your mail box, most can be tossed, but there may a bit of mail that could change your life. Text messages – depends on the demographic of the two people involved.

There are a lot of ways to connect, but communicate? According to the Radicati group, a technology market research firm, “In 2011, the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day.” Three rules can help you sort it all out, and make fewer missteps.

Voice mail – listen often and carefully
Email – read closely and respond in a timely manner
Texting – use language that even the “oldsters” can get, think about the impact of what you send out there, and do not text while driving!

Use Face Time To Open Lines of Communication, and Build Relationships

A couple of days ago, the president of a major player in the health field told me that he often spends one full day flying, driving, driving and flying, to spend 90 face-to-face minutes in front of his individual managers. Without that, he said, it leaves too much to interpretation and the relationship can get disconnected. If the relationship gets disconnected, the strategic goals of the company can be misinterpreted, or simply ignored by a manager who “wants to run his own show’, rather than being part of the team. Team building is much easier when you are face-to-face.

Nothing is more persuasive than a fully dimensional, thinking, breathing being sitting in front of you. Your Mom said, “look at me while I am talking to you” for a reason. Eye to eye, and body language to body language is far more effective than the most well crafted email roaming around the ether.

Email, texting, IM’s, facebook, Linkedin – all, important tools of communication, all accessible by smart phone. If, however, we largely rely on our smart phones to communicate for us – it can make us look not so smart. We miss social cues, body language, and are not nearly as persuasive as we are when we can make straight on eye contact. We sometimes use email, when we should be standing in front of the person, or talking by phone, to make sure the communication is understood. If you rely solely on email to connect, it is highly likely that you did not communicate clearly.

Think Trash, Spam email overexposure-blindness, rather than “I sent him an email. So of course he knows our call is at 3:00.” Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe his smart phone fell out of his pocket on the last flight and he has no idea he is missing a conference call.

The Ether Can Be Tapped

Just because they do not see your face, does not mean you are anonymous or protected. We slip up and say things in an email, or in a text that can be misconstrued, or that we don’t dare say, or can’t bring ourselves to say in person. What people say in an email can even get them fired, like three Iowa civil rights employees who sent gossipy, and demeaning emails about colleagues and management, calling one “Teen Wolf” another “Psycho.” Once the Associated Press found out – we all found out. And I seriously doubt than anyone would call his or her boss a psycho to his face.

Thinking what you say, and do on line, shouldn’t be a big deal. Right? I mean, you only sent it to one other person. Who, and how, could anyone else get your information? Oh, let me count the ways! Then begin counting the lost jobs, lawsuits, expensive breakups, and perhaps most of all – the meanness and humiliation.

Just ask former senator Anthony Weiner, who was so taken with his own underwear image – that he shared it in the cyber world! It cost him his seat in Congress. The world’s best golfer/husband/dad/role-model, fell from dizzying heights when Tiger Wood’s wife read his sexy texts to some of his sexiest “fans” and then took a nine iron to his car. The list of “stupidity hall of fame” grew longer when retiring football legend, Brett Farve put himself on the idiot list, by sharing naughty photos of himself with the ether. Personal images, forever mired in Larry Flintish mud. If they could only take it back! But once it is out there, it’s out there!

If you want your life to be private don’t text it, sext it, tweet it, upload it, or write it and DON’T press SEND.

If you are sending an email – make sure it says what you think it says. Follow up to make sure the receiver got it and understands. If it is sensitive or really complex, make your case in person.

Watch for social cues; read my body language, facial expressions, and listen to my tone of voice. If you do all of the things we’ve covered, you will communicate rather than just connect.

Mustang Engineering Comes to Austin for a Build A Bike Team Event Benefiting Houston Kids

Connie Timpson — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:06:27 +0000

Mustang Engineering of Houston, met in Austin, Texas, to enhance their team work with a Build-A-Bike team building event. The folks at Mustang take teamwork, family, and giving back to the Houston community, very seriously. As part of the Founder’s Legacy, the company adopted Watkin’s middle school, in the Houston, Texas area, because Mustang recognized that those years are pivotal in a child’s life, that the choices the kids make, can affect their whole life.

Mustang Engineering wants to help guide them. They also want to challenge the kids to do well, to push their intellectual limits and achieve. So while the Mustangers had a fun time building their team, learning how to negotiate, experience the value of collaboration, and laughing a lot, they built 26 bikes for the winners of an essay contest. “My Hero Is.” That hero essay overall-winner turned out to be written about one of the kid’s Mom. She went door to door to raise enough money for a neighbor with cancer to receive treatment. It became known, and survives as the Guadalupe Fund.

Oh, don’t be surprised by the big blue Mustang if you visit Watkins Middle School. He is often there to welcome the kids back, give em a high five, make them smile, or offer a little help. The folks from Mustang Engineering have been known to show up with treats for the teachers. They even cleaned up the grounds, planted flowers and trees to give the kids a more beautiful place to learn about the wonders of the world. Building 26 bikes for kids who have none, is all part of their corporate mission. Giving back is just a part of “who they are” and “what they believe. By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor & Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Good is the Enemy of Great

ellenpatnaude — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:30:08 +0000

Voltaire said it first, and while many people have said it in various ways, it all means the same thing. When we try to be good at too many things, we end up being great at none of them.

Consider this scenario.

Mary is the manager of a medium-sized division in her company. She is responsible for the work that her division does for the company, as well as managing the 25 associates that work in the division. She reports to a company Vice President, and is occasionally asked to make reports to the entire group of Vice Presidents. Mary has job responsibilities that extend beyond managing the people in her division. Yet she spends much of her time putting out fires with and for them. They like and trust her, and it makes her feel important to help them with their work issues.

Mary finds herself constantly feeling like she is trying to catch up at work. She often works very long hours, staying way past everyone else, and lives with her Blackberry glued to her hand. She feels guilty for not spending more time with her family. She often misses evening or weekend family commitments to take care of something at work. Mary is totally stressed out and over extended. She feels like she can’t get a handle on the never-ending ‘fires’, and wants to quit.

Mary’s scenario may not be your own. However, I would assert that too often, many of us are guilty of getting caught up in other people’s expectations or demands on our time without taking the time to consider our effectiveness.

Are you trying to be good at too many things and sacrificing being great at just a few? Are you losing sight of the bigger picture, scrambling around, and feeling trapped on a hamster wheel?

To engage in ongoing development as a leader means evaluating these questions every so often. And to really evaluate them, you need to get specific.

Everyone, regardless of your position at work, can benefit from engaging in intentional reflection. Here are some steps to get you started:

Get it on the calendar: Decide how often you want to reap the benefits of the process and then write it into your calendar. Treat it with the same importance that you treat any other meeting. We recommend allocating two hours to this process, and scheduling it once a week, once every two weeks, or at the very least, once a month.
Problem Solving Time Goes First: Spend the first hour of your reflection time on problem solving. The focus of this type of reflection is short-term and tactical. We are inundated with problems at work every day. To address them effectively, we need to reflect on them. Make a list of problems. Pick the priorities and work them out. Do as many as you realistically can.
Think Strategically and Seek Wisdom: The second hour of your time should be spent on this longer-term type of reflection. It is more proactive and requires discipline and accountability. There will always be dozens of immediate demands! But without this type of reflection, you will find it very difficult to control your time and your situation.
Take Action!: Using what you’ve done in the two hours of reflection, make a plan of concrete steps that you can follow to get you there. Take it to the next level and find someone with whom you can share your plan of action who will hold you accountable for actually doing it.

Many of us are so busy putting out fires and responding to the immediate and never-ending daily demands of our lives that we do not carve out time to gain control. Often people refer to it as ‘taking time for themselves’. It falls again and again to the bottom of the priority list.

We challenge you to try carving out this block of time even once, and see what kind of benefits you can reap. And if you want a partner in this process, and more detailed guidance on how to engage in this discipline, we’re just a phone call away.

Add Fun Team Building Events to Any Meeting

Doug Staneart — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:28:15 +0000

Ask your team how they would describe most meetings around the office, and most likely (even if you are a really good leaders) you will still hear words like…
LONG and
BORING…

It’s not your fault. We live in such a busy world that we often have to try to fit a bunch of information into a short period of time (or even worse, a long period of time). As a result, we begin to fall into what folks in the industry call “data dumping”. Below are a couple of quick things that you can do to add fun team building events to any meeting.

Add Fun Team Building Events to Any Meeting

Cut Down on the Content: A little content covered really well is much, much better than a lot of content that everyone forgets by the end of the day. I know time is short, but if you cover a little content in an energetic and fun way, you will create building-blocks with your team so that in future meetings, you can build on the past successes. If you cover a bunch of stuff, and your team only retains a small percentage of it, you will be frustrated as the retention drops over time.
Give the Team Free Time: If your team is booked for a convention or annual meeting, and they start at 7:30 AM and end at 9:00 PM, they will absolutely hate it (no matter how beneficial the content and the meetings are). If you have a jam-packed schedule, it doesn’t matter how many “fun activities” that you add to the agenda, they will hate the meeting. Instead of having every meal with the entire group, give them a per diem and let them get outside of the hotel. If you are at a resort, make sure and give them some time to enjoy the pool or the beach.
Speed Up Your Speeches: I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but the old tip to “slow down when you are in front of a group” is something you should always disregard. When you speak faster, you are pushing energy into the room. Think about the way that presenters on infomercials speak. Are they slow and methodical covering tons of data, or do they speak quickly and with energy and enthusiasm? The do the latter, because the faster speech and energy captures attention and holds the attention of the audience for longer periods of time.
Insert Professional Team Facilitators: The bigger your group, the more difficult it is to deliver a high-energy, fun team building event. So, it is a good idea to bring in a professional facilitor if the outcome is important. Limit the team activity to a couple of hours at most, and the group will be able to stay enthused throughout the entire time period. You’ll also want to schedule the fun event late afternoon and at the very end of your meeting if possible. If you schedule the team activity too early in the day, then anything that you do later in the day will seem pretty boring in comparison. If you schedule it too late, then the group will be tired and the energy of the event will suffer. Schedule the team activity as the last thing that you do, and your team will leave the event having the fun, high energy activity in the front of their minds. That warm feeling will transfer over to the entire meeting.

Do these things, and you will add fun and energy to any meeting!

Sabre Holdings Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas Adds Energy and Fun

ellenpatnaude — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:58:08 +0000

Sabre Hospitality Solutions, a division of Sabre Holdings, included a Build-A-Bike team building event during their two-day conference in Dallas, Texas. The workshop added energy and fun to the conference while giving back to local kids in need. Sabre Hospitality Solutions provides the most comprehensive set of hotel distribution and marketing services in the industry. They provide hoteliers with many tools for reaching more customers and increasing their effectiveness in the marketplace. It was a group of these hoteliers plus the Sabre Hospitality Solutions staff that came together for the large bicycle team event in Dallas.

Build-A-Bike is a fast-paced, high-energy workshop that gives participants the opportunity to interact, compete and ultimately work together to solve a series of challenges. Due to our competitive human nature, there is typically some skepticism at the notion that the teams need to collaborate to solve the challenges more efficiently. While this group of people don’t necessarily work together in their day-to-day businesses, they did rise to the challenge and help each other, ultimately making everyone successful.

By the end of the event, they had built 30 bikes! Local kids from the YMCA of greater Dallas came at the end of the event to receive the bikes. There was not a dry eye to be found! As businesses that mostly cater to travelers, this was a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved to extend a hand to the community around them.

“The event was so well received from our team and our customers, and it was a big success! I really appreciate your working with us. It was a lot of fun and so rewarding! I hope we have the chance to work together again soon.”

– Carol Levitt, Sabre Hospitality Solutions

Everyone likes to give back to the community, especially to kids in need. Including Build-A-Bike team building in your next conference gives those you’ve brought together the opportunity to do just that while adding energy, enthusiasm and fun!

Personal Presentation Coaching in San Antonio, Texas

Doug Staneart — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:02:53 +0000

I just got back from conducting some presentation coaching with a few people in San Antonio, Texas, and we had a blast. One of the nice things about having a small group when we teach a public speaking class is that we can really customize the content to the group very effectively. Each participant got a lot of one-on-one coaching, and we helped them reduce the fear of public speaking, helped them create compelling persuasive speeches, and design entire PowerPoint slide decks from scratch. The group gave us fantastic feedback as the class continued, and you could physically see a difference in the way that each person carried themselves when they presented. We had a great time, and the class members really enjoyed the workshop.

Japanese Team Building Proverbs

Doug Staneart — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:51:04 +0000

Team Building Quotes: Below is a list of Japanese proverbs related to Team Building and People Skills. Some are funny. Some are wise. All will make you think a little…

One kind word can warm three winter months.
The reverse side also has a reverse side.
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
A good sword is the one left in its scabbard.
A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.
Adversity is the foundation of virtue.
If you understand everything, you must be misinformed.
Laughter cannot bring back what anger has driven away.
One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.
The inarticulate speak longest.
The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six feet high.
The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.
Vision with action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.
We learn little from victory, much from defeat.
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
We’ve arrived, and to prove it we’re here.

New Camaraderie Quest Team Scavenger Hunt Video

Doug Staneart — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:20:26 +0000

We have recently posted a new video on YouTube for the Camaraderie Quest High-Tech Team Scavenger Hunt. The Camaraderie Quest is a really fun team building event that can be conducted outdoors in any downtown area or historical area, at theme parks, or any other outdoor venue that has interesting building, historical venues, or art. The team scavenger hunt can also be conducted indoors in museums or shopping areas (or even on resort grounds in some situations). Each team activity is customized for the group and the location, and these team events are really, really FUN!

Take a look at the video, and you’ll be able to see some pictures and videos from past events.

For more information about the Camaraderie Quest Team Scavenger Hunt, click this link or call us toll-free at 800-872-7830.

Blog postings about past Camaraderie Quests: Camaraderie Quest Team Events
Other Team Building Videos.

New Camaraderie Quest Team Scavenger Hunt Video

Doug Staneart — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:20:26 +0000

Take a look at the video, and you’ll be able to see some pictures and videos from past events.

For more information about the Camaraderie Quest Team Scavenger Hunt, click this link or call us toll-free at 800-872-7830.

Blog postings about past Camaraderie Quests: Camaraderie Quest Team Events
Other Team Building Videos.

TriQuint SemiConductors Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas

Connie Timpson — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:53:59 +0000

TriQuint SemiConductors met in Dallas, Texas to create big ideas, solve problems, and collaborate by using a fun team-building event to bring them together, and give to kids. A Build-A-Bike team building event brought the team together in heart and mind, and who says engineers can’t let loose. Competitive – you betcha. Laugh – right out loud. Collaboration, communication and getting to know each other was at the center of the event, and they came together for a really good cause. They built bikes for kids who have none. No they did not use the directions, but they did laugh a lot.

While these engineers are usually solving big, big, challenges, today they brought out their inner child and did what Einstein would have instructed them to think about, creativity is more important than knowledge. That means not only thinking outside the box, it means breaking down the walls, looking at problems with a different mind-set. Sometimes it means putting aside learning and embracing creativity to put the learning to work for you.

The payoff for their competition and working together – was giving back to some kids who really need a lift. An organization called “Summer Santa” reached out to some kids who have very little and delivered a great surprise. Their dream of owning a brand new bike came true. Diana Reyes, a key volunteer for the organization told the group that these kids need to know that someone cares about them, and TriQuint did just that.
It was not intellect that brought smiles to TriQuint participants, it was a feeling of being part of a fun event with a giant emotional payoff – seeing kids smile, and knowing they were part of it. Debbie Burke, of TriQuint said, “We will do this again. Connie was terrific.”By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Women in the Workplace-How we present ourselves in the workplace

ellenpatnaude — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:42:49 +0000

Walk the Talk: How we present ourselves in the workplace

Women in leadership are still something of a rarity today. There have been a couple of articles recently in the Wall Street Journal looking at women in the workforce and analyzing our collective progress. While there are no concrete conclusions about why it’s happening, the data is unambiguous. Women are being overlooked at promotion time.

Hmmmm.

This got us thinking about our own successes and failures in various industries within the working world. We have come to the conclusion that there are five key ways to “Walk the Talk” when it comes to how we present ourselves out there. Here they are, for your pondering –

Speak how you want others to speak – both TO you and ABOUT you. Think for a moment about how others would describe you. What would they say? Is that who you want to be? The way to change it is to give them something better. The old adage is true – you get what you give.
Be authentic. No one likes to deal with someone who is two-faced, to be blunt. Be true to your values, and don’t be afraid to disagree with someone else, even if you work for them. If you find ways to do so respectfully and sincerely, you might be surprised at how well received your opinions will be.
Go out of your way for others. It seems that in many workplace environments, we’ve come to expect the worst of each other. There is a clear “every (wo)man for her/himself” attitude out there. When you extend simple courtesies to someone else, you show that person that you are considerate. Nothing helps with rapport like a small act of unexpected kindness.
Focus on your work ethic. If you don’t deliver, you don’t have credibility. It’s as simple as that.
Take responsibility for your actions and words. Lose the victim mentality. If you mess up, opt for a simple “excuse me” or apologize rather than offering excuses or reasons as to why something happened. This covers everything from being late to a meeting to not making a deadline. You write your own story, and life is not happening to you – you are not a puppet.

The bottom line is this – women have historically had a tough time out there. Many of the barriers that have stood in our way in the past have come down, and many others are still there. Nothing will change overnight. However, recognizing that you are the main character in your own story and that you can control your actions and behavior just might give you the courage you need. Stand up and lead like a woman and excel in team building and leadership.

Gexpro Rexel includes Rescue Bear Philanthropic Team Building Event in Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas

ellenpatnaude — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:04:39 +0000

Gexpro Rexel gathered leadership from around the globe for an annual conference in Dallas, Texas and included a Rescue Bear philanthropic team building workshop. As the US presence of one of the world’s largest electrical distributors, Rexel employees apply their knowhow, productivity tools and hands-on business-building initiatives to help their customers thrive. Nearly half of their employees are dedicated to improving how they connect customers with the supplies, solutions and services they need. They’ve developed supply chain models that reduce inventory, raise productivity and cut installation costs. There were 45 participants in the program, mostly from around the US with a handful that came from Europe.

Rescue Bear is a workshop that is designed to help people see the importance of matching a person with the right talent for the right role within the company. It helps participants identify the strengths of themselves and others and rely on those strengths when under pressure. It shows how/why “Silos” are created and how to deal with the “Silo” effect more effectively. At the end of the workshop, the stuffed animals that are put together and dressed in fire fighter uniforms are donated to a local organization that helps kids. In this case, the donation was given to the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, which will use them in Welcome Kits for families newly arriving. Ronald McDonald House provides a place for families of sick children to stay while the child is treated at a nearby hospital.

The leadership team of Gexpro Rexel had a great time poking fun at various personality styles that emerged during the program, and drawing on each group’s strengths to solve various riddles and challenges. As each group acquired different materials needed to build the stuffed animals, the trading began so that the task could be completed.

“The group had a lot of fun together! This really added something unique to our conference.” — Laura Lichtenstein, Gexpro Rexel

Rescue Bear is a great event for giving people a chance to see how their natural strengths can help them be stronger communicators and better co-workers, while giving something back to the local community. It’s also just a lot of fun!

Juggling the Five Balls in the Game of Life

ellenpatnaude — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:50:05 +0000

Leadership Tips/Team Building Tips: Set Your Priorities

Author James Patterson once said that in the game of life, there are five balls that must constantly be kept in the air – work, family, friends, health, and integrity. He said that work is a rubber ball – it can be dropped and it will bounce back. The rest of the balls are made of glass. If you drop one of them, it can be scuffed, scratched, or shattered.

I myself must admit that I have sacrificed (on more than one occasion, if I am being honest) each of the other four things at one point or another, to varying degrees. When my first son was a baby, I can remember mindlessly setting the baby swing for another round of music just so that I could get one more phone call made for work. I have rearranged dates with friends on more occasions than I can count because ‘something’ came up for work. Before I had children, I routinely put in 70-80 hours as a young community organizer, once working even after being diagnosed with pneumonia. And I’ve been guilty of going along with a decision that I knew was a compromise of my integrity at work, out of fear that I would look stupid or lose my job. All of this was done in the name of ‘getting ahead’, or ‘taking care of my family’, or ‘keeping my priorities straight’.

I felt that work was the ball made of glass.

How many of us have that confused? In our experience working with clients, leaders and business people over the years, many of us do.

So how do you remedy this way of thinking before you ‘shatter’ your family, friends, health or integrity?

The first step lies in an honest assessment of your priorities. Your calendar can be a great mirror for you (if not a little painful) of where you spend your time. After all, time is the most precious resource we have, so taking a hard look at where you spend yours can be revealing.

After you have come to terms with the reality of where your time is spent, you must reconcile whether or not this is an accurate reflection of your priorities and values. In other words, if you consider those five balls – work, family, friends, health and integrity – in what order of importance do you place them?

Finally, taking some time to reflect can be a useful tool for helping you figure out how to spend your time in a way that more accurately reflects your priorities. It is a discipline – it takes time, and it is not always easy to do, but worth it in the long run.

And if you choose to make no change at all, that, too, is a valid choice. But if you make no changes, you can expect no changes. Zig Ziglar said it well:

“One definition of insanity is to believe that you can keep on doing what you’ve been doing and get different results.”

What results do you want to have?

Classroom Training does not equal Boring Training

Doug Staneart — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:09:57 +0000

“Classroom Training” does not equal “Boring Training”!

It is an unfortunate truth that there are a lot of “Leadership Training” or “Team Building” workshops or seminars out there that are… well… boring. It has become common to hear groans of distress and expressions of angst from people who have had, shall we say, “less-than-stellar” experience in these sessions. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. Leadership training and team building events can be a very powerful way to add energy and enthusiasm to your team while passing along time-tested skill sets that in high demand in the business world.

However, it is important to understand the semantics of the industry so that you end up with an exceptional activity or workshop versus a boring one. The more focused you are on the results that you are looking for, the more likely you will be to pick the perfect solution for your team.

Consider the following criteria when evaluating your next training workshop.

Look and listen for key words such as ‘interactive’ or ‘experiential’ in the description of the training session you are considering. And ask for an example of what is meant by using those terms. Usually, these terms mean that the class participants will actually participate in the session somehow. This is absolutely essential because we don’t learn stuff just by listening to it. We learn by interacting with the material. In short, we learn by doing. The more active the workshop, the more enjoyable it will be for the participants. The more passive the workshop, the more droopy eyes you will see from the participants.
If the person trying to interest you in the training is not asking a lot of questions about you, your company and your expectations, shop somewhere else. This is a sure sign that they have no intention of trying to meet or exceed those expectations, and could risk wasting your time and your money by delivering a training session that is not appropriate for your team’s needs. The facilitator doesn’t necessarily have to customize, or even tailor, the material to the group, but with a few simple questions up front, the facilitator should be able to match content with the needs of the group.
Understand that not all training is created equally. The more you know about what you want to get out of the training experience, the better able a training consultant will be in a position to help you find the right match for your needs. Sometimes a team in conflict really shouldn’t spend their time and money on a training session that is designed to really just let a team play together. Sometimes that team in conflict needs something a little more in depth. However, that doesn’t mean the session won’t be fun for the participants – it just means that the laughs will come from different experiences.
Do your legwork ahead of time with your team. Once you’ve chosen a training workshop, talk to your colleagues about it before they get there. Ask your training consultant or instructor to give you suggestions about how to do this. If there are negative feelings and/or experiences from the past, consider letting people air their concerns so that you and/or the trainer can dispel them prior to the workshop day. There’s nothing worse for a training consultant than to walk into a classroom prepared to facilitate a great session only to be met by enormous resistance before they’ve even had a chance to speak!

Regardless of your experiences with classroom training thus far, studies show in increasing numbers how incredibly valuable it is to the entire workforce to invest in some type of leadership development training. Whether you are looking to improve your communication skills, polish your presentation skills, or develop overall better leadership capacity, there is a training out there for you.

Just keep the concepts above in mind when you choose a workshop or facilitator, and your team will be enthused by your activity and love the experience.

Deloitte University in Fort Worth, Texas, Strengthens Its Team With A Build-A-Bike Event Building Bikes For 50 Kids

Connie Timpson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:03:05 +0000

Deloitte University brings its new hires to Fort Worth, Texas, to learn, and build their new team, with a Build-A-Bike team building event. 340 young, and very-bright folks joined the ranks of the Deloitte elite, and built bikes for disadvantaged kids.

This was the first session at this 107 acre campus where bison roam, cattle meander, and Texan wild-life is still wild. After a challenging multiple-day course preparing them for their new positions in 90 cities across the nation, they cut loose, came together as a team, and built some bikes for kids who know no privilege.

The children who joined the new Deloitte hires were a bit shy about accepting something they only dreamed of having – their first bike. To the kids from Summer Santa, and the Boys and Girl’s Club, it was a little miracle.

In accepting the bikes, Diana Reyes, of Summer Santa drew a picture of need that most of us can only imagine. “I made a home visit and the electricity was turned off. They had no furniture, and certainly no bikes.” Mom told Mrs. Reyes that their holidays were very sad and empty. These kids are “at risk” meaning they have already lived some of the most difficult times of their lives. These caring people from Summer Santa, and The Boys and Girl’s Club, reach out to these kids in all kinds of ways.

Deloitte wants these kids to have a better chance in life, and with this team building event the kids now have a bicycle to empower them. This philanthropic team building, says, “Someone outside my family cares about me.” So, hand in hand with the The Leader’s Institute, the Deloitte folks solved some puzzles, won some parts, and built some bikes. By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

New Ace Race Golf Team Building Video

Doug Staneart — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:25:51 +0000

We just completed a new video of our new and increasingly popular team building event, the Ace Race Golf Team Building activity. We have had an awful lot of fun delivering this particular team event over the last few months, and folks who have attended have given us fantastic feedback. take a look at the new video and let us know what you think.

Gain Cooperation: Encourage and Facilitate Two-Way Conversation

Doug Staneart — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:43:40 +0000

Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes, in the nature of the case, different points of view. -Robert Hutchins

Oprah Winfrey was the most successful daytime TV star of all time and is still one of the most influential people in America. When she promoted a book on her television show, it would typically be on the bestseller list within a week. However, I’d wager that Ms. Winfrey’s success would have been far less dramatic if she had spent all those years lecturing her audience for an hour a day. One of the characteristics of her show that has made her so influential is the fact that she created a one-on-one dialogue with her guests as well as with her audience. Her audience, and her influence, grew year after year.

We can learn from her success. We too can have more influence over others if we create two-way communication. One of the most common complaints I hear from front-line employees is that top management does not take their ideas seriously and does not address their concerns. Many companies today have a top-down communication in place that can stifle creativity and build resentment in front-line employees.

Many of these employees have ideas that could revolutionize the company, but far too often, the ideas are overlooked because the people at the top are too focused on the status quo.

Herb Peterson was a McDonald’s franchise holder in 1972 when he had an idea to add breakfast to the menu. At that time, McDonald’s was just a hamburger place without a lot of additional items, and no one would want to go to a hamburger place for breakfast. Herb went ahead and crafted a Teflon circle in his garage in order to be able to easily cook eggs Benedict on a hamburger grill, and he took the idea to the McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago. Today, it’s estimated that McDonald’s sells about $4 billion worth of breakfast per year.

Those dialogues that we create with the people who work for us can provide us with valuable information – both good and bad. This information is critical in helping us make solid decisions in the marketplace.

If you want to influence others in a positive way, take a lesson from Oprah and McDonald’s and create dialogues rather than monologues. Practice good listening skills and communication skills, and create two-way communication to build a good team.

Gain Enthusiastic Cooperation: Encourage and Facilitate Two-Way Communication

Texans Can! Teachers in Fort Worth, Texas Learn How To Create A Team Culture

Connie Timpson — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:26:12 +0000

Texans Can! worked to Create A Team Culture, learned how to communicate better, and shared some inner beliefs in Fort Worth, Texas. Texans Can! is a unique approach to learning and teaching. The kids you might call drop outs, and others call “push outs” from the regular public school system, seem to do better in this more personal, open environment.

When the public school system and the student having a tough time, creating a workable structure for learning, Texans Can! swings open its doors. It is a different approach, one that works with the students’ reality, and his or her needs. The goal of these educators is picture perfect – excite the kids, that others gave up on, about learning. Help them pick up the lessons they missed out on, and make them want to graduate. And it works.

On this day the teachers and administrators were also students, when they conducted a Creating a Team Culture Team Building Workshop. Although all are well educated, and accomplished, they recognize the need for team building and training. In this interactive learning setting, they worked together as partners, as a large group, and explore areas they have just been too busy to think about. One of my favorite parts of this event is how we close the training. In small groups every person listens while someone else gives them a strength-centered compliment. That may not sound like a cure for anything really important, but it is. In many cases it is soul mending. To hear other people say nice things about you, based on an action they have observed you taking is totally empowering. A few people reached for a tissue and others blinked away something that had gotten into their eyes. They all walked out with a little lighter step.

The Vice President of Education, Yolanda Cruz, told me after the event, that the session was extraordinary, and the last part of the day brought a tear to her eye as well. By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Milford Pipe Supply Shows Christmas Spirit by Donating Bikes to Children in Midland, Texas

Craig Wagganer — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:02:32 +0000

Over 40 employees of Milford Pipe Supply came together in Midland, Texas, for a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event that benefited 8 children and families from the Midland Boys and Girls Clubs. The event was a fun time with some learning opportunities sprinkled in. Everyone enjoyed the laughter, seeing each other in a little different than usual situations, the learning opportunities; and even few tears were shed when the children were introduced to receive the bikes that had been constructed during the event. Milford Pipe Supply was a great inspiration to the community and its employees for sponsoring such an event.

Everyone likes to feel like they contribute to their community. For a company, like Milford Pipe Supply, to bring their people together for an team building event like this- it not only gives the individuals an opportunity to contribute, but the company as well. This helps the individuals to feel good about the contributions, as well as their company. The individual and the company working together to make a difference for kids, their families and the communities they live in. This event is a win-win-win situation. The individuals benefit, the company benefits, and the receiving children, their families and their community benefit. The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event provides a great opportunity for everyone.

Thanks, Milford Pipe Supply for a great team event and for contributing to your community.

To Gain Cooperation from Others, Show Enthusiasm and Energy

Doug Staneart — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:50:02 +0000

Enthusiasm is by far the highest paid quality on earth,
probably because it is one of the rarest; yet it is one of
the most contagious. –Frank Bettger

Have you ever noticed that the most successful people in just about any industry are the early risers? Ben Franklin called this group of people the “Six O’clock Club.” Franklin spent the first hour of his day planning the events of his day (to do this he invented the Franklin Planner) and reading. He often claimed that the first hour of his day was the most important. How does this relate to raising your own energy level? We have a choice every morning when we wake up. Do I want to hit the snooze bar a few times, or do I want to put some energy and enthusiasm into my day?

Frank Bettger, in his book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, said that if he had to narrow down to one thing why he has been so successful, it would be enthusiasm. His enthusiasm was what moved him from a “second rate bush league making $25 a week” to the starting shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. His enthusiasm was also what transformed him from a washout in sales to the most successful insurance agent of his time. Where did his enthusiasm come from? He says that he didn’t have any enthusiasm in the beginning, but he faked it. He acted like he was enthusiastic, and behold he was. After a few successes, the enthusiasm came easy.

You have the same choice in your own life. When a dirty job has to be done, jump in with lots of enthusiasm and gusto. When you have a challenging project that no one else wants to do, you can use that project as an opportunity to get yourself noticed.

Everyone wants to be around people who are going somewhere. The person who sets out to enthusiastically get to the next level will attract tons of followers. Enthusiasm is contagious.

Take the advice of Franklin and Bettger and raise your energy level and the people around you will stop and take notice.

Week #3: Gain Enthusiastic Cooperation; Show Enthusiasm and Energy

Acknowledge the Importance of Other People

Doug Staneart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:09:45 +0000

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. –William James

Most people have one defining need that very rarely gets satisfied. Many of us will move Heaven and Earth to satisfy this need. This one attribute is the single most motivating factor that leads to success. It is the need, the want, to feel important. The person who can satisfy this need in others, the person who can sincerely make other people feel important, can be very influential and is typically regarded by others as a good leader. In fact, you can tell a lot about an individual by what makes him feel important. My dad builds houses, and one of the most satisfying things to him is to complete a building and have others admire his work. Al Capone got his feeling of being important from power and control. Mother Teresa got her feeling of importance by helping the helpless. There are usually two reasons why people do things. The reason we tell others… and the real reason. When we give money to charity, do we really do it to help others or do we do it because of the satisfaction we get from helping others. We feel important because we feel like we made a difference in someone else’s life.

We you look around your office, you will see people from all walks of life who crave this feeling of importance. If any one of those people all of the sudden stopped doing their job, it would cause a lot of challenges for your company. Every single job that they do is important to the success of the company – to your success, because without them you couldn’t do your job effectively.

When was the last time that you told them how important they were to you?

One of my class members about ten years ago decided to use this principle with his sales assistant. She was the assistant for five different salespeople, and her job was to put together marketing materials and, ultimately, their contracts when they sold a big deal. During the class, this salesman decided that the work that this woman did for him was critical to him closing deals, so on his way into the office, he bought her a big container of popcorn and just put a sticky note on it saying how important she was to him and to his success.

When he gave it to her, she was shocked and surprised, but awfully grateful as well since he was the first person in years to treat her like an equal in the office. When he came back to class the next week, he told us that she had taken the sticky note off the can and stuck it under the plastic protector that covered her desk so that she could see it every day.

I saw this man a couple of years later and asked him about the sales assistant. He told me that she is still there and still doing a fabulous job. He said, though, that she now has over a dozen of the sticky notes on her desk. She keeps every one.

Great leaders use this aspect of human nature to make people feel important. One way to be a great leader is to find some way every day to make the people around you feel important.

Team Building Principle #15: Acknowledge the Importance of Other People

Add Fun to the Work Day

Doug Staneart — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:25:56 +0000

Do you really want to have fun at work or just add fun to an ordinary work day? Below are a few simple team building tips that will help you have fun while building the team.

Go to Lunch

One of the most overlooked team building activity is the lunch. Really… Just a simple lunch out of the office. Quite often, coworkers will run to get a bite to eat with each other, and they will likely group together when they do. Every once in a while, if you are the boss, invite yourself to the group. “Hey are you folks going over to Chili’s for lunch? Mind if I tag along?” If you have never done this before, you will likely get some subtle resistance. (I mean, who wants to eat with the boss, right?) However, when you pick up the tab at the end of the meal, the whole group will be appreciative. You are likely during the meal to really get to know your team on a more personal level, as well. It is easier to communicate with your team when you they like you and trust you, and food is a great conversation starter.

Share Success Stories

When you get a compliment from a client or a project runs very efficiently, make sure and share the story behind the success with the whole team. Most managers think that just telling the result is good enough, but the team will only get to see the complete picture if they get access to the whole story — the story behind the numbers. For instance, instead of “We hit our goal by the skin of our teeth. Good job, everyone,” tell the team what put us over the top. “On Thursday afternoon, we were still $25,000 under goal and had just one day to get the generate the last bit of revenue. John was able to go back to an order that was shipping on Friday and called the customer back to offer to double the order in exchange for a 2% discount. That was just enough to put us over the goal!”

By the way, most of the people that work for a big company do their job very well without ever knowing how their work affects the bottom-line. They are the part of the team who need most to hear about the success stories that occur at the end of the project. They will feel more of a feeling of accomplishment as they hear how their activities led to the success.

Make Time to Play

One of the big mistakes that I see big companies make is that they try to re-create a team culture from another organization. For instance, a lot of high-tech companies have started creating gourmet meals for their employees for free and bring in pool tables for recreation because Google does it. Or they try to add comedy to their announcements because Southwest Airlines does it. Remember that it took years for these organizations to create their culture, and if you take what works for them and insert it into a different culture, you’ll likely get a lot of resistance and confusion. Instead, start slow and build on the team culture.

A good way to start is to and a small fun activity. It could be a goal for the group to accomplish like a sales goal or customer retention goal, or it could be an outing where you shut down the office early on a Friday night and go to a ball game or go bowling. In reality, it doesn’t really matter how you start as long as you build on the first step. You can’t do something fun once and then stop. Instead, get creative an add fun activities to your culture in a step-by-step fashion.

So if you want to build a team culture and have fun at work, go to lunch with your team from time to time, share success stories, and make time for play. If you do, you’ll begin to build your team culture.

Team Building Activities Support Best Places to Work

Colette Peterson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:23:15 +0000

Team Building Activities Support Best Places to Work

How do team building activities help your company become one of the best places to work? Fortune Magazine recently released its annual list of the 100 best workplaces and while the perks are nice, that’s not what really motivates employees to do their best.

More and more decision makers are turning to charity team building workshops as a way of keeping employees engaged. You might think that the best workplaces on the Fortune list have fantastic perks and lots of fun every day – and that’s part of the formula. Teresa Amabile, professor at Harvard Business School, and her research team analyzed nearly 12,000 work diaries from professionals in seven different companies. “Sure, the techies at Google love the free gourmet food, and Zappos employees get a kick out of playing Nerf Dart war. But all of that misses the most important element of employee engagement: helping them succeed at work that matters.”

Team building activities are an important tool for setting the tone with new employees and reinforcing the message to those with tenure. Instead of reading about the company values in the employee handbook, the message is much more powerful when delivered in a team building workshop. For example, Nestle Purina subscribes to the servant leadership model, so including team building activities like the Build-A-Bike where they can serve their local community is a natural fit as part of their meetings.

According to Amabile, “The single most important thing that can keep workers deeply, happily engaged on the job is moving forward on work they care about — even if the progress is an incremental ‘small win.’ Your bosses — and how they manage you — make all the difference.” When you have a quarterly or annual meeting it’s a great opportunity to reinforce your corporate culture through interactive team building activities.

The best managers in the Harvard Business School study set clear goals and gave people autonomy in meeting those goals. As a result, their employees stayed committed, productive and creative. Top performers have to be clued into and bought into a shared vision in order for company results to remain strong.

Sure, cool perks are nice. But many businesses see an inspired workforce as key to creating a great place to work – they go hand-in-hand. Consider adding team building activities to reinforce your corporate culture and engage your employees…and create a great place to work!

This article was written by Colette Johnston. Colette is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. You can reach Colette at 800-872-7830.

Build Morale when Times are Tough

Doug Staneart — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:45:12 +0000

Times are tough, and as a result, morale can suffer. So what can the leaders of an organization do to help team members feel more confident and at ease? Below are a few simple tips:

Give Sincere Compliments: When times are tough, we can easily be distracted (sometimes just trying to stay above water). That is the time that your team members need reassurance, and a sincere compliment can go a long way in helping your team feel more comfortable. Remember that the team member doesn’t have to be perfect — just improving.
Share Information: People fear the unknown a lot more than reality in most cases. If your team knows what’s wrong, they can often help you fix it. Often, leaders will try to protect the team by keeping negative information to himself/herself, which just makes the team wonder what you are hiding. Fear causes people to react aggressively, so share information, and your team will help you.
Set a Goal: A shared goal can help the team work together toward a common result. A number of small successes can improve morale dramatically.
Brain-Storm: Challenges are often opportunities in disguise. When challenges develop, get your team together and brain-storm solutions. One big idea can open up additional revenue streams.

Get your team working toward a common goal by praising them and working on tough challenges together. Your team culture will grow, and you will be way ahead of the game when things turn around.

Galderma Laboratories hosts Creating a Team Culture and Structures team building workshops in Dallas, TX

ellenpatnaude — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:29:36 +0000

I had the pleasure of working with a dynamic group of women from Galderma Laboratories in Dallas recently as they completed a full day of team building workshops, including Creating a Team Culture and Structures Team Building Event. Founded in 1981 as a joint venture between Nestlé and L’Oréal, Galderma now employs more than 3,200 people around the world. They are one of the world’s leading dermatology companies. This group of women that I had the pleasure of working with provides all of the administrative support to the sales, marketing and production department leaders.

We began the day with Creating a Team Culture, and specifically with taking a look at personality styles. This prompted a very lively discussion as the women grappled with how they have experienced different personality styles in the workplace. They found it very insightful and helpful to learn about typical strengths and weaknesses of each style, and had a passionate discussion.

This led nicely into exercises centered around the four sets of Leadership Principles. We covered the areas of building trust and rapport, managing conflict, gaining cooperation, and building your team. By the end of the Creating a Team Culture portion of our team building day, they were conversing and interacting much more freely than at the start of the day!

The second half of the day was Structures – a wonderful team building workshop that engages the participants in solving a series of puzzles and challenges in order to accumulate the parts needed to build two dollhouses. They must be creative and work very closely together in order to be successful. With the success of the morning workshop, this was easier for them than it otherwise might have been!

The dollhouses were donated to the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas where they will go to be available for children to play with when they are in residence. It added a dimension to the event that reminded everyone that there is a larger picture to keep in mind.

“Ellen did an amazing job with our team! Everyone found the morning session to be eye-opening and extremely helpful as we strive to understand each other better. The afternoon session really cemented it all together for us by giving us the chance to play together. This is a different team now!” — Josie Razo, Galderma Laboratories

Engaging in a full day of team building activities can be a great way to bring your team together. With Creating a Team Culture as a morning classroom-based workshop to address principles, and Structures as a more active team building exercise in the afternoon, it creates the perfect combination!

What is Your Favorite Team Building Game or Team Activity?

Doug Staneart — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:23:34 +0000

Everyone has been a part of or led some type of fun team building game or team activity. What was your favorite? Was an event, an outing, or just a fun game that everyone loved?

CUNA Hosts Ace Race Golf Team Building to Benefit Mission Central Food Pantry In Dallas

Craig Wagganer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:02:16 +0000

80 members of the CUNA Select Leadership Team came together in Dallas, Texas for an Ace Race Golf Team Building Event. The opportunity was a great experience for team building, fun, friendly competition, and to donate food to the Mission Central Food Pantry. Everyone had fun designing a miniature golf hole and then competing to make an “Ace” (hole-in-one) at each hole. The twelve hole course made with mats of felt for the green and non-perishable food items to construct the holes and obstacles provided a challenge and fun to all of the participants. The fun and learning culminated in all of the food items being donated to the Mission Central Food Pantry. There was learning, fun and a great feeling when a representative of the food pantry explained how the food would be used and the tremendous difference it would make in the lives of individuals.

This Golf Team Building event is a fun way to teach some basic team building principles while having fun and giving back to the community. The teams were formed randomly but each team had to use the experience and talents of the members to complete the tasks. Some people are good at the design of the golf holes, others have the ability to put the parts together in a specific order to construct the holes: others have the ability to hit the golf ball and make the critical shot; still others are able to organize the individuals to get the best from each one. The best teams are those that recognize how each individual can contribute to the team and then cheers them on to make significant contributions. One “sentence” that was reiterated was, “None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Thanks CUNA for a great event and for making a significant contribution to the Mission Central Food Bank. May the Ace Race experience benefit you as your gracious gift to the food pantry will benefit so many in need.

Can Team Building Increase Productivity in a Recession?

Doug Staneart — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:18:58 +0000

When the economy is slow, company managers and leaders have to be very cautious with every expense. As a result, we will often put off hiring new employees until more certainty in the marketplace develops. Although natural efficiencies will develop in a downward economy, can team building activities help increase productivity so that we can avoid the expense of adding on new personnel? The answer to that question is… “Well… It depends…”

Don’t Confuse “Morale” with “Productivity”

Team Building is almost a generic term that is used for both “morale building” activities and “productivity building” activities interchangeable, but if you confuse the two activities, you can make some costly mistakes. Morale building activities can include anything from going out to a movie together to an office holiday party to entertainment style activities at annual meetings ans conventions. These activities provide a shared-experience that builds temporary camaraderie and provides a fun relief to the normal day-to-day rat-race. Productivity building activities are training events or innovations that help teams do more with less. Although people will often call both of these types of activities “Team Building”, the activities themselves get totally different results. Both are needed to create a team culture, but quite often, managers and leaders will schedule one type of activity hoping to get the needed result from the other type of activity and be sorely disappointed.

Although productivity will often improve (sometimes dramatically) when morale improves, an increase in morale doesn’t always cause a team to be more productive. For instance, if a manager came into the office and announced that the entire team would get the whole week off and still get paid, morale would skyrocket, but productivity would drop to zero for the week. Morale building activities like team outings and company parties are extremely important, but they can’t entirely replace productivity building events and activities.

Since the team atmosphere created by morale building activities can be temporary, you’ll want to schedule activities like this regularly so that the individual team members get to interact with each other in a more fun way to build camaraderie. Charity team building events at annual meetings or conventions can be a great way to insert a morale building activity. These team building functions are very economical, because the company can generate great public relations without increasing the cost of conducting a convention or annual meeting. For instance, most conventions are going to have some type of entertainment or at least a company outing of some kind. Many companies are replacing these activities with a charity bike build or a team scavenger hunt where team members build gift baskets for soldiers. The investment in each activity is fairly similar, but the results of the charity activities often provide impactful, lasting memories that build great camaraderie between team members.

Build Teams by Training Team Members Together

In addition to morale building activities, a team also needs to develop new skills in order to keep them productive. Many years ago, a mentor of mine told me that “You can’t build a team by training individuals, but you can build a team by training individuals together.” I didn’t really understand the power of this advice until I started my own business, but I understand it more and more as my company grows and grows. For instance, many big companies offer tuition assistance for higher level degrees for their employees, but what often happens is that a company will invest a ton of money into the development of an employee only to have the person leave the company and start working for a competitor. This happens because the individual employees is growing, but the team as a whole is stagnant.

Oddly enough, any skill development activities will work to build the team culture in an organization if the skills developed gives the team a competitive advantage in the marketplace. For instance, Apple decided to eliminate cash registers inside their Apple Stores and replace them with the ability for any employee in the store to be able to use their smartphones to ring-up items for purchases on their smartphones. Because Apple is doing something that no one else is doing, the employees who have been trained in this new technology feel like they are a part of an elite group that is different from other retail stores. Whether they are or not doesn’t really matter, because the team believe that they are ahead of the curve. Customers can find an Apple employee and within seconds create a purchase and have the receipt sent to the customer via email and be on their way. A dramatic increase in productivity and decrease in cost while creating more of a team atmosphere among employees.

“Soft-Skills” Team Building Training is Most Productive

The most effective team training to increase productivity comes from “soft-skills” training, though. While Hard-Skills are ones essential to doing individual jobs within a company — for example hard-skills for an engineer might be calculus and physics — soft-Skills are skills that improve productivity no matter what specific role that a person has within an organization. Soft-skills would include communication skills, presentation skills, the ability to persuade people, the ability to coach and mentor others, etc. If the engineer improves in any or all of these soft-skills, then he or she will likely improve their individual success as well as the overall success of the team.

When teams train together in these soft-skill areas, they automatically develop that same type of team culture that Apple developed with the technology change. Team members know that they are a part of a unique, elite group that is different from most organizations (because most organizations don’t train this way).

For example, a few years ago, I was hired by a commercial construction company to help them deliver high-level sales presentations better. Companies that build skyscrapers or have groups of construction projects often bid out these huge projects in one big contract, so they will often ask for huge proposals and have each qualified contractor come in and do a presentation to narrow down the field. The company that hired me was closing about one out of six of these presentations, but wanted to increase their numbers. So we conducted a series of presentation skills classes with the teams of presenters. Because they trained together, they developed a team culture that showed up when they conducted their presentations. Quite often, at the end of their presentations, the board members who were in the audience would say, “We chose this group because they just seemed to work very well together.” The team culture showed, because the individuals within the group had been trained in soft-skills together, so they saw themselves as having an advantage over other presenters (and they had one.)

Presentation skills, people skills, coaching, mentoring, and other soft-skills training can really help teams become more productive as long as the teams are going through the training as a team. I remember my college football coach telling us, “You don’t fight for records or awards, you fight for the guy who is next to you in the trenches.” When teams train together, they build a rapport that lasts.

UnitedHealthcare Hosts Bike Team Building Event in New Orleans and Donates 12 Bicycles

Craig Wagganer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:26:48 +0000

UnitedHealthcare brought members of their National Clinical Excellence Team together in New Orleans, Louisiana, for a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event. One of the end results of the program was 12 new bicycles being given to The Future Leaders of America. Other results were a great amount of fun, laughter and learning. The activities focused on building collaboration, improving communication and understanding each other as co-workers and team mates. The event was action packed and fast-paced and kept the participants moving. The overall result was ton of enjoyment and some important lessons learned and reinforced.

One important aspect of the event was the focus on being one team. Many times when we are placed in groups we become competitive with others. Just like the everyday situation where we work in departments, are separated by locations, or divided into divisions. Often times the result is competition within the organization. Competition can be good if it brings out the best in everyone concerned, but too often competitiveness results in hoarding materials, information and/or resources. In the program individuals experienced the destructive side of competition and how it hurts the overall progress of the team. There was a lot of laughter, and fun, but the points were well made during the experience.

Congratulations to UnitedHealthcare for sponsoring the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event and giving their people an opportunity to have fun while growing in their leadership and team building skills. And for the special opportunity of giving back to the community by donating 12 bicycles to children and families that can really use and will really appreciate them. The communities around New Orleans (including coastal cities in Texas and Mississippi) have really rebounded since Katrina, and we are glad to be a part of the recovery.

Participants of Presentations Skills Class in Dallas Texas Deliver Concise and Compelling Presentations

chrismcneany — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:22:59 +0000

Presentation skills class in Dallas, Texas November 17-18 provided a great opportunity for participants to deliver concise, compelling presentations.

The Leader’s Institute® held its two-day presentation skills class in Dallas, Texas with a very energetic and enthusiastic group. Participants were able to get rid of the fear of public speaking and deliver dynamic, engaging presentations. By the end of the second day, each participant delivered their presentations with ease by learning how to use a clear, easy-to-follow structure. They were able to design these presentations in 15 minutes or less! Then they added more flavor to them, by incorporating stories, analogies, demonstrations, and audience participation questions.

The Leader’s Institute® offers more than just a presentation skills class. It’s truly a life-changing experience! Classes are offered approximately every 3 months in Dallas, Texas and across the U.S.

Jazz Up Christmas Banquets and Year End Meetings with Quality Team Building Activities

Doug Staneart — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:21:41 +0000

Want to jazz up your Christmas Banquet, holiday event, or year end meeting this year? A quality team building activity can add some fun and enthusiasm to the meetings and support a charity in the process. Charity team building events are still a fairly new invention, but these activities are growing in popularity by leaps and bounds every single year. These activities combine fun (and funny) exercises to build camaraderie to either build something or accumulate something that will later be donated to a charity on behalf of the sponsoring company or group.

For example, the grandfather of all of the charity team building events is the world-famous Build-A-Bike® team building event where participants work together to accumulate pieces of bicycles to build brand-new bikes for underprivileged kids in the area. This event is still the most popular, with good reason, because it combines fun and energy with an emotional appeal of helping kids. The big ending for these events is when kids come rushing into the room, and each individual team gets to donate their individual bike to a single kid. This leaves every participant feeling that his/her contribution was important to the success of the activity. Lots of fun!

Golf team building for a cause is the newest charity team building activity, and it is quickly becoming a popular choice because of the new economy that we are working in. This activity has participants accumulate non-perishable food items that are used strategically to design a custom golf-course for the group. Of course, once the course is dismantled, all of the food items are donated to a local food pantry. These food pantries are really struggling to keep up right now, because the number of families coming to them for food each week is increasing while donations are really low because of the economy. So they directors of these pantries are extremely grateful for these big donations (most often over 1000 lbs of food).

Another good choice is to do a scavenger hunt where participants race to accumulate items that are used to create care packages for soldiers who are away from their families. Especially around Christmas time, these care packages are a welcome to soldiers who are stationed in foreign countries.

For information about a charity team building event, call an event specialist at (800) 872-7830.

American Airlines Bad Team Building

Doug Staneart — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:01:05 +0000

I saw this ad from American Airlines on TV a few nights ago. It is about a bad team building event, and it cracked me up. Rough week for American Airlines, but this is really funny. I guarantee that our team building events are NOTHING like this one.

Team Building in Cities Outside the Major Metroplexes

Doug Staneart — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:55:26 +0000

Just because your city has under 20 million people doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to schedule one of the best team building events in the world! Because of the size of The Leader’s Institute® Team Building company and because our team building instructors are based in cities across the United States, we can deliver team building events in just about any city in America, Canada, and Europe.

The following is a list of cities where we offer teambuilding programs and team building activities.

We offer over a dozen different programs including philanthropic events, workshops, seminars, and breakout sessions. For details about all of the options that are available in each location above, click the Team Building Events link in the tool bar at the top of the page. We look forward to working with you on your next program!

American Express Host Bike Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas

Craig Wagganer — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 02:26:41 +0000

38 work at home professionals from American Express Travel came together from across the Southeast to enjoy a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event at the Las Colinas Four Season Resort and Spa in Irving, Texas (Dallas, Texas). As a result of the fun learning experience 6 bikes were given to deserving children from The Salvation Army. These children were just a few of the many children that benefit from the children’s program at this local Salvation Army. The children that came, as well as the people that participated in the event were very excited when the bikes were presented. The event was filled with laughter and learning experiences, and even a few tears at the conclusion of the event.

The theme of the meeting taking place for the American Express employees is “Transforming to Extraordinary”. Certainly the events of the Build-A-Bike event set the stage for the upcoming conference. Basics were shared and experienced concerning communication, collaboration, and team leadership. These workers were also from different locations and, although they have spoken with each other, many had never met face to face. This event gave them opportunity to put faces with the voices and get to know each other in a much better way.

Often times when working with people over the phone or in virtual situations we come to understand them by the situations we find ourselves in with them. We get to know them and attribute to them certain characteristics that may not be true about them, but rather come about because of the situation shared. The way we come to understand each other is more from the situation than from the actual person. Of course, the fundamental error is that we will attribute their actions to character or personality rather than the circumstances. This event brought the people together in a fun non-threatening way in which they could really come to understand and appreciate each other.

The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event was a perfect solution to a common problem facing many companies. American Express made a good and beneficial choice that will provide dividends for along time. Along with that 6 children received brand new bicycles. Thanks to American Express and The Salvation Army for making a great event and a great contribution.

Best Cities for Annual Retreats and Team Building

Doug Staneart — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:56:19 +0000

Our instructors travel all over the world to conduct team building events for our client companies, and we each have our favorite locations to travel to and lead team building event. This list is not necessarily the “Best Cities” but they are the cities that we most like to travel to and teach in. We hope you agree.

Las Vegas, Nevada: Las Vegas is still an extremely fun and cost effective location to hold an annual convention or team building event. Hotel expenses are literally a half to a third the expense that you’d invest in other cities, and the huge casinos are like cities in and of themselves. Your team will likely never have to leave the casino and still feel like they have seen “it all.” Also, because the hotels and event planners are well seasoned, planning and delivering a world-class event is very easy and turn-key. More information about team building in Las Vegas.
Orlando and Miami, Florida: Orlando is probably one of the most popular convention cities in the world because of the great weather and famous attractions. Just like in Las Vegas, a great bonus is that the event planners and hotel staffs are well-seasoned and very easy to work with. Be sure to insert free-time into your agenda so that your participants can enjoy the resort-like atmosphere that most convention hotels in Orlando have. Miami is also very popular for similar reasons, but Miami is a little more tropical and “adult oriented.” Either location will give you a fantastic convention or team building event, but Orlando is a little more family-friendly. More information about Orlando Team Building and Miami Team Building.
Chicago, Illinois: The Navy Pier, The Magnificent Mile, and a nice compact city center make Chicago a fantastic place to hold your annual convention. In many locations, participants can walk to additional attractions and location, but a short cab-ride is also easy to find. Just like with the Florida location and Vegas, Chicago has a vast pool of great event planners, but because hotel space is a lot more limited in Chicago, your event will take a little more planning. A Cubs game is a nice bonus for visitors as well. The food in Chicago is impeccable as well. Whether you favor a Chicago Dog or Deep Dish Chicago-style pizza or a great steak, Chicago is a great place to gain a few pounds. More Chicago Team Building information.
San Francisco, California: San Francisco is a great place to hold a convention or annual meeting, but logistically, San Francisco can cause a few transportation challenges. Because of city politics, many of the big convention hotels are located outside of San Francisco proper (and also because of the high concentration of companies south of San Francisco in Silicon Valley. So getting your group from their hotel to some of the attractions can increase your total cost a little, but the hotels are still a great value compared to other major metropolitan areas. Attractions like the Wharf, Alcatraz, and Candlestick Park offer great outings for your group. San Francisco Team Building information.
Washington, DC: Although it takes a little more planning because of the congestion, Washington, DC is one of the absolute best places to conduct a convention — especially if your group favors a historical perspective. The city has a number of nice convention hotels and attractions galore. The city is easy to get around in via walking or cab rides as well. The major drawback to Washington, DC is the customer service. Unlike cities like Vegas and Orlando where, no matter who at a hotel you communicate with, you will always get a warm and friendly response and immediate service, in Washington, DC, So, you might have to make simple request more than once to get satisfaction, and the service may not be as fast as you might require. Information about Washington DC Team Building.
New York, NY: New York city is a fabulous place to hold a convention, because it is the center of economic activity and the home of Broadway and Times Square. The sites and sounds of New York can make any convention a memorable event. The city has three major airports and taxi-rides into the city are fairly inexpensive as well. The one major problem with New York as a convention destination, though, is the hotel rules. Most of the staff at the hotels have strict union rules that can cause a few challenges for the uninitiated. For example, the union rules demand that setting up a station at an event generate a minimum of two hours of labor for the waiters/waitresses, so you will often find a waiter standing next to your food or beverage station while you team is on break — not refreshing, but just standing — and then often pack up station early. As long as you know their rules, you will have fewer challenges, but a good, local event planner in New York is really worth it to you. New York Team Building information.

These are just a few of our favorite cites for team building, so this is, by no means, a comprehensive list. For instance, our home base in Dallas, Texas is a great place because of it’s central location and attractions. Atlanta, Georgia is also a great team building city because of it’s airport and great downtown area. Seattle, Washington is probably one of the most overlooked location to do team building, but has a lot of advantages. And, of course, Los Angeles and San Diego are fantastic team building locations.

Whatever location that you choose, make sure and contact one of our team building staff for details about delivering one of out world-famous team building events.

Review of a Few Team Building Tips

Doug Staneart — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:39:46 +0000

Below are a few team building articles and team building tips that we published on the blog in past months. (Sometimes, real good ideas get buried, so here is a review of a few.)

Team Building Game: The Helium Stick

One of my favorite team building games or team icebreaker activities is sometimes called The Helium Stick or even Lighter than Air. The rules are pretty simple. Organize your group into small groups of eight to ten people (you’ll need at least six people per team to make it work, but more than eight or [...]

Do You Really Know How To Motivate Your Team?

Leadership, And Management Skills Are Not Coded Into Our DNA. Do You Really Know How To Motivate Your Team? Leadership and management skills are not coded into our DNA. But you hear people say, “He or she is a born leader.” Well….not really. They may know less about their own team and what motivates it [...]

Free Team Building Activity-Playing Card Shuffle

Here is a free team building activity that can insert a ton of energy into your meeting right as you get started. If you have a big group that you need to organize into smaller teams (or tables), The Playing Card Shuffle is a great way to do it. To setup the room in advance, [...]

More team building tips at http://www.leadersinstituteteambuilding.com/free-tips-videos/free-team-building-tips

TCU Masters Degree Students use Team Building Event to Build Bears for Grief Stricken Children In Ft Worth Texas

Craig Wagganer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:03:09 +0000

TCU Masters Degree Students use Team Building Event to Build Bears for Grief Stricken Children In Dallas and Ft Worth, Texas. Over 50 people from the Master’s In Accounting program at Texas Christian University came together for a day of meetings which included a Rescue Bear Team Building Event. This special event included several activities that culminated in 25 stuffed animals being assembled that were given to The Warm Place; a unique compassionate organization that help children that have experience the death of a close relative. The activities of the afternoon included some very fun activities that incorporated valuable lessons on leadership and team building. Amidst the laughter, games and projects the participants were also given time to think over important principles that they can put into practice.

During the team building event personality and temperament was explored. It was clear that through the activities people understood a little more about how personality and temperament plays into our every day behavior. Often times that behavior can lead us to interact most with people who are most like ourselves. The problem is that when we work in homogeneous units we fail to capitalize on the strengths of others who could be in the group. When we surround ourselves with personalities most like our own we are missing a key ingredient to seeing a total or whole picture. Many teams are formed this way and short-circuit the effectiveness of the team because key ingredients to the whole are missing by the neglect of having a rounded team that includes the various temperament styles.

The Rescue Bear Team Building Event helps expose how silos in the workplace are formed and how to break out of that mold. It was a fun and experiential learning event and there was a great feeling about giving back to such a great community organization as The Warm Place. The 25 stuffed animals made and contributed will make a difference in the lives of children dealing with grief as the event made a difference in the lives of these Master’s program students.

Public Speaking Class in Houston, Texas Helps Participants Become More Effective Public Speakers

chrismcneany — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:40:59 +0000

The Leader’s Institute® conducted its public speaking class in Houston, Texas to participants who started out nervous and came out as very effective public speakers!

Since it was a small group, each participant received in-depth one-on-one coaching. They were able to receive invaluable tools to overcome nervousness in public speaking, learn how to persuade an audience, and were given a simple way to design presentations in 15 minutes or less! The Leader’s Institute® conducts public speaking classes regularly in Houston, Texas and throughout cities in the United States. It’s the fastest way to become more effective public speakers, and have a lot of fun in the process!

How to Pick the Best Team Building Event for Your Company

Doug Staneart — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:46:03 +0000

One of the most common challenges that event planners or convention organizers encounter is picking the perfect team building event for each group that they represent. We always want to organize something new and fresh, and we often want to have a memorable experience that participants talk about for weeks or months. So how to you determine what the absolute best team building event is for your group? Answer these simple questions, and the options will be narrowed down to just the events that will work for your team.

How Big is Your Group?

The main aspect of your group that will exclude many team building options is the size of the group. If your group is relatively small, many events just won’t work as well, and if your group is too big, other team events will need to be excluded. The general rule of thumb is that the smaller your group is, the better “behavior change” type team building events work, and the larger the event, the more you will want to look at Charity Team Building Events.

Small Groups: For smaller groups, team building skills like communication skills, people skills, conflict resolution, and coaching are a fantastic way to create a team culture for your group. If you have 15, 20, or 30 team members, you can create a real esprit de corps among team members, and team building events like this are really cost effective as well. A half-day event can typically be scheduled for as little as $2,500. So teams can generate great results for a smaller fee.

Middle Sized Groups: If your group size is between 30 and 50 people, experiential non-charity team building is a better fit. Events like outdoor team scavenger hunts or murder mystery events work extremely well for this sized group. If you are organizing a team scavenger hunt, you can organize the team into eight to 12 small groups on the treasure hunt, and they will have a blast. The murder mystery event can be delivered in a similar way. With less than 10 groups, every team is active and having fun. However, if you only have 10 people and you organize either one of these events, you’ll have a competition between, at most, two groups, so a lot of the fun is drained out of the events. If you have 20 or 30 teams all participating in and event like this, it will be confusing and the small groups will be stepping on each others toes — not what you want in team building.

Larger Groups: Once your group gets bigger than 50 people (and even as big as 500 or 5000 people) Charity Team Building Events are a much better choice. The reason why is that a Charity Team Event like a Build-A-Bike Event or Ace Race is extremely high energy team event where big groups of people can interact simultaneously, and the bigger the event, the bigger the impact. If you have a group of 20 people building bikes for kids, four or six bikes is not all that exciting, but if you have 500 people building bikes, and you donate 100 bikes to the Boys and Girls Club, it is a big deal. The bigger the group, the more necessary it is to conduct charity team building.

What is Your Venue

Choose an event that is appropriate to the venue. Often, if the event is at a tropical resort, event organizers will often hear, “Let’s do something outside,” and since the team building event is one of the few things that can be conducted outside, they decide to conduct the event outside even though it may not be practical. For instance, if you organize a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt at a fabulous resort, it won’t be nearly as fun as one in a downtown area. They may get to see the pool, and the cabanas, and the spa, but they will just see them in passing as the move around the resort. In a downtown area, though, they can uncover the history of the city, identify often-overlooked art masterpieces, and more. Often, when you hear the “Can we do something outside,” comments, that is code for, “We are at a fabulous resort, but we don’t get any time to enjoy the location because we are in stinking meetings all day.” So just give the participants a little more free time, and you’ll get better results. One of our favorite events for resort locations is the Ace Race Golf Team Building Event where we have participants build an entire mini-golf course out of non-perishable food items that later get donated to the local food bank.

If you use these guidelines, you’ll pick an awesome team building event for your group!

Swedish Match NA Team Building Event Builds Bikes for Boys and Girls in San Antonio

Craig Wagganer — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:42:47 +0000

What happens when 33 team members of Swedish Match North America get together for team building and fun? 6 children from the San Antonio Boys and Girls Clubs get brand new bikes! Swedish Match held a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in San Antonio Texas that ended with the bikes they built during the activities being given to area children. The event was a lot of fun and this competitive group enjoyed the activities that had them participating in several activities that culminated in 6 bikes being assembled and given away. The Swedish Match people we’re very active and their competitive sides came out as they saw each activity as a real competition and worked hard to win. The fun and laughter were infectious, and they even learned a few lessons along the way. It was a wonderful experience and the Swedish match participants were a great group to work with.

One of the real lessons was to observe the groups as they learned that competition can be very valuable if it brings out the best in everyone. But often we allow our competitive side to come out when there really isn’t any competition- and that can result in dreadful outcomes. We often work in different departments, different locations, and different divisions; there are many situations that segment a company. So we are often competing with limited personnel, limited HR resources, limited funding, and other resources. When we see our sector as being in competition with others within one company that competition can actually hurt the overall company. In fact, we need to be reminded that it is one company and that hurting one part is hurting the whole. The whole company cannot prosper if one part’s competition hurts another.

In the Build-A-Bike Team Buildingevent the goal was to build the bikes, all six of them. It wasn’t to see which team could get done first, or which team had the fewest defects, but to get all the bikes completed and safety checked. The folks from Swedish Match got it done, to the benefit of the children from the Boys and Girls Clubs. It was a great event, with great results. Thanks Swedish Match!

Team Building Tip-The Entertainment Value of Team Building Events

Doug Staneart — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:56:44 +0000

Team Building Tip-The Entertainment Value of Team Building Events

I’m ashamed to say that in the early part of my speaking career, I totally underestimated the value of entertainment in team building. Don’t get me wrong. I knew from day one that the best way to teach was to do so while people are having fun. Since I came from a teaching background, I learned very early on that people learn faster when they are laughing, so there has always been a focus on making the learning process entertaining. However, in the last ten years or so, a whole new team building industry has come onto the scene, and as a result, the entertainment aspect of training — specifically team building activities and events — has taken on a much bigger prominence.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my friends invited my family to go to Six Flags for a corporate event that his company throws every year. The company has about 3000 employees, so they rented out the entire theme park for their employees for the whole day, and they have been doing it for years. It was entirely designed as an entertaining reward for their employees, and it was quite fun. Conventions, incentive retreats, special events, and the like have long been a part of the rewards for working with big companies, but in recent years, the “shared experience” has expanded into charity team building events where the entire group actually works together for a common goal. These types of team building experiences have had a fantastically positive effect on corporate cultures and charitable organizations all over the world.

Corporate Team Building Events are More Complicated than Standard Corporate Entertainment Event

Because corporate executives and event planners have been organizing these entertainment packages for decades, they sometimes think that a big team building event should be organized the same way. This common mistake can cause big challenges, though, and the event will often flop.

For example, about once every couple of months, our instructors will receive a request to do a bike building event, but they will specifically ask that the event be just the building process without really having any team building activities. Last week, we got a call from an event planner who wanted 400 people to build 200 bikes as a “day to give back to the community.” After conducting over 3000 Build-A-Bike® team building programs, we’ve learned a lot about the bike building process. One of these truths is that the actual building of the bike is not that fun or exciting in and of itself.

When was the last time you were sitting up on Christmas Eve looking at a box of parts and thinking to yourself, “Man, I can’t wait to put that thing together”? The putting together of parts is not really fun — it’s work. Another problem is that most of the bikes shipped from Huffy or other bike companies come fairly assembled. It might take someone who is a bike novice about 15 to 20 minutes to put assemble one, and maybe 5 minutes for someone who has mechanical experience. So it would take 400 people a maximum of 20 minutes to put all 200 bikes together, and at the conclusion, there wouldn’t really be any type of shared experience created.

Most participants would walk away thinking, “Okay, I did my duty,” but they wouldn’t take a lot of pride in their work. It’s also not something that they would remember as being fun or entertaining.

A Great Team Building Event is Fun and Challenging!

This is where great team building events come in. Just like on a sports team, the fun and teamwork comes from overcoming adversity together. The pride and sense of accomplishment come from achieving something that was challenging. And delivering a challenging activity in a fun and memorable way is an art. The very best team building event facilitators are those who sweep the audience into a fun activity making it appear as though a competition is occurring within the group. Those who can get positive peer pressure working in a way to build up energy along the way and add a little bit of comedy can ensure that the events are effective every time. One of the reasons why charity team building events like Build-A-Bike and The Ace Race are so popular is that while these events are going on, team members are laughing and having fun, and because of the shared challenges that they overcome as a group, they feel a great sense of accomplishment at the end. So when the bikes are donated to cute kids at the end or when tons of food items are donated to the local food bank, the emotional impact is very high at the end.

A nice bonus is that when these activities are conducted at conventions or annual meetings, that feeling of pride and accomplishment tends to spill over and leave the participants thinking of the entire event as a major success.

So schedule a professional team building event for your next convention or annual meeting, and you will entertain as well as instruct your team!

Johnson Controls Hosts Build-A-Bike Team Building Event to Benefit Children in Dallas

Craig Wagganer — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:22:06 +0000

30 people from Jonson Controls, a contracting company with JC Penney, came together in Dallas, Texas for a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event. The event was help at the JC Penney headquarters training center and children form the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dallas received the bicycles at the end of the program. The team building event was fun and provocative and brought the participants together for several activities during the event. The group was divided into teams and had to accomplish several tasks that were both fun and stimulating. There was a lot of laughter during the event and people got to know each other a little better by seeing one another in a different situation than the regular work routine.

Oftentimes we work with people and even though we get to know them, we rarely consider them out of the framework of work. We may know about their personal lives at some level, but rarely consider that in the context of the working relationship. This activity has an intrinsic value in that it helps each person see their team members in a different than normal situation. That situation helps us to not only get to know each other better, but help us to understand each other better. It helps each individual to transfer the new understanding to each individual that it opens us to further possibilities in the work place. A new team spirit can emerge because we have a great understanding and a greater capacity to value individual contributions. This reality also comes because we also have a greater understanding and a greater capacity to value individual strengths. The Johnson Controls group learned to understand and value each other a little more because of the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event.

Thanks Johnson Controls for a great event. And thanks for the great contribution of 6 bicycles to the children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dallas. It was a fun learning experience and giving back to the community was a special ingredient to the success of the Build-A-Bike event.

Shared Experience Builds Teamwork

Doug Staneart — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:43:46 +0000

This weekend, my family and I went camping with our neighbors. Keep in mind that, although I’m a country boy from rural Arkansas and spent many-a-weekend in a tent, I’ve become accustomed to king-sized beds and concierge lounges in my recent years. In fact, it was funny when my wife told me about the invitation…

“I know you’re not really the camping type,” she said.

I was offended… “I can skin a buck and run a trot line, I’ll have you know.”

Well, within a few hours I was back in my rustic roots. My neighbor pulled in his camper and expanded the sides to fit the queen beds. I plugged in my portable hotspot and unpacked my iPad. Just the great outdoors and a little Direct TV. (This is way better than I remember when I was a kid.)

Anyway, the point is that my wife and I have known the neighbors for a year or so now, but we got to know them much better throughout the last 48 hours. We talked about different things. We laughed together. It wad nice and relaxing.

It was a shared experience.

One of the reasons that team building events are so valuable is that they create a shared experience for the entire group. It is something that is not work. It’s not the normal stress and pressure at the office. It let’s the group get to know each other on a personal level.

Teams work much better together when the members of the team have strong friendships. Those strong friendships develop from the shared experiences. So when you schedule your next convention or annual meeting, make sure and look for ways to create a fun, shared experience for your team. Good team building events and activities like charity team building events can create that emotional impact in a shared experience.

Building a Team is like Hiking a Mountain

Colette Peterson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:32:50 +0000

At first glance you wouldn’t think building a team is like hiking a mountain. The last weekend of summer, Labor Day Weekend, I had an opportunity to hike Mt. Audubon in the Roosevelt National Forest with a group of friends. As much as I enjoy my job I make it a general rule to try not to think about work on the weekend. But listening to and observing my hiking mates I couldn’t help but think about how building a team is like hiking a mountain.

Be clear

Within our group we had a range of physical abilities from those who are accustomed to 10,000 foot elevation to those who are more used to sea level altitude. At the beginning of the hike it was important to be clear about expectations and what success meant for each person – it wasn’t necessarily reaching the 13,233 foot summit for everyone. That same good clear communication is vital in the workplace. It’s important for organizations to be clear about goals – from sales goals to safety goals. Building a team environment is enhanced when you celebrate milestones like many companies are doing with philanthropic teambuilding.

Be consistent

I noticed a lot of leap frogging during our five and half hour hike. Some hikers went in bursts passing us, then later we’d pass them as they were resting, and they’d pass us again after a recharge. Others took a “slow and steady wins the race” approach with a more even pace to the top. Like personality styles, there’s not a right or wrong way, it’s neither good nor bad – it’s just different. For example, when our clients learn about personality styles in our teambuilding workshop Rescue Bear, they see that each style adds value to the team. A Driver is a Driver and an Expressive is pretty consistently an Expressive. Once you come to understand and appreciate those differences the resulting communication will be consistent.

Be collaborative

Everybody brings something to the table. On our hike there was a person with a map and GPS, another person keeping an eye on the time and any impending weather to ensure we got to the top and back safely. Even the person with a quick joke to take our minds off how tired our feet are was an important member of the team. Good leaders realize that when building a team it’s important to draw in people with varied skills for peak collaboration.

When the day is done and you’re rounding the final switchback and the parking lot is in site you have the satisfaction of knowing you accomplished something great together. Every day at work won’t be like climbing a 13,000 foot mountain, but when building a team you can strive to be clear, be consistent and be collaborative to make your workplace a better environment.

This article was written by Colette Peterson. Colette is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. You can reach Colette at 800-872-7830.

The Importance of Corporate Team Building in a Struggling Economy

Doug Staneart — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:55:38 +0000

Corporate team building is important in a struggling economy. As we all know…These are tough economic times! During tough economic times it is the tendency of most companies to button down the hatches, hunker down, and hopefully wait out the storm. While this may feel like the safest thing to do it is actually the wrong thing to do and can in fact be detrimental. When things turn around…and they WILL turn around…you need to be positioned to take full advantage of the changing winds. During these tough times it has become too easy for employees or even whole departments within a company to feel under-appreciated which in turn leads to under-performance. This is a cancer that can spread quickly through a company and suddenly before you realize it…it shows up in the profit margin or lack thereof. The result can be devastating. There is a fix however, and it is actually quite simple. Invest in your own company.

One of the safest and rewarding investments in your own company is start doing corporate team building. Team building events are a great way to bring your people and departments together in order to help remind them they are all on the same team and it will take total team effort to pull through. It is through corporate team building that you can show your employees the most important part of your company is the people you hire. A team building event is a great way to bring your folks together, build trust, infuse energy, and improve communication. A positive environment, a sense of purpose, and a team culture is what will make the difference between having your company run like a highly tuned well functioning machine or sputtering and on the verge of breaking down.

Building and maintaining a positive team culture and atmosphere is every bit as important as paying the electrical bill. It’s not just something you should think about. It something you need to start on immediately and is crucial to your company coming through these tough economic not just barely hanging on for dear life but charging forward.

Written by Joe Jessop:
Joe is a corporate leadership consultant with The Leader’s Institute® headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The Leader’s Institute provides dynamic and high energy leadership training and corporate team building events for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and universities all over the country.

Fearless Presentations Public Speaking Class Beats the Heat in Dallas Texas

chrismcneany — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:42:49 +0000

Fearless Presentations Public Speaking Class in Dallas, Texas. A great group of folks didn’t let the heat wave in Dallas stop them from picking up some tips to reduce nervousness and create captivating presentations for our Fearless Presentations public speaking class in Dallas August 15-16. We had one participant who excelled at using analogies in his presentations to make his content clear to his audience. Through our one-on-one coaching, we helped him fine-tune his analogies to make them even better! Fearless Presentations is a 2-day presentation skills class which gives participants the tools to deliver powerful introductions, learn how to most effectively incorporate stories and examples into any topic, and by the end of day 2, deliver world-class, compelling presentations. Well done, everyone!

Astellas Builds Bikes for Boys and Girls Clubs of Dallas Texas in Team Building Event

Craig Wagganer — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:38:17 +0000

A fun, interactive Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas was sponsored by Astellas Pharmaceuticals with the end result being 14 new bikes donated to children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas. The 7 boys and 7 girls that received the bikes enjoyed the moment along with the 90 people from Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. The action packed, fun event had the participants working in team and the teams working together to complete the tasks necessary to complete the bikes. The children received the bikes at the end of the program and when they entered everyone was full of cheers and worked top fit the bikes to each individual child.

After program there were many great comments on the event and how it was a great team building activity, as well as a lot of fun. The fun helped to reinforce the learning, and having the children present for the final part of the event was the icing on the cake. One of the comments was that in usual team building activities the learning is the main course and you don’t really realize the importance of the material until the end. But with this event, there was fun all the way through, and the learning made the event profitable. The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event combines the learning aspect along with the fun throughout the program so at the end it has been an enjoyable and profitable experience from beginning to end.

Thanks to Astellas and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas for a great team building and leadership encounter. As one of the participants said after the event, “I’ve been in team building and leadership training fro over 20 years and this is the best I’ve ever experienced.”

Sodexo Serves up Bicycles in a Build-a-Bike Team Building Event in Tulsa Oklahoma

Doug Staneart — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:33:26 +0000

The Food Services division of Sodexo cooked up an idea to include a Build-a-Bike ® team building event in their regional meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tulsa received new bicycles following the event. The regional management team set aside some time for community support in their quarterly meeting. The following video shows all the smiles that resulted.

Sodexo provides fresh, nutritious meals while working within the ethnic, cultural, and nutritional needs of their clients. They promote local, organic, and healthy ingredients grown through sustainable practices to keep their customers and their environment healthy and happy. The Build-a-Bike ® Team Building Event made some children happy as well.

Why is philanthropy important in team building?

Doug Staneart — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:49:08 +0000

Increasingly businesses are finding that philanthropy is important in team building efforts as a component of their corporate social responsibility. Initially some may have held these types of workshops as a public relations move or for perception, but the reality is people who participate in philanthropic team building programs not only love it – they remember it along with the team building skills they learned. They get so much more out of it than if they had done an individual recreational activity.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy and USA TODAY released the results of a survey conducted recently to find out find out how much money the 300 largest U.S. corporations give to charity and to which causes. “Leading CEOs say they are interested in the deep connection between society obstacles and business obstacles, that they are intertwined,” says Margaret Coady, director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), an international forum of business executives interested in improving corporate philanthropy.

One of the reasons philanthropy in team building is so important is because it is ‘hands on’. So often when we give to a charity we know it’s doing some good somewhere but we don’t really get to see the results of our giving. In team building workshops like Build-A-Bike or Rescue Bear, the receiving organization comes in at the end of the workshop. As one participant exclaimed, “It was the best event I’ve attended in my career — the result of having a bike to hand out at the end to the children was just so gratifying!!”

In 2010, Wal-Mart kicked off a five-year, $2 billion pledge to fight hunger in the U.S., which includes 1.7 billion pounds of food donations and $250 million in philanthropic support. According to Wal-Mart’s Leslie Dach, executive vice president of corporate affairs who also oversees the foundation’s charitable work, “The only way we successfully deliver on these commitments is by engaging all parts of the business, whether it’s our associates who are volunteering their time to local food banks or the heads of each division who are weighing in on the strategy, or our foundation’s checks to our charity partners.” So the Ace Race team building workshop was a perfect tie-in for their summer intern program recently, where boxed and canned food items were donated to a local food bank.

Wal-Mart is not alone when it comes to taking this strategic approach to sharing the message about company values. Many of the nation’s largest companies are using philanthropy in team building as part of their University, much like are Goldman Sachs Deloitte. It sets the tone immediately with new hires that these companies go beyond saying that they’re making a difference to actually making a difference

Companies are taking their giving efforts more seriously than ever before as a strategic part of their business because they see the impact these efforts are having. When it comes to social engagement, the question now for companies is, ‘How do you break through?’ What better way than adding philanthropy to your next team building workshop.

This article was written by Colette Peterson. Colette is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. You can reach Colette at 800-872-7830.

Why Team Building is an Important Incentive to Retain Top Talent

Colette Peterson — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:36:36 +0000

Why team building is an important incentive to retain top talent

A challenge many leaders face is, “How do you attract and retain talent with a workforce that is increasingly plugged in to social networking as a way of life?” Corporations have to adapt both how they recruit and how they work with people once they join to suit a new generation. More and more decision makers are turning to philanthropic team building workshops as an incentive for intern programs or goals achieved.

Celebrate your success

What better way to celebrate reaching a sales goal or for a manufacturing facility reaching a safety goal than with giving back to the local community? And with many philanthropic team building workshops you get a double bang for your buck – incentive for the achievement plus building team skills. In a recent Wall Street Journal article PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman Dennis Nally was asked how he defines talent. “Having the technical skills is important but that’s almost a given these days. Having the right softer skills in terms of being able to work in a collaborative environment, teaming with people, good communication skills, good sensitivities to cultural diversity.”

With experiential team building your team goes through activities where good/bad communication or collaboration is demonstrated so any issues rise to the surface. This is a much more effective way to address team building skills than in a lecture format.

Connect employees to the company values

Team building workshops are an important incentive for setting the tone with new employees. Instead of reading about the company values in the employee handbook, the message is much more powerful when delivered in a team building workshop. For example, WalMart contacted us recently because they wanted to add a “wow” to their intern program. Using WalMart brand food that was donated to a local food bank in our Ace Race team building workshop reinforced their Feeding America campaign and connected the interns to this important company value.

Invest in your assets

In most companies the biggest asset is the people who work there. Like any asset, if you want a return on that asset, you need to invest in it. Top performers have to be rewarded in order for company results to remain strong. As the economy slowly improves across various sectors team building as an incentive helps your team feel connected to your company, your culture, your values.

Inspiration is the key. Many businesses see an inspired workforce as key to expanding. Consider adding teambuilding as an incentive to celebrate your success, connect employees to your company values and protect your assets. Companies have to grow again, and you need an engaged, motivated and retained work force to do that.

Summary of a Few Good Team Building Tips

Doug Staneart — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:57:45 +0000

Below are a few team building tips and team building articles that were publish in the past. (Sometimes, real good ideas get buried in the blog, so here is a review of a few.)

Three Requisites for Corporate Team Building and Motivation

There are three attitudes that need to be present in each team member to make the team a peak performer. Those three are confidence, humility, and commitment. When these three are present in each member of a team then the groundwork is set for an efficient, effective team. Of course a team can be effective [...]

Team Motivation: Teams Learn Faster When They’re Having Fun

Need some Team Motivation? It’s common knowledge that people learn faster and produce more when they are having fun. So why should work be any different? There are several ways to add fun to any project [...]

Improve Your Team Culture with Team Building Activities

Team building activities help build a purposeful team culture within your organization. One of the reasons companies have offsite team meetings is to, not only share and gather information, but also to improve their team culture by giving people “face time”. If you’re planning an offsite meeting, here are some things to keep in mind [...]

More team building tips at http://www.leadersinstituteteambuilding.com/free-tips-videos/free-team-building-tips

Nexen Petroleum Team Building Event Builds Bikes for Children in Dallas

Craig Wagganer — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:37:46 +0000

Over 30 Nexen employees came from Canada, The United Kingdom and the United States to Dallas, Texas, to take part in 3 days of meetings that included a Build-A-Bike Team Building event®. The event has a great philanthropic twist at the end as Children from the Rockwall County Boys and Girls Clubs provided 6 children to receive the bikes at the end of the event. The three hour event had the participants involved in several fun activities that aided in their teambuilding and leadership skills. From the opening exercise to the giving of the bikes to the children the energy and enthusiasm was high and the laughter contagious.

What can a Build-A-Bike team building event® teach us about teamwork? One simple lesson that is experiences is that teamwork goes beyond the immediate team to involve a larger team. In this instance there were 6 teams given various tasks, but it wasn’t until they learned to work together across team boundaries that the problems were able to be solved. When the smaller teams enlisted the help of others the actual team work among teams provided the benefit. Often time companies are divided by location, divisions, departments, and in this case countries. But when we work across those boundaries to help each other progress really occurs. We may compete for limited human resources, time, financial consideration, budgetary appropriation, and any other things, but competition can become detrimental to the overall welfare of the larger company. If one branch succeeds at the cost of another the company at large suffers.

This is just one of the lessons demonstrated by the Build-A-Bike Teambuilding event®. The people at Nexen did a great job contributing the event and in making a positive difference in the life do six boys and girls, their families and the communities they live in.

Self-Growth Website

Doug Staneart — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:29:45 +0000

Just wanted to let you know about one of my absolute favorite websites called www.selfgrowth.com. It has one of the most comprehensive libraries of motivational and self-help articles, videos, websites, and more, and it is a great place to spend a few minutes early in the morning before the work day. If you are a fan of the site, let me know by hitting the LIKE button above.

Combine Soft Skills Training and Charity Team Building

Doug Staneart — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:14:06 +0000

Want to get a really big bang for your training dollar? Combine Soft Skills Training and Charity Team Building for a great solution. For years, companies have realized the value of combining fun team building activities with a charitable donation to underprivileged kids or families. In fact, after we invented the Build-A-Bike® Team Building Activity, a whole new industry called philanthropic team building was created. These charity team activities fit really well into conventions or annual meetings, because they add a lot of energy and camaraderie to these annual events. But what happens when you have a smaller group, and you want to achieve some real team oriented behavior change such as conflict resolution, communication skills, or even supervisory skills or management training? Well, we’re gotten some really good results in combining classroom skill-building sessions with charity team building.

Classroom Skill-Building Team Activities

Classroom training will generate better skill development and retention than the game-type training that usually makes up the bulk of the high energy team activities. However classroom doesn’t have to be boring. Typically, classroom teachers have a habit of lecturing audiences, so although the material might be instructional or informative, retention is low because the audience is bored. A better way to deliver classroom training is to give a little bit of information, and then reinforce it with activity that improve retention and makes the training fun. In fact, one of the techniques that we use is to add some type of “Wow!” activity as well. For instance, in creating a team culture, we show participants how to improve their memory so much that they can remember, pretty much word-for-word, 28 Leadership Principles. Most participants are shocked at how easy it is to remember a huge list of items when they learn this secret.

Add Charity Team Building

So once the group is having fun and surprising themselves with how much they have learned and how easy it was to retain and use the information from the morning session, you can add in a high-energy charity team building event in the afternoon to add real emotion to the day. Charity team building events are compelling because they often reinforce skills from the earlier session. For instance, a Personality Temperament session in the morning might poke fun at the temperaments a little and show how each will react in a stressful situation. Then, if you add an outdoor scavenger hunt in the afternoon and set a time limit, the reactions of each temperament really take over. The “drivers” just want to go while the “analytical” want to form a plan first. The practical application of the classroom session really comes alive in the charity team building session.

When you combine soft-skills training with charity team building, you get a valuable combination of fun activities and real skill development, so you achieve a big bang for your investment.

Building a Team in a Challenging Economy

Doug Staneart — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:50:59 +0000

Building a team or increasing teamwork in an organization can be more challenging in a tough economy, but it is critical that good leaders spend time building a team culture or a team atmosphere when things aren’t going so great. When the economy is booming, many organizations focus on team building activities because leaders want to make sure that they attract and keep the highest quality employees and associates. Often, though, when uncertainty in the economy occurs, leaders often cut back on training and team building investment. This can be a big mistake, though. When morale is down, teambuilding activities can give a team a much needed boost in energy and increase their positive expectations of the future. If you increase the morale, you decrease the fear that many associates will typically experience.

Improve Morale with Team Building Activities

When morale is down, normal communication that is important to the success of an organization decreases as well. When this occurs, mistakes increase and re-work becomes more prevalent as well. An easy way to boost morale very quickly is to invest in a fun, professional team building activity that gets your team to focus on the good that your organization accomplishes every day. Charity team building events can be a fun way to improve morale because each of these types of activities also donate proceeds to charity give a double return. Your team feels good about themselves and the company, the charity receives much-needed proceeds, and your organization might even get a nice bump in positive publicity.

Decrease Fear and Increase Efficiency

In addition, when there is a challenge in the economy, most people, good hard-working people, go into a defensive stance. They want to keep their head down and not make waves. We do this out of self-preservation, but this type of behavior takes away the enthusiasm and creativity that companies, especially young companies, rely on to create those breakthroughs that give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Fear in the workplace makes this creativity go away, so a good team building activity or event can help foster this creativity — at least for a short period of time. One of the important things for leaders to do during these times is to go to their people individually and let each of them know how important that they are to the success of the organization. Encourage them to share their ideas. Great leaders make this dialogue a part of both their normal day-to-day discussions with their people as well as a part of the communication to the organization as a whole at conventions or annual meetings.

Team Work Starts at the Top

The team will always be a reflection of the leaders at the top of the organization, so if the leaders are scared of the future, if the leaders are keeping their heads down, then the team members will follow suit. So any time communication comes from the leadership within an organization, whether the communication is internal documents, press releases, or just communication between executives, that communication needs to reflect optimism and a team culture. Edify your coworkers and your company, and you’ll see morale and teamwork improve very quickly. When you organize conventions and annual events, make sure to focus very specifically on the perception that is created by your speeches, guest speakers, activities, and events. Recently, I was asked to help deliver a team event in Orlando where the company actually rented out the entire Omni Hotel just so that they could really customize the entire event for their team. I was pretty impressed when I was walking around the pool to get to the outdoor restaurant and noticed a huge logo for the client as the centerpiece of the pool. My first impression was, “Wow, this company is doing really well.” In reality, though, that logo printing might have cost about $100 or so to create. Those small additions to your events add a lot to the perception that you are creating.

So when times are tough, make sure and use this as an opportunity to build your team culture by improving morale and decreasing fear. Make a conscious effort to present positive communication to your team, your coworkers, and the general public, and you’ll build a stronger team while your competitors “keep their heads down.”

Avon Builds Bikes for Children in Irving, TX

Craig Wagganer — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:00:43 +0000

Over 150 top level leaders from Avon Products Inc. came together in Irving, Texas for an afternoon of fun and learning while experiencing a Build-A-Bike team building event. The end result was a lot of laughter, a sense of camaraderie and 24 bikes being built and given to local children from Safe Haven of Dallas, Texas. The children being present at the end of the event to receive the bikes added to the pleasure of the evening. The leaders came together for several days of meetings, which included a time to focus on teamwork, while having fun and making a charitable contribution to the community. The group overcame several barriers to work together to accomplish tasks, solve problems and eventually gather the materials assemble the bikes. With the various leadership groups represented everyone had fun and also made some discoveries about themselves as well as others.

Often times because we have been engaged in a conversation we think tat communication has taken place. But real communication is predicated on listening and understanding; much more than just conversing. We often say things we understand but the receiver of the words and body language interprets it completely differently than we meant. Both parties are clear to themselves what they are saying, but don’t take the time and energy to make sure they understand what the person really means. There can be a vast difference between what someone says and what they mean; between what they think they said and how it was understood. Carefully listen means restating and clarify what is heard so to ascertain the correct meaning of the communication. Many times it has been said that we are born with two ears and one mouth meaning that we should listen twice as much as we speak. Good advice, as long as the listening involves making sure we understand, so that we can be sure to be understood. Next time you are involved in an important conversation make sure you listen well, understand completely, and turn your conversation into constructive communication.

Thanks Avon for a great team building event and for making the difference at work, and in the Irving community by enhancing the lives of children.

MN Cigna Group Builds Bikes In Dallas

Craig Wagganer — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:56:34 +0000

Members of Cigna in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, came together for meeting in Dallas for an afternoon of fun and team building. 90 people built 14 bikes during an afternoon of fun, laughter and even a little bit of instruction. Everyone enjoyed the activities that culminated in the bicycles being donated to children from the Boys and Girls clubs of the Greater Dallas Area. The children were present at the end of the program to accept the bikes- much to surprise the bike builders. It was a great feeling when those who had participated in the event got to see the children’s faces and talk with those who were receiving the bikes. It was a very touching moment to end an afternoon of fun and learning.

Often times we get caught up in our own lives. We’re working; we have families, other activities and so many draws on our time. We forget that we also have opportunities to make a positive impact on lives around us if we will just stop and look around. Even in corporate programs it is easy to have meetings and training events, and forget the impact we can have not just within the organization, but within the community. When these special people came together it was to benefit others, not just themselves. They had their necessary meetings, but then they got an opportunity to relax, have fun and make a significant contribution to their community.

Thanks to Cigna 14 children were given some positive reinforcement along with new bikes. What a great time to have fun, learn a little about leadership and teamwork and then benefit the kids and the community. The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event was a hit with Cigna and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas.

State Bar of Texas Hosts Hero Quest to Benefit ProBAR on South Padre Island

Craig Wagganer — Sat, 28 May 2011 15:30:07 +0000

The Young Leaders of the State Bar of Texas held meeting on South Padre Island and as part of their meetings hosted a Hero Quest Team Building Event. Hero Quest is a high tech scavenger hunt in which the teams answer problems, take pictures and make videos. It is a fun time of finding the answers and resolving the problems to accomplish the tasks. The web is accessed to get the necessary information to complete the assignments. This event took them through the grounds ad property of the Isla Grand on South Padre Island, Texas. When all the teams were finished it was a lot of laughter and fun as the pictures and videos were reviewed by the entire group. At the end of the event a check for $1000.00 was donated to help ProBAR.

When faced by a problem situation we usually react according to our experience and personality to solve the problem. AS a team, we usually begin by talking over what each individual thinks is the best way. In doing so we become representatives of our own ideas, and thereby often the protector, as well. When teams are sent out on a scavenger hunt, they usually just start solving the problems, and searching for the items they have been assigned. Teams often start tasks the same way, just begin and gather momentum and head toward the solution.

In a scavenger hunt usually as least one person, or one group, will realize it is best to take an overall look at the situation and try to come to an agreement as to the best solution. An important step is to take time to plan. This can save a lot of steps and a lot of backtracking. The SBOT participants did a great job of accomplishing the tasks in the best way possible. They knew to evaluate and plan before acting.

Team building events, such as the Hero Quest, can help the participants understand team dynamics and how they can be more effective in team settings, and in leading teams to ultimate effectiveness. A real joy is when a donation to a very worthy cause is also included.

Unique Team Building Event to Build Teamwork

Doug Staneart — Thu, 05 May 2011 07:25:36 +0000

Looking for a Unique and Fun Team Building Event to Build Teamwork?

When folks call our office looking for a fun team building event, the most often thing that they request is “something different.” We’re always looking for a unique team building event — “one that is better than what we did last year.”

About a decade ago, The Leader’s Institute Team Building revolutionized the industry when we invented the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event®, because it was the first major nation team training program with a charity donation included into the activity. Within the next three years, philanthropic, or charity, team building events became the most requested type of training in the world. (Build-A-Bike alone has given away over $2,000,000 worth of bikes to needy kids in the last five years!)

So what is the Next Big Fun Team Building Event?

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been beta testing our new Ace Race Team Building Event, and we have gotten more positive accolades about this program than any other program that we have ever created. In this event, team compete with each other to create miniature golf course holes in a banquet hall. There are a couple of twists in the activity, though. First, each hole is made out of non-perishable food items like canned goods and boxes of macaroni and cheese, so at the end of the event, the items are donated to a local food bank. The second twist? The competitive nature of the teams (human nature) makes each team want to create elaborate and challenging holes, but the reason that the event is called the “Ace Race” is that each team is playing a scramble to get a hole-in-one on each hole, not to get the lowest score. “Scramble” is a good term, because once teams figure out the real goal of the course, they have to scramble together to alter their hole before time runs out. Participants laugh and cheer throughout the final “competition,” and they have an absolute blast.

Looking for something absolutely different? Something your team has never done before?

We can pretty much guarantee that when your group wakes up the day of your convention that they will not, in any way, think they will be building a miniature golf course. But they will be absolutely glad that they did.

In a resent Ace Race, Pfizer ended up donating almost a half-ton of food to City Meals on Wheels in New York City. The executive director of the charity was extremely grateful for the donation. If you want to get accolades from your group and do something good for your community, the Ace Race is the next big thing in team building!

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Team Building-Build a Team Boosted with Creativity

Doug Staneart — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:35:18 +0000

Many companies are focusing on building a team with creativity these days. Why? Creativity pays off in a lot of ways. Whether you’re building a sales team, expanding product offerings, or encouraging a team atmosphere, put on your creative thinking cap to do business in a different way.

Stimulate your sales team. People who can come up with something different will stand out for the customer. Dr. Lisa Gundry, Professor of Management in the Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and Director of the Leo V. Ryan Center for Creativity and Innovation at DePaul says, “effective sales performance relies on a series of relationships. Most business competitors already know all the strategies and tactics we use to win business. Creativity can come up with unconventional ways to sell and bring the unexpected to a sales relationship. Being able to properly identify what customers really need and finding new ways to solve their problems brings loyalty and satisfaction above and beyond what you are currently doing.” Creativity makes the difference between an audience that snoozes and one that listens.

Generate new product ideas. Even those who don’t think of themselves as creative will surprise themselves – and others – when they are free to work in a creative atmosphere. The premise behind Rick Highsmith’s Squish Creativity is that the fundamental building blocks to success are easily stifled when managers “squish creativity like a bug”. According to Highsmith you can foster creativity by allowing open discussion of any and all possible solutions. “We call this Green-Light thinking. It is the quantity not quality of ideas that is emphasized. There are no wrong answers in this process. Your role is to encourage the freewheeling generation of ideas. If you defer judgment, people will hitch hike a solution on another idea that had little merit. In this atmosphere the magic of creativity flourishes.” Fostering this type of atmosphere is a critical piece for building a team that consistently comes up with new product ideas.

Cultivate a positive environment. Positive language is itself a creative tool in reshaping thought and building creativity. Take the case of a major luxury hotel who a few years ago began a positive language campaign. When asked a question, employees could not imply reply, “OK” or “All right,” but had to respond with an enthusiastic “Great!” or “Happy to do so!” This simple change in language actually translated into a change in attitude among employees. That change resulted in new ideas on how to serve customers, which in turn has helped build a strong customer service model. Small shifts can make a big change. Brainstorming in a relaxed atmosphere helps when building a team with the ability to think not just outside the box, but beyond the box. Take our newest teambuilding activity, Ace Race Team Building. If you have a pile of boxed food items and canned goods, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably not, “Oh, a mini golf hole.” But that’s exactly what your team will build, with a little creative thinking. One of the values of interactive team building activities is that you get an opportunity to practice and receive immediate feedback on skills you’ve just learned, like creativity.

Everyone is creative, or at least started out that way. When he was younger one of my nephews could conjure up many different adventures from a large cardboard box. It’s a race car, a rocket, or a ship depending on his mood. Somewhere along the line as adults creativity fades, or is squished as Highsmith suggests. Adults need to create an atmosphere where they can practice creativity and enhance it in themselves. Like highly creative environments at Facebook and Google, the more inspirational your workplace is, the easier it is to break the creativity block and discover new ideas.

This article was written by Colette Peterson. Colette is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. You can reach Colette at 800-872-7830.

Keeping the Peace at Work-Conflict Resolution from a Boss Perspective

Doug Staneart — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:48:03 +0000

Steele Steadiman is a boss… (not a leader or a manager) and is in an eternal conflict with human resources. If you are looking for leadership training or to be a good coach with your direct reports, it’s a good idea to just do the opposite of what he suggests. However, if you are looking for a very entertaining keynote speaker, Steele will get your group fired up.

A survey by Accountemps indicates Managers spend an average of 18 percent of their time intervening in employee disputes. That is more than seven hours a week or nine weeks per year. Past Accountemps studies from as far back as 1991 show very similar results.

These survey results show what it is important to be a Strong Boss. Employees’ personal problems are messy and like a tidal wave of emotion can eat up a lot of time. The touchy, feely folks at Accountemps offer five tips for minimizing personality conflicts. I have added my own suggestions.

1. Know when to step in. You don’t want to interject every time a minor issue arises, but you can’t afford to turn a blind eye to problems that jeopardize the group’s output… Steele says, “Punish all parties involved in the disruption. This will keep employees from bothering you with their petty problems.”

2. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch. When friction is clearly stemming from the actions of a single individual, remind that person that the ability to collaborate and treat coworkers with respect is a requirement of the job. Steele says, “Collaborate?!? No, Elaborate your dissatisfaction with the employee twice and then fire the troublemaker.”

3. Help employees get to know each other. Provide opportunities for your staff to interact in non-work activities, such as lunches or volunteer activities; familiarity can breed greater understanding. Steele says, Oh please! Strong Bosses don’t get involved in familiarity. Remember familiarity breed’s contempt. Keep your distance from employees and don’t waste time on socializing.

4. Reward positive role models. Dole out praise, promotions and choice assignments to individuals who contribute to a supportive work environment. Recognizing staff for being team players sends a clear message that how they interact with others is as important as their job performance. Steele says, “You can tell eggheads from Human Resources are involved with this suggestion. Nothing is as important as job performance. To suggest that being a team player is the same as being the top producer is just silly!

5. Make good hiring choices from the start. Hiring individuals with excellent interpersonal skills who are a good fit with your organization’s culture will reduce the potential for future conflicts. Steele says, “It is a big mistake to look for interpersonal skills in hiring. People like that talk too much and want to be happy. I think you look for the best talent with the least interpersonal skills. This way the new employee keeps their mouth shut, head down and focuses on the work in front of them.

Steele Steadiman is a Bosses’ Boss. After a successful career in the business world, he is committed to showing weak leaders the path to control. Steele is the author of “Squish Creativity Like a Bug.” He lectures and travels the world helping bring managers and leaders to his level.

Use Team Building Initiatives for Team Development

Colette Peterson — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:35:59 +0000

By Colette Peterson

Team building initiatives can help foster team development within your organization. It’s common knowledge that people learn faster by doing than by hearing, but teams also become much more productive when they are having fun as well. So why should work be any different? Here are some ways to use active participation in your meeting, activities, or just day-to-day workload to build teamwork and make learning more memorable.

Learn faster with active engagement. When you sit in a workshop and hear a lecture about trust and communication, it seems to make sense but you’re not getting an opportunity to apply that learning. It’s like learning to play tennis. You can watch a video and read a book, but only when you put the racket in your hand and get out on the court do you really know what you’ve learned. The same is true for team skills like effective communication. Clients often say they want to improve communication. What does that mean? How will you know when it’s improved? If I walked into your office on Monday morning and you were communicating better, what would that look and sound like? Team building initiatives gives participants the practice and the clarity they need.
Produce greater results by interacting. People often learn faster and produce more when they are interacting with others. Think about running a 5k marathon with a group of people versus running the same distance by yourself. What might be challenging by yourself tends to be a lot more fun when you are surrounded by a group of people working toward the same goal. People feed off the energy and enthusiasm of all the other participants. Once your team experiences that dynamic, it naturally spills over into the workplace.
Acting together stretches creativity. There’s an old Japanese Proverb “None of us are as smart as all of us”. Bringing people together with professionally instructed team initiatives helps participants see challenges in a different light and overcome problems by interacting. We provided our Build-A-Bike workshop for a client in New York last month where participants started seeing their small group as separate from the whole team, simulating the “silo effect”. Our team initiatives are designed to make sure the teams have to interact with each other, and thus breaking down those silos. This enhanced their team development back at the office when they were able to dissolve silos and share ideas there as well.

In today’s economy everybody has to learn to do more with less. Using team initiatives helps your group learn to work together faster and produce greater results, all while having fun!

This article was written by Colette Peterson. Colette is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. You can reach Colette at 800-872-7830.

JC Penney Hero Quest Team Building Event Donates to USO in Dallas

Craig Wagganer — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:24:48 +0000

JC Penney’s held a Hero Quest Team Building Event in Dallas, Texas, for their Children’s Design and Development Department. As a result they donated a big check to the Dallas USO, located at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. The Hero Quest is a high tech scavenger hunt in which cell phones with internet access and cameras are used to make discoveries in a predetermined area. The JC Penney group met at their headquarters in Plano for some fun introductions to the days event and then moved to the uptown area surrounding McKinney and Hall street for the scavenger hunt. The fifty participants laughed their way from the headquarters, to uptown and through the streets. Everyone had a fun time while completing the tasks of solving problems, taking group pictures and making team videos. The last part of the event was reviewing the answers to the questions and viewing the pictures and videos. There was a lot of laughter and people got to have some fun and see their co-workers in a different environment.

When change is introduced it can often come with fear and trepidation, especially for those who are not introducing the change but are having the change brought to them. An important ingredient of making change successful is to have a high level of trust and the leadership maintaining a high level of integrity. JC Penney has been successfully navigating the waters of change by being open and honest about expectations. When people can approach change with an open attitude and not be negative in speculating about the future of the change, then it can be visualized as a positive step which can be a learning and company enhancing move. This team is remarkable in their adaptability and their care for another. They would be a great example to others of how to approach change in the workplace.

Thanks, JC Penney, for a great Hero Quest event; for the opportunity to work with your great people. And thank you for your generous donation to the very worthwhile organization; The USO of Dallas. The Hero Quest was a fun and enjoyable experience with a great benefit to our service heroes.

Team Building Events-How to Choose the Best Corporate Team Building Event

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:54:06 +0000

Team Building Events (and specifically how to choose the best, most appropriate, team building event) for your group or situation can be extremely difficult because of… Hello?! Team Building Event Companies! If you Google “Team Building Events,” you will get results from every type of activity from classroom team training, to charity team building events, to outdoor scavenger hunts, to ropes courses. You will also get results from non-team building activities but fantastic shared-experiences that can be a fun way for teams to spend time together and can be a fun memorable event, but these types of activities are not really team building events — meaning that the results of the activity will be fun and memorable, but will not actually build teamwork unless the team atmosphere is already pretty high.

So how do you choose the best corporate team building activity?

There are three different, main, genres of team building activities or team events. I have listed them below along with the situations that each will be most appropriate.

Small Group Shared Experience Team Activities: These types of activities include any type of shared-experience whose primary purpose is to just let the group have fun with each other. As long as you have a small group and a pretty good atmosphere within the group, these types of activities are fun and very inexpensive. You are only limited by your creativity here, so you can do the old standbys like go bowling play golf (or miniature golf). There are neat places like Dave and Busters where your team can have dinner and play pool or arcade games, etc. You could take a day off and go to a theme park or dinner and a show. Pretty much, any type of fun activity will work here. There are lots of “non-team building” organizations who specialize in these types of events. (When I say “non-team building,” I really just mean that these organizations primarily do some other service as their main revenue stream, and team building is just a side revenue stream for them.) Organizations that specialize in these types of activities include big resort hotels, cooking schools, race tracks (racing schools), theme parks, bowling alleys, etc. Once your group size increases to more than 20 people or so, or if you have a specific challenge within your group that you want to improve like communication challenges, a new team leader, groups that have merged together, or other team issues, these type of team activities can actually be counter productive — so be careful unless you have a small group and a pretty strong team atmosphere already.
Classroom Team Building: Many people think classroom=boring, because for most of our lives, if we are in a classroom, we are being bored to death. However, good team building companies and team building facilitators are enthusiastic and fun. Teams who have professional team building facilitators come in and lead these classroom events can really improve a lot of team building activities in a very short period of time. Since participants learn faster when they are having fun, a group can really get fantastic results and feel like the activities were time well spent. This type of corporate team building event is best for groups where a specific team result is trying to be reached such as if an organization merges with another company, and the leaders are trying to create a new team culture or if leadership has changed and the new leaders want to start fresh. If you are having quarterly meetings or annual meetings at your office or if you have breakout sessions at you annual convention, then these types of events work really well in those types of time slots. You can also have these facilitators come out and do keynote speeches that are fun and funny if you have an open slot at your convention or meeting. Unlike the shared-experience team building events, very few companies specialize in classroom team building, so they are harder to find. Be careful, because if the company specializes in big events and not seminars or workshops, you can end up with a bunch of rah-rah activities that don’t get you the best results. Try entering “classroom team building” or “classroom team building seminars” into Google, and you should get a nice shortlist of qualified companies.
Big Group Shared Experience Team Building Events: This type of event is very similar to the small group team events above, however they are much, much, much more challenging to pull off. For instance, if you have eight people in your group, you can go to a bowling alley and rent two lanes or have two foursomes at a golf course, and everyone will be active the entire time. However, if you have 100 people, or 1000 people, if you try the same activities, at any given time, a ton of people will be standing around watching (doing nothing and getting bored) unless the facilitators really know what they are doing. So if you have a big group and you want your team to have fun and stay active, this is where you really want to invest in a professional team building company. (Especially if your reputation is on the line.) DO NOT leave this decision to your event planner, by the way. Event planners are very good at getting great deals on hotel rooms, organizing complex events, making sure the food works for the group, etc., but many of them will do whatever it takes to please the customer (you). So if you ask them for a specific team building activity, they will give it to you, even if the event or activity is not the best result for your group. You will get a MUCH better result if you contact the professional team building company yourself, because these professionals will help you pick the absolute most appropriate event for your team. If you are making a mistake, the team building facilitators will tell you, however if you have an event planner as a go-between, and you are making a mistake, the team building facilitator will tell the event planner. The event planner, because he/she wants to please you, will likely just find another company who will do what you want. Typically, you will end up with a group from category number one above. So be very careful when you have a lot on the line with a really big group.

The key to picking the best event for your group is to ask two main questions. Question number one is (1) Are you looking for a specific behavior change? If so, hire a team building company who specializes in classroom team training or hire a good team oriented keynote speaker. The second question is (2) Do you have a big group or a small group? If the group is small and you just want the group to have fun, some money and take everyone bowling. If you have a large group and you just want them to have fun, hire a company that specializes in big charity team building events or fun corporate team building activities.

Noble Energy Event Provides 35 Stuffed Animals to First Responders

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:24:00 +0000

Noble Energy, offshore oil rig specialist, held a Rescue Bear Workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana, that provided 35 stuffed animals for first responders to carry on their emergency vehicles. The stuffed animals are used by EMTs, paramedics, firemen and police officers to comfort children that are in traumatic situations. In this case the fire department from Kenner, Louisiana, benefitted from Noble Energy’s generosity and has 35 stuffed and outfitted animals to carry on their vehicles so that children that are in distressing circumstances can be consoled. The team building event was very enjoyable and the participants had a lot of fun while doing something very worthwhile for the community.

The 70 people that took part in the event were mostly offshore oil rig workers. It was an enjoyable sight to see these men and women going through team building exercised that ultimately led to the stuffed animals being constructed. Often times as independent workers we only see teamwork as a necessity in certain situations or circumstances. These participants were independent and capable people who had a good grasp on the importance of teamwork on an oil rig, and through the exercises, got to see one another in a little different light, as well as experience team building at a different level.

We see teamwork in light of the teams we work in close proximity with and sometimes fail to see the larger picture. The people we work with on a daily basis become our team and in that limited vision we understand and define teamwork. But team work has a much larger application. In this case the team work goes beyond the oil rig to include all the support staff and office people that keep the total company operational. By bringing together a variety of workers from across the company to participate in the Rescue Bear Team Building Workshop they got to know and, more importantly, appreciate each other a little better, all the while learning key concepts in making teamwork work.

Thanks to Noble Energy, the Rescue Bear team building opportunity will continue to make a difference in the participants from Noble Energy, the first responders who will use the stuffed animals, and the families that will benefit from their children receiving the animals during difficult circumstances.

Local Youths Drink Up The Generosity Of The Dr. Pepper Snapple Group in Dallas, TX

Craig Wagganer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:14:12 +0000

A team from the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group came together in Plano (Dallas), Texas, on the 13^th of December to take part in a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event. The 24 participants had a lot of fun getting to know each other a little better, seeing one another in a different than normal situation, and working together to build 4 bikes that were given to worthy recipients from the Richardson Branch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Great Dallas. The group from legal departments from the US, Mexico and Canada came together and enjoyed each others company and made a difference in some young people’s lives. It was a great experience and seeing how the bikes came together was a treat. The major treat was when the four children receiving the bikes were introduced to the team that had assembled the gifts. It was a great end to a great event. The DPSG were great hosts not only building the bikes for the children, but providing them with some refreshments during their visit.

Often teams from different locations can easily become segmented and see themselves as being in competition with each other. Rather than completing a task, or working together to solve problems, gain information, and make good decisions competition results in each section, division, department, location, etc., hoarding information, not cooperating with others, or even sabotaging others work. When this happens the entire company suffers. The competition not only hinders one part of the organization, but as one part suffers, so dies the whole. Through the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group got to witness the “competition” problem firsthand. They also realized the need to overcome bad competition to make sure the organization prospers and each segment contributes to the whole of the team.

Thanks DPSG for a great experience and a great program. Thanks also to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Great Dallas for bringing the kids and helping to make the event a great experience.

Do You Really Know How To Motivate Your Team?

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:26:36 +0000

Leadership, And Management Skills Are Not Coded Into Our DNA. Do You Really Know How To Motivate Your Team?

Leadership and management skills are not coded into our DNA. But you hear people say, “He or she is a born leader.” Well….not really. They may know less about their own team and what motivates it than they imagined. Just ask managers what motivates workers and they will pop off a list that is topped by “recognition of good work.” Sure that makes sense. We all love praise. But have you talked to your team about what truly motivates them? Their answers may be very surprising, and certainly enlightening.

A research team at Harvard put diaries in the hands of employees. What came back was a picture of the psychology of the employee and what motivates them.

§ Making progress at work

§ Figuring something out

§ Completion of difficult tasks

Think back to the last time your boss said, “Good work.” What does that mean? Did it feel good? Or did it feel like a cursory observation?

A strength-centered compliment has a lot more motivational power. “Ah, you figured it out! Your intelligence and determination, is obvious by the way you made the details talk to get the answer.” Now it feels like all of your hard work resulted in a higher level of appreciation, and more importantly, you know you accomplished something, figured it out.

A young Albert Einstein was always trying to figure things out. Throwing a spit wad at another boy in front of the class produced a scientific “Aha…moment” for him. He realized that gravity had a role in the speed of the spitball. His teacher did not care what he learned or achieved, and rewarded him with expulsion. A small acknowledgement of his discovery may have been worth a little behavior modification.

The Harvard study, part of the Breakthrough Ideas for 2010, offers fitting advice when an employee makes progress, a discovery, or solves a challenge.

“Negative events generally have a greater effect on people’s emotions, perceptions, and motivation than positive ones, and nothing is more demotivating than a setback—the most prominent type of event on knowledge workers’ worst days.”

Good management and skills must be fostered, practiced, practiced more, and used frequently. If you want to work more effectively with your team, listen to them. There is nothing in DNA coding that makes any of us a natural leader, who motivates and leads well. Your team has the answers to motivation. So listen.

Bobby Cox Companies Gives Away Bikes in Fort Worth, Texas

Craig Wagganer — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:05:11 +0000

The Bobby Cox Companies, owners of three restaurant franchises across Texas brought together 40 of the General Managers and District Managers from Rosa’s Café’s for a charity team-building event- Build-A-Bike. Throughout two hours of activities the participants worked together, laughed together and got to see one another in a little different than normal situations. The result was a fun and entertaining afternoon which culminated in 6 children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Worth receiving brand new bikes. The time working through team building activities and solving problems, puzzles and answering questions; working together to finish tasks and reward deserving children made for an afternoon that will belong remembered.

Companies often use competition to try and get the best efforts form their employees. The Bobby Cox Companies have learned a secret to competition; it can often be destructive. If competition creates an atmosphere of doing your personal best to make a positive difference and impact within the company, it can be a positive thing. But too often the competition causes damage to individuals and the company.

When the competition breeds activities that cause people, or divisions, special groups to withhold information that would be good for others, then the competition has become destructive. If an activity is good for one part of an organization, but hurts another, the overall organization has suffered. Even if one group “wins” the larger picture is that the company has lost.

Bobby Cox Companies brought their leaders from Rosa’s Café’s together to reiterate that important point, have fun, and build bicycles for deserving children. The theme for their meetings was “Making THE Difference. In this team building event they experienced how making THE difference on your team, can make THE difference for the company, and, in this case, THE difference for 6 very special children.

Team Building Game: Helium Stick

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:07:51 +0000

One of my favorite team building games or team icebreaker activities is sometimes called The Helium Stick or even Lighter than Air. The rules are pretty simple. Organize your group into small groups of eight to ten people (you’ll need at least six people per team to make it work, but more than eight or nine might get cumbersome.) Take a very thin dowel rod (the thinner the better) and hold it horizontally about chest height and ask the participants to hold the stick onto of their index fingers and lower it to the ground as a team.

Helium Stick Team Building Game Rules:

Every team member has to keep both index fingers in constant contact with the stick at all times. If even a single team member loses contact, the team has to start over at chest height again.
The stick can only be resting on the index fingers. So team members can’t wrap a finger over the top of the stick or slide fingernails over the stick, etc. (They can’t force the stick down.)
Every team member must be standing and the starting point is chest height of the tallest person. (You have to give this rule or everyone will drop to their knees and try to cheat right away.)
The goal is to lower the stick to about one-foot off the ground.

The Team Building Activity

Once the teams begin to touch the stick, the challenge will present itself pretty quickly. The stick is so light that the up-force from each of the fingers trying to stay in contact is greater than the weight of the stick. The result? Immediately, the stick will begin to rise. Some team members will try to coach the others by giving verbal instructions like, “No, let’s go down!” When that doesn’t work, they will get more vocal (because the problem is that everyone just isn’t listening to the, right?), and they will shout, “Down! Down! Down!” After they struggle a while, take a break and ask the team to form a plan based on their past experience. Eventually, the teams will start to figure out the secret to getting the activity to work.

This is a fantastic team building game that will let you draw lots of conclusions about verbal vs. non-verbal communication, the difference between loud, vocal “leaders” and those who lead by example, and more. Have fun with this team building activity!

Free Team Building Activity-Playing Card Shuffle

admin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:25:08 +0000

Here is a free team building activity that can insert a ton of energy into your meeting right as you get started. If you have a big group that you need to organize into smaller teams (or tables), The Playing Card Shuffle is a great way to do it. To setup the room in advance, place a single playing card from a deck of cards on each table (or location where you want each small group to arrange themselves). The best technique is to place the card into stanchions on each table if you want it to be easy for the teams to organize themselves (important in big groups). Alternatively, you can just place the card face down on each table for smaller groups in order to make it more challenging. *For really big groups, I like to put all of the red cards on one side of the room and black cards on the other. You can also put all of the spades in one-quarter of the room, clubs in another, etc.

The way that you organize the cards can make the activity more challenging or more simple. The larger the group, the more simple you want to make the activity, so you’ll probably want to organize the cards in order from Ace to King and possible separate them by color or suit. In small groups, you’ll probably want to mix the numbers and suits up to make it more challenging.

As each participant walks into the room, you can either distribute random cards to each participant or set up stations around the room where participants can draw a card. My favorite distribution technique is to spread the cards out as a Las Vegas dealer might on the edge of the stage and ask everyone to come up to the stage and “pick a card.” The larger your group, the more stations you’ll want to create.

After each participant has their individual card, you can have a lot of fun getting the participants to their correct table or station. These are some ways to get them moving quickly.

Playing Card Shuffle Team Building Activity Instructions

(Easiest) Just say, “Okay, go find your team” and let them figure out where to go and how to find their group.
If you’ve separated the colors or suits, give the participants one direction that lets them know which side of the room to go to. For example, “If you have a red card move to this side of the room, and if you have a black card, move to the other.” Then, once the movement dies down a little, tell them to find their group.
If you want to make sure that you have equal numbers of people on each team, place some Jokers or other “Wild” cards into the stacks, and then have all of the Wild Cards come to you. You can now insert them into groups who have too few people.
Remember that the fewer instruction that you give, the more active they will become. The key to getting energy up in an activity is to get the group moving or doing something right away, so this will work like a charm. You just want to make sure that whatever you are doing immediately after this setup is pretty fun and action-packed.

The Best Team Building Idea Secret is to Create Lots of Energy and Enthusiasm

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:00:29 +0000

By Doug Staneart

If you are looking for a fantastic team building idea or a secret to conducting a great team building event, the best piece of wisdom I have ever come across is the importance of creating and maintaining energy and enthusiasm during the team building activity. Often times, event planners or people who are organizing a convention or annual event will hire a professional team building expert to facilitate some type of team building activity, but if you have a smaller group of people, how can you get the same type of results without breaking your budget? The key is to create a team building activity that does three things. First, the activity has to insert energy into your meeting. Second, you have to facilitate in a way that everyone stays active and involved the entire time. And finally, the activity or event must create some type of emotional response from the participants.

Team Building Events Must Insert Energy into Your Meeting

The easiest way to insert energy into an event or meeting is to get the audience involved in some type of physical activity. The longer that participants are standing around (or worse, sitting down) doing nothing or listening to the facilitator speak, the more bored they will become and the less energy will be in the room. Many facilitators will try to use questions to the audience as a way to get them involved, but this can backfire pretty quickly (especially in a larger group). The reason why is that only one participant at a time will be able to respond, so most everyone else is still just listening. One of my favorite ways to push energy into the team building activity is to use the dividing into teams as a way to get people moving around and communicating. For instance, if you have a huge group of people, instead, planners will often put team numbers on nametags, etc. so that dividing into groups is much easier. Most often, the planner will then number all of the tables so that as participants enter the room, the organizer themselves by table numbers. You can do something similar, though, and insert a lot more energy by hiding the numbers and just letting people know when they enter the room that they can move to any table. Once everyone is in the room, just announce that their first challenge is to find their group, so, “Go find the team mates that have your same number.” The energy in the room erupts immediately, and the group is now more open to doing more activities.

Keep Everyone Involved and Active

Once you have the energy up in the room, you will want to keep everyone involved in the activities in order to keep the energy (and fun) high. This is absolutely the hardest thing to do throughout the entire program, but it is also the most critical. The key to making this happen is to create activities that require the participants to work together. For instance, philanthropic team building is very popular now, and one type of team building event is where participants build bicycles for needy kids. Quite often, organizers will think that the building of the bikes is the most important part of the event, but they mistakenly forget that building bikes (or really doing any type of physical activity) by itself is not much fun. If you just organize your teams into small groups and tell them to build bikes, one or two people in each group will jump in and start putting the pieces together, while the rest stand around and watch. So, at any given moment in the event, two-thirds to three-quarters of all of the people in the room will be standing around doing nothing. Instead, you’ll want to combine activities that involve more people such as adding in some type of task that groups need to complete to earn each part. The key to making this work is to scan the room during the event and look specifically for people watching versus participating. If you have a lot of the former, make sure and add additional tasks to the activity.

Create Some Type of Emotional Response from the Team Activity

Interestingly enough, the type of emotional response doesn’t really matter as much as the presence of the emotion. For instance, in the charity team building event mentioned above, the giving of the bicycle to the kids at the end of the event creates an incredibly emotional and memorable ending to the event. However, sometimes the emotion that facilitators are trying to create is pure competition. A race or a contest can add energy to an event. (Although, this is tricky because competition among teammates can often hamper team building versus building teamwork.) Sometimes, anger and frustration can increase the energy in a surprisingly positive way. For instance, in some team events, the rules are not always known to every participant so as teams keep trying and not succeeding, the frustration builds. But just like any challenging puzzle, once it is conquered, a feeling of pride and satisfaction replaces the frustration.

Think about the old Rubik’s Cube from the 1980’s. That one puzzle caused a lot of frustration, but once people started to solve it, they got fantastic pride out of sharing the “secret” with their friends who were unaware of the solution. Every time the secret was passed from one person to the next that pride of accomplishment passed with it. The same thing can actually happen in a good team building event as well.

Regardless of what type of team building activity you decide on, make sure to focus most of your time on keeping the energy high throughout the event. Use activity to insert energy into your meeting. Organize the activities to try to keep everyone involved all of the time. And finally, create some type of emotional memory during the event so that at the conclusion, participants say, “That was a lot of fun! I’m glad I participated.”

Doug Staneart is the founder of The Leader’s Institute Team Building and the inventor of many world-famous team building events like the Build-A-Bike Charity Team Building event and the Camaraderie Quest High-Tech Scavenger Hunt. His team of expert facilitators conduct events for groups as small as 20 people and as big as 10,000 people. Visit the Team Building Event website for details about his programs.

Glazer’s Distributors Continue Community Partnership with Charity Team Building Event in Dallas

Richard Highsmith — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:17:07 +0000

Last month 90 managers from Glazer’s Distributors at their Texas headquarters expressed their strong commitment to the community with a donation of 14 new bicycles to the Boys and Girls Club in Dallas from a charity team building event. Since its’ founding in 1933, Glazer’s has strived to earn, build and maintain a positive relationship of trust in the community. It’s their way of saying thank you to the local community… to their “neighbors.” Over time this tradition of caring that has come to be known as “Glazer’s Community Partnerships.” Here’s a picture of the grateful children…

Everybody wanted to ride the bikes! But as this picture confirms, not everybody should…

“The Build-a-Bike team building event was a huge success. You did an excellent job of getting our team involved and energized in the project. I’ve enclosed some photos that I believe capture the spirit of what our Community Partnerships represent. Thank you. You did a fantastic job.” Kim Jordan, Glazer’s Distributors.

Rick Highsmith

Hewlett-Packard Stuffing Bears with Love and Cheer for Children

Tanya Thompson — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:22:36 +0000

I just got back from Houston, Texas where I was conducting one of my favorite corporate team building events called Rescue Bear with Hewlett-Packard, commonly referred to as HP. Most people don’t know that this now multinational company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California, where the company is now headquartered, by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. HP, for those of you who don’t know is an information technology corporation which specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware, designing software and delivering services. Coming together to build bears for children, this group discovered the importance of leveraging their diversity and through fun interactive team building exercises they discovered some of their colleagues’ underused hidden talents. As a group, HP, donated 55 stuffed toys, all stuffed with love to the Salvation Army’s toy drive.

Team Building Is Construction Work

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:04:27 +0000

By Craig Wagganer

Building a team is somewhat like building a house. It takes organization, effort and skill to make one that meets the needs of the people that inhabit it. Likewise, to build a team in a work environment takes organization, effort and skill.

When a construction crew gets together to start working on building a house, they are working on one house. There are plans drawn up that show all the intricacies of the work to be done. There will be carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other specialist that will do their part, but there is one plan. Everyone works from blueprints for the same house with the same goal in mind.

So also in team building there has to be a goal, or set of goals that everyone shares in common. That goal, those goals, need to have buy-in from each of the team members. A house builder would never give different house plans to the different workers and expect a good result. So, effective teams have to be built from the foundation up. It starts with a unified purpose and understanding of where the team is heading. Team members need to be able to see the desired end result and know how they, each individual member fits into the team. All the workers that contribute to the building of an edifice have one end in mind. They aren’t working for their own results, but for the end results that come from the combined contributions of all the workers.

A team must grow together to realize that the individual efforts are not as important as the end result. It is not each team member that is working for themselves, but rather each team member is contributing to a grand purpose, a unified completion of a task or tasks.

I visited a friend who was building quite an elaborate house. The sound system and security systems were especially complicated. Because of the size of the systems special contractors were brought in that specialized in those areas. There expertise was vital to making the sound and security systems work correctly. And as important as that was, their contributions were no more important than others who built the house. And, although the sound system was the showcase of the house, it wouldn’t have been much if there plumbing was inadequate, or they forgot the electrical wiring, of the walls weren’t finished…

Team work is construction work because every person’s contributions are vital to the success of the team. Whenever one team member is left out, not included in decisions, or feels minimalized in anyway, the work of the team is hurt and the best efforts will not result. The results may be great, but not as good as they could have been, and worse, the left out member becomes a liability to the rest of team.

Team building is construction work in that planning is essential. No one would go to a supply store and start buying things to build a house without making plans. And once the plans are made and the materials bought, you wouldn’t just grab a hammer and nails and start putting boards together. There has to be a plan and it ahs to be organized and communicated to all who will be involved. I would be in big trouble if I planned on building a house, had the blueprints all made and ready to go, and then hired only electricians to do the work. Or perhaps I said to forget about the electricians and hired only plumbers. It wouldn’t be a very good house. It takes the contributions of individual people who have expertise in the areas that are needed to be completed. As critical as that is, often times in work environments, individuals are put on teams for many reasons other than the considerations of their talents and abilities to contribute to the overall purpose of the team. Part of the planning and organization of the team is to realize the purpose and goals of the team and then match the right people for those tasks. It isn’t, what needs to be done and lets some people to do it, but rather, what is the purpose and the goals and who are the people most qualified and best suited to do the best work and bring the best result.

Team building is construction work- the team has to be unified in its purpose, each team members contributions need to be recognized as vital, and planning and organization is of the utmost importance.

Team Building Is People Building

IT amazes me how much material is available on team building. Apparently there must be many ways to do it. Of course some are more effective than others. We have all seen the results of great teams that perform excellent work with excellent results. Likewise, we have all seen ineffective teams that labor painfully to accomplish little.

One key to great teams is for the leader to understand that team building is people building. The leader is vitally important and a primary function of the leader is to inspire the best efforts of the team members. Here are three keys for team leaders to practice…

Team leaders need to know their team members intimately. It isn’t just knowing their names and the history that a human resources file might provide, it is getting to know them as individuals. To understand who they are and what makes them tick.

Popular among workplaces today is personality or temperament testing. These devices are used to understand one’s own preferences or motivators, but too often they are then used to judge other people and their behaviors. The problem is that we begin to understand personality theory and we label people, and we think we know them. But once we have placed them as a certain “type” then we no longer get to know them, but think we understand them. This is a real problem and short-coming with many of the application of the Meyers-Briggs, DISC, and other like them. These each have definite strengths and can be very helpful, but they have definite dangers and concerns as well.

The best team leader will get to know the person, not just about them. The great leader will build a relationship with the team members so that they understand their situations, their concerns, their dreams, their motivators, their de-motivators, their passions, their frustrations- and all this not as a result from a survey or test, but from spending time with them and developing a caring nurturing relationship that goes both ways.
Did I say, “Goes both ways”? Yes, and that is vitally important. The team leader must be willing to receive from team members as well as contribute. And that doesn’t just mean receive the contributions made to the team, but just as the team leader needs to know the team members, the team leader needs to be known by the team members. Team leaders need to be vulnerable and open to suggestions from the team members. Team leaders are not just put in charge. They are not the boss and cannot risk exercising strong authority over the team or it will become a matter of resentment.

We have all seen teams that lack effectiveness and often times it is the result of a strong leader that has to have things their way and are reluctant (at best) to take suggestions form anyone. They see their responsibility as giving orders to their team and the team members are present only to follow orders. Those team member become frustrated and resentful of the situation, and usually only put out a half-hearted effort with little concern for quality, just get the job done.

Team leaders must build their people. This means valuing them, listening to them and being open enough to take suggestions both for the team and personally. When a person feels safe to make contributions and valued as an intricate part of the team there will be mutual respect and admiration for each team member. But it start with the example of the leader.

Another key element in team building is for the team leader to serve the team. A lot is said and written these days on servant leadership, and it is growing in popularity- and rightly so. But often times we shy aware from the root word, serve.

Team leaders need to serve their team members. That means working to make sure they have all they need to do their job to the best of their ability .It may also mean investing in those team members so they can expend their abilities. Team leaders need to consider their team and how they can best get the best effort from each one. And that means looking at each individual and recognizing their contributions and talents. It also means going out of the way to make sure the individual team members are growing in ways that will benefit the individual and the team. Quite simply- team leaders need to make sure that they are building the people on their team.

Several years ago I worked at a shipping counter for an animal health company. Charlie and I worked the counter shipping small packages UPS. We worked fantastic together. When demands were high together we could ship as many as three hundred packages. Each package would have to be individually weighed, and labeled, but we succeeded amazingly well. After a time we both got promoted to different positions.

Two other people were brought in to replace Charlie and I as the UPS counter. These two had worked for the company over 20 years each, but didn’t really get along very well. Of course, productivity at the counter went way down. To help the situation an automatic scale was brought in, conveyor belts installed and a new labeling and postage machine. All these were designed to make it a smoother faster operation. When I left the company daily backlogs were normal and rarely was the new team able to process more than 100 pieces per day.

I was once against by the supervisor after both Charlie and I had been promoted how we were able to get so much done. Reflecting, I think there were several reasons. Charlie and I became best friends. He had worked there much longer than I but when I was chosen to work with him he never treated me like he was the leader. He never through his authority around, but treated me like an equal. He was always ready to listen to my suggestions, and felt free to confront me when I needed it, but not in power, but genuine concern for me and the job we were doing together. We became sensitive to one another, and grew in that sensitivity. We went from just working together at the start to caring deeply for one another. Charlie led me in that way. Charlie said he never wanted to be a boss. But he was a great leader and set a wonderful example.

To be a team builder you must be a people builder. Know them, receive from them, and serve them. Pulling people to come and join is much more effective than pushing them in a direction you have chosen for them.

Team Building Is Like Target Practice

I’m not much of a marksman, but I have know several. My brother-in-law is a crack shot. My dad and he were deer hunting and Larry, my bro-in-law, was riding in a small trailer being pulled by a tractor. They were heading out in the woods to their hunting sites. As they crossed a pipeline going north, two deer, a buck and a doe crossed going south. Larry saw the deer out of the corner of his eye, with the tractor moving and the deer walking the opposite direction, he turned, drew a bead on the buck and dropped it with one shot. HE was using a lever action 30/30 and, if you know what that means, then you realize how great of a shot that was. In fact, you have to be pretty confident in your ability to use a saddle gun to go deer hunting the thick Ozark hills of Southern Missouri.

Some of the same elements that make a great marksman are the same for team building. First you have to know your target, then you have to have the right equipment, and then you need the confidence to put the two together.

As a child my dad would take me rabbit hunting. He had a double barreled shotgun, and I carried a .22 caliber rifle. I was never too excited because the possibility of shooting a rabbit with a rifle was pretty small. But it was fun to be with my dad and to watch our dog, Prince, enjoy the run. He was a good rabbit dog. My dad was good shot, and way back then he had three guns; the .22 caliber for squirrel hunting, the shotgun for rabbits and turkey, and a 9 millimeter rifle for deer hunting. Each gun had a specific purpose.

Each team needs to have a specific purpose, and the more defined that is the better. A shotgun is good for rabbits and turkeys, where rifles are suited better for deer and squirrels. But even within that description more needs to be defined. Smaller caliber guns a fine for smaller animals, but larger caliber is necessary for larger animals. The 22 for squirrels would do little to drop a deer, while my dad’s 9 MM deer gun would destroy a squirrel or other small prey. The 20 gauge shotgun was fine for squirrels, but he eventually got a 12 gauge more suitable for his turkey hunting trips. Likewise with team building, to not only have a purpose but to have it defined well enough to be considered a target, or goal, will help determined the effectiveness of the team.

I remember the Christmas I got my first BB gun. I wanted a .22, but I got this BB gun. I was excited and disappointed at the same time. That afternoon I headed out in the woods. As I was leaving the house my favorite Aunt came by and asked what I was hunting. I simply replied anything that moves. Here was the problem, first my goal was too broad, and second my equipment wasn’t sufficient for most things that moved. I’m lucky I didn’t come across a bobcat or coyote.

First you must know your goal, then make sure you have the right equipment. In team building that can mean a number of things. One is that you must make sure you have the right people on the team. The team selection should be a result of the goal, or purpose. Once the goal(s) has been set then you can decide on the special skill sets that are needed to reach the goal in the most effective and efficient manner. Too often we have teams and then come up with the purpose or goals- this is backwards. A hunter wouldn’t go buy a gun and then decide what he was going to hunt. The prey (goal) comes first, then the selection of the right equipment. When a need presents itself, then the team to address that need can be selected to make sure the right people, the most qualified for that purpose are put in place to handle the project the best way possible.

Now here is the critical part. What has been said is nothing new. The real problem is putting it together. Often times within corporations the teams are set, the division are made, the departments have been decided; the people are already on teams. A project comes up and it is given to a team, usually the best one suited, although I have also seen things given to the team less busy, and away we go. The problem is- is that the best more effective and efficient way to handle the problem? That is an important, imperative question that needs to be asked and answered. And the answer may mean we need to redraw the lines, re-divide the groups. So that we understand the goals, choose the right talent set to address it, and then have the courage to make changes necessary to make it happen.

Too many teams miss the mark, the purpose and goals have not been clearly defined. A team has been assigned rather than all the people considered and those chosen that have the right talents, skills and passion to do the best job. Team leaders and decision makers rarely take the courage to challenge the process and make necessary changes to utilize he best people for the best results. Team building can take a lot of learning form the old adage, ready, aim, fire.

Craig Wagganer is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building training and leadership skill development. (http://www.leadersinstituteteambuilding.com/) Craig leads world-famous team building events like the Build-A-Bike(R) Team Building Workshop in major cities all over the US, Canada and Europe. Request information from his website, and we’ll send you a free team building packet with a number of potential events and ideas for your next convention or team meeting.

Team Building Starts with Team Member Building

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:57:31 +0000

By Craig Wagganer

A good question, “How can I build a team that works effectively and efficiently?” A how question always starts with a beginning, where do I begin to make this happen? The answer doesn’t begin with the team, but with the team leader and the team members.

It begins with the team leader because they are the ones that begin the process and set the stage for what is to come. It begins with the team members because they are the ones that have to come together in a cohesive manner to do their best work possible. I really don’t think you can begin to build the team until the leaders realizes that they must build the team members. Team Leaders need to use The CARE method of team member building.

First consider the team members. Take some time to set back and think about each member as you know them. In your present relationship how do you get along? What are the dynamics of the relationship? How do they really see you? How do you see them? Take serious time to go over each of the team members and think seriously about who they are, what they can contribute, and what each one may be seeking for themselves. A good team leader will consider the goals and visions of their team members and consider how they can help each team member realize their potential.

Next appreciate the team members. Get to know them. If you can’t answer the questions above then show them you care by finding out. Be genuinely interested in them, their families and what ever their primary concerns are. Each person has unique gifts and talents, they have dreams and goals and visions, they have families and friends and many cares and concerns outside the workplace that influence the work place. Likewise, the workplace influences other parts of their lives as well. Learn to appreciate each team member for who they are and where they are. Express that appreciation in tangible ways.

Each team member can be build into a vital part of the team when respect is openly demonstrated. Consideration and appreciation should lead to a respect for each member’s individuality and ability to contribute to the organization. This respect means allowing for differences and disagreements without it becoming personal or in any way demeaning. Two people, or more, can disagree without either or any of the sides being wrong. Even if a person is wrong, they and the opinion must be respected and guarded as important in leading to the overall effectiveness of the team. The self esteem of each individual in the group must be valued above individual opinions.

Lastly the team leader must be always ready to encourage. The team leader is the cheerleader for the team. When the heart of each team member is encouraged first by the team leader then the team will be poised to cheer on each other. It starts at the top. And when a person feels encouraged their outlook changes and becomes one of enthusiasm for the cause and excitement for the team making a positive difference and being successful in its endeavors. A team leader must always be present with a word that gives confidence, a compliment, something that builds the heart, promotes the person and demonstrates unwavering support. Confidence is an important ingredient in each team member and it is the team leader’s responsibility to build the confidence of each member of the team.

Are you a team leader and do you want to build the best team possible? Then try building your team members first. Let them know you CARE. Because your people won’t really care how much you know until they know how much you CARE.

Craig Wagganer is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in Chicago, IL that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingchicagoil.com/) Craig teaches team building events in major cities like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis.

Corporate Team Building Ideas and Creating a Team Culture within Your Company

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:01:02 +0000

by Joe Jessop

In today’s tough economic times it is even more important to create a positive team culture within your organization by conducting corporate team building. In this era of downsizing and lay-offs you have to have a positive team culture among your employees. An upbeat and positive team will help your folks feel like valued members of the company and more willing to do their part to help your whole organization survive and thrive.

As a basketball coach I used to take my teams to big summer camps where there was tough competition, player skill development, tons of basketball situations in which each player could maximize their improvement. When I first started coaching I thought that the chance to work hard and improve should be enough incentive to get my high school teams to put in the time and effort during the summer time. However, the big summer camps were never as successful as I thought they should be. There was something missing.

One year I decided to take the evening skill development sessions off after a particular hard day and instead take my team to a laser tag arena to forget about the grueling camp schedule. It was a hard thing for me to do as I felt like the kids were going to miss out on crucial skill development. The result, however, was totally different than I expected and truly amazing! What I got were a bunch of teenagers who came together and created a fun, positive team culture inside a laser tag arena without me doing a thing. I had high school Seniors who suddenly were communicating and having fun with Freshmen. That had never happened before even though I stressed how important it was. The end result is that we had so much fun that’s all the kids talked about the rest of the camp and even when we returned home that’s all they talked about to their parents and friends. The camp lasted 4 days and the laser tag lasted less than two hours but it was the high light of their summer. The next year I had kids signing up for summer camps two and three months in advance and actually recruiting younger players to come to camp because of the laser tag experience. Over the years my summer programs became a huge success as kids became more and more willing to put in long hard hours if they knew there was going to be some fun and camaraderie splashed in there as well.

The corporate world is no different. Even as grown-ups with grown-up salaries the same principles apply. We are still kids at heart. If you will take a little time to invest in your employees as people rather than just employees you will see dramatic results. There are a number of corporate team building programs that can add energy and enthusiasm to your company. Activities like Camaraderie Quest Scavenger Hunts, Murder Mysteries, Build-A-Bike®, and Rescue Bear® team events are great ways to let your staff off the hook for a couple of hours and have a little fun. You will be surprised at how invigorating it is for them… and you. They will be more willing to put in the time necessary to make the company successful because they feel like they are valued. It will take some money to invest in team building but the benefit is priceless. You will not only survive the tough economic times, your will thrive in them!

Joe Jessop is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in San Francisco, CA that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingsanfranciscoca.com) Joe teaches team building events in major cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Las Vegas.

A Great Corporate Team Building Program Has Three Essentials

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:15:04 +0000

A Great Corporate Team Building Program Has Three Essentials, by Bill Resh

A great corporate team building program always has three essential parts that are vital to the success of the team building event. First, you want to add interactive activities that build camaraderie. You also want to teach valuable lessons about company interdependency. Finally, if you want a great corporate team building program, add a “Wow!” moment along the way.

Interactive Activities that Build Camaraderie

Interactive activities are the first essential component of a great team building event. For instance, a group can really find a lot out about their fellow team members when given challenging questions that require them to seek the answers from others in their group. This not only encourages valuable interaction but they enjoy learning about each other in the process. Also, when tasks are given that require a variety of skill sets, team members find out about the various talents and skills that make up their group.

Teach Valuable Lessons on Company Interdependency

You also want to teach valuable lessons about how all of the component departments (divisions, regions, etc.) of a company are interdependent with each other. For example a good way to learn this lesson in a team building activity is when “competing” groups are “stumped” in solving puzzles and answering questions unless they collaborate and cooperate with the respective competition [other teams]. It’s kind of fun to witness the green light go on when people realize that when we all work together for the overall good, everyone comes out a winner.

Add a “Wow!” Moment Along the Way.

The most important part of great team building is the “Wow!” factor. When a group takes part in a team building program and are pleasantly surprised, or emotionally touched, I would call that a “Wow Factor”. At a philanthropic corporate team building program in Toronto recently, most of the group were completely surprised to learn that the bikes that they had built as part of the activities at the event were being donated right then and there to boys and girls from a local charity. The adults who built the bikes were just as excited as the kids streaming into the room who received the bikes. There have been many moments where tears of joy were shed, but there is a special “Wow” moment that stands out in my mind. That occurred at an event in Virginia, when a chaperone with the children from the charity shared with the team building participants that most of the children were receiving their first new bikes in their young lives.

So if you want to create a great corporate team building program, add interactive activities, teach valuable lessons about interdependency, and add a “Wow!” moment along the way that leaves your team feeling really good about the activity as a whole.

Bill Resh is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in Atlanta, GA that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingatlantaga.com/) Bill teaches team building events in major cities Atlanta, Washington, DC, Orlando, and Miami.

Team Activities Reduce Conflict and Build Morale

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:46:00 +0000

Team activities centered around personality styles can be a great way to reduce conflict and build morale. If your team is struggling with communication or trust issues, very often it boils down to personalities – a misunderstanding of personalities. You can identify team characteristics and open lines of communication by understanding the personality temperaments of coworkers.
Stretch your comfort zone to build trust.
Psychologists tell us there are four main personality temperaments. Whether you favor Myers-Briggs, DiSC or Personality Traits, they all group personalities in common ways. If you want to gain buy-in with your co-workers, you may need to pull from the attributes that are a stretch for you. For example, have you ever observed these two distinct personality styles on a Monday morning: one comes in very energetic, bubbling over with details about their weekend and questions about yours. The other is ready for the day’s agenda, very task focused and wants to get down to business. A simple explanation and understanding of these two different types will reduce conflict and build trust.
Interactive team building sessions boost learning.
Many people learn by doing, not by hearing. You can build teamwork and improve communication while having fun with team activities. Each of us has characteristics that make us different from others, and each of us has strengths that help us succeed. People often ask us to “build trust” within their team. That’s like asking your personal trainer to build muscle for you. We can provide you with tools and resources necessary to create the right environment. Fortunately or unfortunately, you have to do the sit-ups yourself. Interactive team activities can help team members identify their dominate personality traits and strengths in a memorable way so that communication with and the ability to gain cooperation from others is easier.

Build a team atmosphere by giving back.
Team activities are designed to build more of a team atmosphere, help individuals learn how and why people act “that way” and how to deal more effectively with each other. The end result includes improved trust and respect among co-workers and managers, which ultimately results in increased effectiveness. And when you combine that with philanthropic team activities, your team is sure to feel more connected. The Rescue Bear is a great example of how you can tie all these things together. Team members learn about personality styles through a series of fun team activities; and in the end, they’ve built teddy bears that are donated to local fire departments or emergency personnel.
So if you want to reduce conflict and improve morale, stretch your comfort zone to build trust, use interactive sessions to boost learning, and build a team atmosphere by giving back. Create value among your team members with an understanding of personality styles. When people feel valued in an organization, they are more likely to contribute ideas and energy. They will go the extra mile.

Colette Peterson is a Corporate Team Building Consultant with The Leader’s Institute headquartered out of Dallas Texas. She specialized in team building in New York City, New York. You can reach Colette at The Leader’s Institute®, 1-800-872-7830.

Corporate Team Building Ideas to Add Pep and Energy to Your Conference

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:45:11 +0000

Here are three Corporate Team Building Ideas that are guaranteed to add pep and energy to your next conference and turn it into the home run hit you have been looking for. Have your quarterly, bi-annual, or annual conferences become dull and boring? As the planner for your conference, you feel the weight of trying to come up with something different every time and only ending up exhausted and under-appreciated. Do you put a ton of time and effort coming with topics and speakers that are important to the success of your company only to hear complaints about, “Why this again”? “We do the same thing every time”. “What’s the purpose anyway”?

Think about adding a philanthropic team building event to your schedule. A philanthropic corporate team building event is designed to be high energy, tons of fun, and most importantly give back to your local community and or charities. Your group will learn how to brain storm together, problem solve, lead, follow, compete and collaborate in an extremely dynamic fast-paced team activity. It’s a great way to take time away from company spreadsheets, calendars, and performance charts yet at the same time learning and experiencing the principles that lead to long term success. The team event by itself is a ton of fun but the icing on the cake is presenting items you have built to underprivileged children. It’s even better than Christmas morning! Your team will love it and the event will become the anchor that helps them remember all of the other conference items you have worked so hard to put together.

If you want to scale it back a little but still have a lot of fun, think about doing a short team event that can spice up an afternoon session or get people excited right before they head to lunch. Murder Mystery events are a great way to add a little life to your conference. They are fun, energetic and can fit into a short 60-90 minute time frame for a group of 20-50 participants. If you have a small group of 20-50 participants it is a great way to bring everyone together. If you have several hundred participants it is perfect for break-out sessions. Murder Mystery events are like live games of the old board game Clue. Your group will be divided into smaller investigation units to uncover the facts of a murder that took place right before their eyes. Each group will have to learn how to work together, problem solve, and weigh the importance of information as they investigate. It’s an extremely fun way to mimic what corporate teams do in the real world every day.

Another great way to break up your conference is with an outdoor scavenger hunt or Camaraderie Quest. A Camaraderie Quest is like a treasure hunt. Think of being dropped in the middle of the set of the movie “National Treasure”. Your team will be given a set of clues and tasks they must perform as a group. It will take ingenuity, creativity, and developing a game plan in order to succeed. Your team will have an incredibly fun time as they work their way through a tailor-made quest in a downtown historic center, shopping center, or museum. It’s a great way to get them out of their conference chairs and on their feet, yet at the same time learning the valuable lessons of team building and leadership.

Any of these corporate team building events can add energy to your conference or convention, but remember that the larger your group becomes, the more that you’ll want to rely on professional team building organizers or facilitators. Otherwise, you will be likely to have a big portion of your group standing around and watching while a few of the participants are active. Your team will compliment you greatly.

Joe Jessop is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in San Francisco, CA that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingsanfranciscoca.com) Joe teaches team building events in major cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Las Vegas.

Corporate Team Building Unifies, Increases Job Satisfaction, and Productivity

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:26:47 +0000

Corporate team building unifies teams, increases job satisfaction, and productivity by putting your team in a non-stressful, fun environment. Yes, they should have a little fun in the name of teamwork. Bringing people together in a carefully guided, but flexible environment, gets participants out of their “work personae”. Through games and activities they see each other in a new way. Different strengths emerge and can change impressions of one another in a very positive way. They become more unified.

Great Team Building Programs Reduce Stress

Watch your team de-stress and interact in a more congenial way. Through strategically designed corporate team building programs, participants interact in a relaxed setting. Before long you see the stress dissipate, and people who sometimes bump heads, laughing together and help each other complete a task. All it takes is a few well-designed activities to overcome long-standing conflict. Participants leave the team-building event much more satisfied with their job, because the company invested in them, and they feel better about their teammates.

Show Recognition to Your Team

Back in the work setting, your team is more enthusiastic, more willing to invest themselves, and produce more. While job satisfaction is clearly linked to pay and job level, In Salary.com’s most current survey, employees also cited “Inadequate Development Opportunities and Insufficient Recognition” as reasons to search for a new job. Corporate team building events are a great way to show recognition to a large number of employees. It says, “We are investing in you, because you have value”.

Unify Your Team

A well-conceived and executed team building event can unify your team, help them see their teammates in a different atmosphere, appreciate each other more, increase job satisfaction because you are giving them something special. Something extra, you are investing in them. That in turn brings more productive employees back to your home base, and makes work a happier place.

Connie Timpson is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in Boston, MA that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingbostonma.com/) Connie teaches team building events in major cities like New York, Boston, Detroit, and Toronto.

Improve Your Team Culture with Team Building Activities

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:41:04 +0000

Build camaraderie with interactive sessions. When you have a quarterly or annual meeting it’s a great opportunity for your team to get to know each other through interactive team building activities. When we are connected to each other, we participate. When we have trust, we take risks. When we care, we are willing to go the extra mile. Collaboration and creativity start when we begin to know each other as human beings, not just roles or titles. For example, we provided our Build-A-Bike® team building workshop for a client in the New York area last month. Because of the interactive team building activities, the participants said they knew each other better after a half day session than after a year sitting next to each other in cubicles. And when times are uncertain, it’s the relationship that matters.
Learn to think creatively. In today’s economy everybody has to learn to do more with less. What happens when we have limited resources? How do limited resources impact our relationships and integrity? To not only survive, but thrive we need to do things differently to get better results. Going back to the New York team building activity we provided, participants were given a series of creative challenges and problem solving activities. What they realized was just because we’ve always done it that way, doesn’t mean it’s the way we should continue to do it. Rather than looking for what’s not working – ask what’s possible. This releases creativity and attracts those who care and are committed to making it happen.
Feel good by giving back. Team building activities that include a philanthropic twist have become increasingly popular in recent years. And with good reason! Service to others has become a strong part of the culture within many companies. Build-A-Bike® is by far our most popular workshop because teams build bikes that are then donated to children in the community. Do you remember what it felt like when you got your first car – how it expanded your world? A new bike can change the life of a child, and it’s a goose bump moment when you watch them ride it for the first time. Decide if a service mentality is an important part of your culture, and send that message at your next offsite meeting.

So if you want to improve your team culture, start at your next offsite meeting by building camaraderie with interactive sessions, learning to think creatively and be resourceful, and feeling good by giving back in some way. There is no power greater then a group discovering together what it cares about.

Colette Peterson is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building in New York City, NY that insert fun and energy into any convention or annual meeting. (http://www.teambuildingnewyorkny.com/) Colette teaches team building events in major cities New York, Boston, Detroit, and Toronto.

Team Motivation: Teams Learn Faster When They’re Having Fun

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:01:47 +0000

Need some Team Motivation? It’s common knowledge that people learn faster and produce more when they are having fun. So why should work be any different? There are several ways to add fun to any project.

Set a Common Team Goal

One easy way to motivate your team is to set a common goal that requires the participation of everyone on your team. Just consider how much more fun it is to run a 5k marathon with a group of people than it is to run the same distance by yourself. What might be challenging by yourself tends to be a lot more fun when you are surrounded by a group of people working toward the same goal. You feed off the energy and enthusiasm of all the other participants.

Add Competition

Adding friendly competition to a project can also be a fun way to motivate your team. A few weeks ago, our company conducted a Build-A-Bike team building event for a client in Atlanta. For this program, the group is divided into multiple teams. We repeatedly told the participants that it wasn’t a competition; however the program is designed so that each team must complete certain tasks to get the parts to build their bikes. As the teams observed other teams’ bike parts accumulating more quickly than theirs, they started working faster and became more efficient in assigning the remaining tasks of their team. The end result was that the group built over 100 bikes in less than an hour and had a great time doing it. The response from the client was that they never realized building bikes could be so much fun!

Be Generous with Your Praise

Another great way to ensure your team stays motivated is to be generous with your praise. A compliment will validate that what a person is doing is important and then even the most mundane task becomes fun. That validation then stimulates the brain to think of ways to make the outcome even better. Let me give you an example. My daughter hates cleaning her room. The process is painful for both of us: for her because she dislikes it so much and for me because I have to keep nagging her to get it done. Recently though, I discovered that a simple word of praise worked wonders. She had just gone into her room and picked up several photographs lying on the floor. She decided to assemble them all into a collage. As I walked by and observed this, instead of berating her for not staying focused on the task of cleaning, I commented on what a great idea that was. She then proceeded to frame it out of materials she had scattered about her room and hang it on her wall. After she completed this project, half the job of picking up the stuff she had scattered around was already finished. She completed the rest of it in record time and when I commented on that her response was that she had such fun making the collage that she couldn’t wait to get the rest of it done so that she could see how great her room would look. What a complete turn-around in her attitude, all because of one simple compliment.

If your team is bogged down, has hit a wall, or lacks motivation, just try one or all of these team building ideas to put some fun into the project. It requires very little effort but the results could be huge. A team that’s having fun will be self motivated and consistently produce higher results.

Carol Vandable is a team building consultant with The Leader’s Institute®. She organizes team building events in Texas and other Western cities in the US. For more information, click this link and be connected directly to her web address: https://leadersinst.infusionsoft.com/go/TLI6/Carol/

Three Requisites for Corporate Team Building and Motivation

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:36:59 +0000

There are three attitudes that need to be present in each team member to make the team a peak performer. Those three are confidence, humility, and commitment. When these three are present in each member of a team then the groundwork is set for an efficient, effective team. Of course a team can be effective without any or all three of these, but it will be much more work and much less of a team effort. Let’s take a quick look at the three and why each is vitally important.

Confidence

Each team member needs to recognize that they have something to contribute. Each member needs to feel they are a vital key to the team. If this is lacking then participation by that member will be diminished, which in turns affects the rest of the team. When one person’s contributions are lacking then a part of the solution is also missing and it is up to others to pick up the slack.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone asked a question, you knew the answer, but were reluctant to give it? What happened? Either the person who asked the question has to go fishing for an answer, or someone else gives a different answer than yours, or someone spoke up and gave the same answer as you would have done. What ever happens as a result of your inactivity is different than if you would have answered. By withholding your contribution you have changed the dynamic of the situation. The real problem is that by not responding you have increased the probability that you won’t answer the next time either. Now you are working in a diminished capacity that affects you and the outcome for the rest of the team.

When each person on a team realized and internalized that they are a vital part of the team and has the confidence that their contributions are important the team can begin to approach its best possible working conditions.

Humility

This may seem like a contradiction to the previous point, but it is an augment and complimentary. Humility is understanding that your contributions are important, but they are not the most important. It is the realization that you have something to contribute to the team, but so does each team member. The problem with confidence is that it can become overpowering to the point of arrogance and a lack of understanding for fellow team members. Humility keeps the confidence in check by maintaining that each person has a vital and equally important contribution to make to the team.

Humility is a critically important factor in that humility is a key ingredient to unity. The team cannot be unified in purpose and goals unless each member is willing to value all others’ contributions as important as their own. Humility is not self-deprecation, nor is it devaluing yourself or your involvement. It is a position of strength and self actualization where you understand yourself well enough to understand the importance of others, not only of their opinions and contributions, but as valued individuals with contributory strengths, and talents.

Commitment

The last necessary quality for the most effective team is for each member to be totally committed to the team. This is most difficult because of our society and the low priority it places on commitment. Commitment does not mean I give myself totally until something better comes along. Commitment means I am surrendered to the task at hand until it is completed. It has nothing to do with hurt feelings, other people opinions, disagreements, or anything else except doing whatever it takes to complete the tasks wherein my commitment lies.

Often times the commitment to the team is tempered by whether I get my way, whether I agree, whether I feel valued, whether I like the results, whether… In commitment there is no whether, it is commitment without qualification. The only time to withdraw that obligation is when ethically or morally you are challenged by the decision or outcomes of the teams’ work.

When each team member is recruited for a team because of their talent and need for the task of the team, they need to come with confidence, humility and commitment to assure the best outcome for the team and its work.

Craig Wagganer is a Team Building Consultant for The Leader’s Institute and he teaches team building programs in St. Louis and Team Building Programs in Chicago.

Effective Team Building Event Ideas Will Tear Down Communication Silos

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:46:52 +0000

By Connie Timpson/Speaker/Sr. Instructor/The Leader’s Institute

Corporate leaders look for strong team building event ideas that “will tear down the walls” that we build between divisions, departments, even cubicles. Those corporate leaders have a great deal in common with one of the world’s best communicators. Ronald Reagan told the world, “…tear down those walls.” Hammer in hand the walls came tumbling down, reuniting a world torn apart by differences in philosophy. Immediately, warring factions began communicating.

Mis-communication or “no communication” is very costly to corporations, both in loss of production hours and duplication of efforts. In fact researchers at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, at Maryland University, put a 12 billion dollar price tag on what poor communication costs American hospitals per year. That is a staggering waste of money that could be put into salaries, programs or training. Smart corporate leaders look for ways to improve communication by seeking out new team building events. Idea driven events that will help their staff tear down walls that thwart communication

Ridding corporations of communication silos can open lines of communication and save the bottom line. When people learn how to tear down the walls, they begin to communicate better. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I was leading a Build-A-Bike(R) team building event for a big company in Indiana, and like many companies, one of the challenges that they were having was getting people to fully communicate, to see the big picture. They had to work together to solve clues, and at the same time recognize and capitalize on individual strengths that could win them a bike part. In other words, break down communication silos. They quickly learned the value of communicating in a world without walls.

Opening lines of communication spawns creative opportunities that no one dreamed of. No one dreamed of the opportunities because the group was busy erecting walls. Effective team-building events, bring “analytical” and “expressive” together, one balancing the other. Anthony Robbins says, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”

When one person’s idea is shared with others, it becomes a bigger idea, splinters, and turns into ideas. The ideas morph into Big Ideas and participants understand the real value of knocking down the silo walls.

A perfectly functioning company does not “just happen.” It takes work, bringing teams together in the name of communication, compatibility and cohesiveness. It is simple really. All you have to do is be open and learn how to “break down the walls.”

Connie Timpson is a speaker and trainer specializing in Team Building Event Ideas that insert fun and energy and reduce the ‘Silo Effect’ in business. https://leadersinst.infusionsoft.com/go/TLI6/cpeterson/ Connie teaches team building events in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Resources: Tennis Ball Game

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:00:13 +0000

Tennis Balls: Divide the participants up into small groups of about eight to ten people and have them arrange themselves in a circle. Give a tennis ball to one person and explain the rules of the game:

Each group is in competition with the other groups in the room. The group who can complete the most “circuits” in a given time will be the winner.
A completed circuit occurs when every person in the group has touched the tennis ball.
Only one person in the group can touch the tennis ball at one time (therefore the ball must be tossed rather than passed.)
If the ball ever touches the floor, then production must stop for one-minute.

Have the teams complete a few circuits to get comfortable and begin creating patterns that make them more efficient. The facilitator may want to stop the groups and get feedback as to how they are becoming more efficient and help them understand that this is a natural progression in business as well. Have the groups continue to complete circuits, but as time progresses, the facilitator will add additional rules to make the process more difficult.

A Co-Worker calls in Sick–Remove one of the group participants and tell the group that the participant called in sick. After they complete a few circuits, remind them that just because someone calls in sick, doesn’t mean that that person’s work doesn’t need to be completed. (They will probably have just continued to complete the circuit just as they had before the person left.) Remind them that each of their last few circuits have had one fewer touches than before, so they do not count. Someone will have to pick up the slack for the absent person. After a new pattern is established, have the person come back.
Double Production–Throw a second ball into the mix and tell the group that our client wants us to double production. Only one ball can be held by any one person at a time. You can add a third or even fourth ball later.
Diversity–New federal legislation states that we need to include more minorities and women in our production line, so every other person who touches the ball must be either a woman or a minority.

Use your imagination to come up with other rules and be sure to have a prize for the winning team. At the end of the game, ask the group how did the game relate to things they face in the business world

Resources: Characteristics of a Good Team

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:58:36 +0000

Characteristics of a Good Team

High level of interdependence among members
Leader has good people skills and is committed to team approach
Each member is willing to contribute
A relaxed climate for communication
Members develop a mutual trust
The group and individuals are prepared to take risks
Group is clear about goals and establishes targets
Member roles are defined
Members know how to examine errors without personal attacks
The group has capacity to create new ideas
Each member knows he can influence the agenda

Any teambuilding program or activity should be focused on strengthening one or more of these characteristics. This is a good checklist to determine whether or not a program will have value and lasting effects for your group.

Are There Situations in which Teamwork can be Detrimental?
YES! If the group is not primarily interdependent, then teamwork can be detrimental to the effectiveness of the group. For instance, teambuilding programs for salespeople will usually be counterproductive. Salespeople are typically independent and self-motivating. Therefore, teambuilding activities will be seen by the group as a waste of time. More effective training for group who is not interdependent would be communication training, leadership training, or other forms of personal development.

If the group is interdependent, but doesn’t realize that the actions of the individual affect the group, then teambuilding activities will also meet with resistance. This may occur in an organization where departments are autonomous. Department heads may begin to see themselves in competition with other department heads for resources including budgets, capital, and personnel. Before implementing teambuilding activities with this type of group, spend some time helping the group realize how interdependent they really are.

Don’t Waste Your Money on Team Building

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:53:31 +0000

By Doug Staneart

Thousands of companies wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue last year on “Team Building” programs that didn’t develop more of a team atmosphere within their organizations. The term “Team Building” has come to have so many definitions that it can mean just about anything to anybody.

The definition I like is the following:
____________________________________________

Team Building – Any exercise or program
that helps a group of INTERDEPENDENT people
create LONG-TERM behavior change resulting
in a more efficient or productive culture.
_____________________________________________

If a company or organization is considering investing in a team building program, the first question that needs to be asked is, “Is my group interdependent?” – meaning does the success of each member of the group depend primarily on the success of the other members of the group? For instance, the success of the operations department might depend heavily on the success of the sales department which might depend heavily on the success of the marketing department. Conducting a team building program among the managers or employees of these departments at the same time might be beneficial. However, the success of each individual sales person will probably not depend primarily on the success of the other sales people. So, a sales manager spending money on a team building program for his/her sales people would probably be wasting time and money.

If your group is interdependent, then the next question to ask is “What kind of things are happening within this group that lets me know they are not acting efficiently as a team?” or “What areas can we improve in?” You might ask more specific questions to determine individual areas for improvement such as the following: Are there areas of miscommunication that slow down processes or cause rework? Are there conflicts which bring down morale? Do departments focus on their own success at the expense of other departments? Is it tough for new employees to fit in with the experienced team members? Are changes in policy resisted by team members? Do team members feel as though they have no say in policy?

The answers to any of these questions can help a team leader determine what types of team building programs might be most effective for a group. If you find it difficult to determine the individual areas that would have the most dramatic impact on the performance of your group, realize that most professional trainers have low-cost or free assessments that can be conducted to determine these areas for a group.

The next step in determining the right program for your group is to determine which programs on the market will give your team improvement in the most areas that you have identified, and which will give your team long-term improvement so that you will not have to continually repeat the training process over time.

Once you have done the previous steps, this last step is pretty simple. You can do a standard internet search for training in the areas you’ve identified, and then check a number of references for each proposal you receive.

One quick thing you can do to save time is to look only at organizations and trainers who specialize in training or team building. People and companies who can make a living specializing in this type of work will probably do pretty well, but a company specializing in the fitness industry (outdoor adventures, ropes courses,) selling beach chairs (Beach Olympics,) or driving race cars or flying airplanes probably won’t create a long-term behavior change in your team.

Camaraderie may be built and lost in an afternoon, but a team atmosphere can last for generations.

Doug Staneart is CEO of The Leader’s Institute specializing in leadership, public speaking, and team building training for individuals and groups. He can be reached toll-free at 1-800-872-7830.

Surprise White Christmas Creates Unique Shared Experience

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:33:21 +0000

Last Christmas, my wife and I decided to travel up north to Montreal and Vermont so that our two kids could have a true “White Christmas” experience, and we had an absolute blast. It was a fantastic experience. We live here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, so we only get snow about every four or five years and usually just for a day or so. So the odds of getting a White Christmas here is very low.

I’m sure that we’ve had one before, but I can’t for the life of me actually remember one here at home.

We decided to have the whole family come here for Christmas this year, so we thought that we’d entertain everyone by doing traditional Christmas activities like sun-tanning and swimming in the pool. However, early Christmas Eve, we started to get a few flakes of snow and by early afternoon, we had about a half inch of real snow.

The snow, an unexpected surprise, created a unique shared experience for my whole family, and the pictures and memories of the last week will be something that we recall for many Christmases to come.

One of the things that makes our Team Building programs at The Leader’s Institute^® so effective is that each of them create that same type of shared experience. For instance, when participants finish a Build-A-Bike^® program and local kids come rushing into the room to collect their very first brand-new bike, that memory and the pictures of the smiling kids create a fantastic shared experience.

On your next family get-together or next company meeting, create some type of unexpected shared experience, and the memories created will be a conversation topic for many events to come.

Company Team Building | Hire a Team Building Consultant or Build Teamwork In House?

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:18:11 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lI5qQ8Bo9w]

Company Team Building | This Leader’s Institute video gives tips on when you should hire a team building consultant to do company team building and when you’ll get a better result by conducting the team building exercises in house. Doug Staneart, a keynote speaker and author of the book 28 Ways to Influence People, explains how when your group is smaller and you are looking for a “shared experience” type of event, then it is more cost effective and beneficial to conduct your team training in house, but you’ll want to bring in a hired gun when your group size grows or if you are looking for behavior change in your group.

Team Building Ice breaker

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:26:55 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24sjfm8M2zs]

Team Building Ice Breaker | This Leader’s Institute video offers a free team building ice breaker that can add fun and teamwork to any company team building activity. Doug Staneart, a keynote speaker and author of the book 28 Ways to Influence People, explains how to turn the old “questionaire” team building warm-up activity into an event that adds more energy by getting small groups to compete with each other to accomplish a camaraderie building series of fun challenges.

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