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

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

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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Austin, Texas
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Columbus, Ohio
• Denver, Colorado
• El Paso, Texas
• Fresno, California
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Long Beach, California
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Mesa, Arizona
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Omaha, Nebraska
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Portland, Oregon
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Sacramento, California
• San Antonio, Texas
• San Diego, California
• San Jose, California
• Tucson, Arizona
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Virginia Beach, VA

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!

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

East Jordan Iron Works brought together 25 of their top leaders for a day of team building, learning and fun. The morning consisted of a Creating a Team Culture team building workshop that focused on building skills in leadership principles. The focus of the morning was sharing concerning different leadership principles with a time of sharing and then an opportunity to participate in an activity that reinforced the learning. It was a fact-paced, action-oriented time with very practical application. The afternoon was a Camaraderie Quest high tech scavenger hunt through the downtown section of Petoskey. Petoskey is a beautiful town on Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan (a good drive away from Detroit, Michigan). The downtown section is full of historical information, quaint shops, and visitor’s sites. The afternoon activity was enjoyed by the East Jordan Iron Works leaders as they had to work together to gather the information, pictures and videos that were requested.

Combining the Creating a Team Culture workshop with the Camaraderie Quest scavenger hunt made a full day of fun and learning. The principles of the morning were easily transferable to the afternoon activities. Things like smile more, remember names and encourage others were all skills they could put into practice to help them gather the clues, pictures and videos for the scavenger hunt. The principles on conflict also helped them work together to solve the problems of finding the different items they were asked to locate. By putting the two programs together East Jordan Iron Works made the most of the day’s activities.

Combining a Creating a Team Culture workshop with the Camaraderie Quest scavenger hunt was a great way to learn important leadership principles, practice leadership skills, and have a great time of fun and laughter reinforcing the material. Thank to EJIW for a great day and a great learning experience.

The Adecco Group met in South Beach Miami, Florida for a Team Building Event to build energy and enthusiasm and bicycles for kids. The meeting was to build company momentum for sales in a tough economy. At the Build-a-Bike Team Building Event ® held after a general session they had an opportunity to demonstrate their energy. As the following video demonstrates there was plenty to go around.

The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the world’s leading provider of HR solutions. With over 32,000 FTE employees and more than 5,500 offices, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, Adecco Group offers a wide variety of services, connecting more than 700,000 associates with over 100,000 clients every day. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company.

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.

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.

Heinz Supports Troops with Build-a-Bike Team Building Workshop in Orlando, Florida. Heinz took advantage of its National Sales & Marketing meeting to donate 100 bicycles to dependents of military families at a Build-a-Bike in Orlando, Florida.  Heinz recently adopted the Wounded Warrior project as its corporate charity.  At a dinner announcing their sponsorship, the company surprised the audience with a presentation of new bicycles to children with parents in the military.  The following video captures the excitement and emotion of the event.

Families from the Army, Marines, National Guard and Air Force were recipients of this generous gift. In addition a large check was presented to the Wounded Warrior Project.

FIS Global emphasized a commitment to community by having a Build-a-Bike team building event® in Orlando, Florida. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida received 46 new bicycles at the event. The following pictures shows the children doing a club cheer and then receiving their bikes.

FIS is one of the world’s top-ranked technology providers to the banking industry. With more than 30,000 experts in 100 countries. FIS delivers a comprehensive range of solutions for the broadest range of financial markets, all with a singular focus: helping their clients succeed. In Orlando they applied this focus on solutions in the community. The Build-a-Bike was conducted by The Leader’s Institute and gave FIS the opportunity to their focus a reality for the forty-six children.

Kim Hesselgrave of FIS said, “We have received some great feedback from our participants.  Thanks or a successful event!”

SunTrust Bank held a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Atlanta which culminated with the group donating 16 bikes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta. Over 90 people participated in the event. The group was divided into 16 smaller groups that each had to participate in several activities, problem solving, and even some math to get the parts to build the bikes. Each team had to work well together, and work together with other teams to complete their projects and get the bikes ready for the children. Once they got all the parts they could assemble the bikes and at the end of the program children from the boys and girls clubs were introduced to receive the bikes. It was a great event, with opportunities for fun and learning, and a great “feel good” ending.

The group from SunTrust came from around the Atlanta area to participate in a day of meetings which culminated in the Build-A-Bike team event. The group participated well and worked with each other showing that SunTrust Bank is a great company with great people.

During the Build-A-Bike there were many opportunities to learn great team building and leadership skills and put them into practice. It is stressed from the start of the program that it is not a competition. The idea is to support and work with one another. It is a hard concept, especially when you’re divided into groups. By dividing into groups competition is almost automatic, even if it is discouraged. The problems that needed to be solved to get the bike parts were most easily solved when working with other teams. The most effective and efficient way to solve many problems is to ask others for help, but it is a hard thing to do, especially if you view it as a competition. But divisions, different locations, branches, departments; any thing that segments one company into many parts, can create unhealthy competition that keeps them from sharing vital information with other groups. Ultimately, the 90+ from SunTrust realized that they were one team, not 16 teams, but one team- made up of 16 groups, with one goal- to build bikes for kids. They did a fantastic job and not only did the 16 children that received the bikes benefit but so did the communities they live in. Thanks SunTrust for a great event.

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

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.

Ambassador Rehab used a Build-a-Bike^® Team Building Event to focus on the community by donating new bicycles to The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida.  Ambassador Rehabilitative Services provides services in 61 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.  Their Mission is to, ” provide exemplary rehabilitation services to our residents and community. We foster an environment based on our core values of Compassion, Honesty, Integrity, Respect and Passion.”

At their annual meeting therapy program managers, senior management team, directors and support staff came together for an information-intense three days.  They chose to begin the workshop with a Build-a-Bike^® team building activity to help participants build camaraderie and break down barriers.  The video below shows how successful the plan was.

Proctor and Gamble’s international marketing guru’s came together to share cutting edge ideas, and build a stronger team in Lyon, one of France’s most historic cities.  This group was truly international.  Sounds of Turkish, German, Polish, Spanish, Erdu and Russian hung in the air as the group participated in the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event.  The common language was English and the common sentiment was philanthropy and beauty.  Lyon is dappled with history, and is rich in culture.  Just a few blocks away, however, many neighborhoods are unfortunately rich in poverty.  Unemployment in some pockets of the city is more than 40%.  Yes, nearly half of its people in many neighborhoods have little to do but worry.

For parents of young children, it is a struggle just to put soup on the table.  So, while building a better team through teamwork exercises, Build-A-Bike^® brought Proctor and Gamble and Venissieux Restos du Coeur (a charitable organization) together.  The goal was to make the lives of some kids a whole lot better.  They need food for the tummy and food for the soul.  With a bike firmly in hand, these kids, and their families, were smiling for the first time in a while.  Parents thanked us profusely.  I even got my hand kissed by a couple of adorable eight-year-old boys.  Oh, the French have such classe.

This team’s director, Pawel Krzysztofik, said, “This event brought his team together and set them on a solid path of doing more for others.”  Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor & Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Travel and Transport, a travel and transport management company, help a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale AZ. The event was a time of fun and learning that ultimately resulted in 12 brand new bicycles being given to children from the local boys and girls clubs. It was an energetic event that kept the participants active and interactive as they participated in team building activities and built bikes. The group of over 70 expressed enjoyment with every part of the program, with the highlight being the children coming in to receive the newly assembled bikes.

During the event there was a lot of laughter and smiles. The people gathered from across the US really enjoyed being together, working on the projects, and completing the activities together. There were several lessons on team work that could be learned, but one of the most important was clearly in place with this special group. They have already learned to enjoy one another and make the workplace something other than drudgery and mundane. It was clear during the activities that this group enjoys their jobs and each other, as well as the responsibilities and service they perform. From the positive attitude of the leadership, to the smiles and warmth evident in all the people participating, this is great and progressive team.

The activity was great and the feeling afterwards was very, very positive. The activity was great, but it started with a great team. Congratulations to Travel and Transport on having a winning Build-A-Bike event, and for having a great company with great individuals and great leadership.

Falconstor Software held a Build-A-Bike Team Building Workshop in Las Vegas, Nevada, that ended with 12 new bicycles being donated to deserving children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. The event had over 60 participants that worked together, had fun, and learned valuable leadership and team building skills. The ultimate goal was to gather the parts to build the 12 bicycles so that the 12 children, 6 girls and 6 boys, could have their very own bicycle. It was touching moment when the children were introduced; over half had never had their very own bicycle. A couple of the children had never ridden a bike and so the wonderful Falconstor people took time to try and help them learn. They also provided funds so that the Boys and Girls Club can buy some training wheels to help out.

It would have been easy to build the bikes, given them to charity and gone on with life. But the Falconstor people showed particular compassion when several unanticipated problems occurred. The first problem was that one bike’s pedals didn’t fit. They were the wrong size and there was no way to make them work. The builders were very concerned for the child who wouldn’t receive a complete bike. The next was a bike whose back tire tube was damaged and wouldn’t hold air. Then there were the kids who received bikes but didn’t know how to ride them. The Falconstor people showed compassion and care to all the kids and especially comforted one child who didn’t have a complete bike. The pedals from the bike with the bad tire were transferred so there was only on bike that was not usable. Then they were concerned as to how the bike would be taken care of, along with the fact that several children needed training wheels. A $100.00 Wal Mart gift card was given to the Clubhouse Director who was very appreciative of the concern and gift to fix the bike and provide the training wheels.

The Build-A-Bike Team Building Event was a great success for the Falconstor people, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. The Falconstor people showed a great level of teamwork and leadership not just by what they learned and displayed during the teambuilding, but by showing their concern for the team of children that received the bikes. An important lesson of leadership and teamwork is being a cheerleader and encourager to others around you. Falconstor showed this in several ways throughout the program, the least of which was the great display of generosity to the boys and girls.

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’ve 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 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.”

25 individuals from GE Healthcare came together at the GE Training Center to have some fun and do an exercise in teambuilding that resulted in four brand new bikes being built and donated to children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. The larger group was divided into four teams that had a lot of fun and laughter completed tasks and solving problems that eventually led to the bicycles being built. This Build-A-Bike team building event was a great way to have fun, enable some learning in a creative way, and to see one another in a little different light than the usual work experience. At times the laughter was explosive and this valuable team was great at enjoying one another.

We all have responsibilities to handle in our jobs everyday. We go about our work and leading and working with team members becomes a routine task we often take for granted. In doing so, we have become slaves of the routine and tend to complete responsibilities and tasks in the same manner over and over. Even if the problems or situations change, our approach remains the same. The hurdles we had to jump for one situation become much like the hurdles in our present situation, so we handle them the same way. We may get frustrated, annoyed, even angry with the circumstances or team members, but unless we make an intentional change we will continue the cycle.

Often times a simple change of perspective can help a leader or team find a better way to approach responsibilities. Try not being critical and complaining about the situation, but rather try to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to express their perspective. By including all the team members and allowing others to voice their opinions freely and without criticism you are able to see a bigger picture and probably a better solution.

A simple team building event like the Build-A-Bike can help teams and leaders over come routines and experience how to make a positive difference in the work place.

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.

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.

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.

I just got back from San Diego, California where I conducted one of my favorite team building events, Build-A-Bike, with Henry Schein.  For those of you who don’t know Henry Schein is the largest distributor of healthcare products and services to office-based Dental and Medical practitioners world wide. It is a Fortune 500 company and employs more than 13,500 people in over 200 countries. In this brainy two-hour corporate team building event, the company built and donated ten bikes to ten children from the San Diego Boys and Girls Club.  The group of 60 people had already completed three days of training and as one participant said, “I just wanted to thank you for an amazing event!  To be honest…when I first walked in…exhausted from the weekend already…I wasn’t to sure about all the activity.  Not only was it fun, the fact that we were forced to complete a “team building” task and really work together for success and the end result helping someone else…so touching and rewarding.  You brought great energy to our group!  It has already made an impact here at the office…it’s been a very positive week!”  It’s was a joy to work with Henry Schein and I’m confident they are off to the races with an exciting new year to come!

AFFCU held a great Build-A-Bike Team Building Event in Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday, February 21^st. The 38 teams built bikes that were given to children from an area school that had participated in special events to earn the special reward. The group met for 2 hours to complete tasks, participate in group activities, learn some valuable lessons, and build the bikes. It was a fun event and everyone roared with laughter at some of the situations each was put into. After the event many great comments were made concerning the fun and enjoyment of the event, and how great it was to see the children receive their bikes. All the laughter and fun of the activity was replaced by a very touching moment when the children came in. The participants didn’t know the children would be there, and the children didn’t know (until the last minute) that they had won new bicycles.  You can see their excitement in the following video.

It was great to see the teams come together. Often times in team building situations we’re taught lessons, and given scenarios to try and learn. But in the Build-A-Bike event people are put into situations where they have to lean on their own team and then find out that the different teams have to work together to achieve the goal. In work situations we often have our own team that works to accomplish its tasks and projects, but often times we forget or overlook the fact that one team’s efforts can help another. And likewise we often don’t search for help from other teams that have completed similar tasks, but we “re-invent the wheel,” so to speak, rather than get help and/or advice from others. Team work goes beyond there being one team, to include all the other teams that make up an organization. It isn’t one team functioning well that makes a company successful, but rather all teams functioning well, and functioning together that makes a positive difference.

Thanks to AFFCU for a great event and congratulations to the children that received the bikes. Team work and children benefiting is what the Build-A-Bike Team Building Event is all about.

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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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.

Southern Co. invited The Leader’s Institute(R) to conduct a full day of team building in Birmingham, Alabama. The team participated in a Rescue Bear (R) and Build-a-Bike (R). Both events allowed Southern Co. to give back to their local community in Birmingham. Here’s a look at the day’s action:

Southern Company fosters collaborative partnerships to educate children, develop communities, conserve habitat, protect wildlife, provide recreation, and accomplish other services. They also provide leadership and expertise at local meetings, speaking engagements, research support, safety education, and board service, and provide a helping hand for other volunteer activities. They work at all levels from the grass roots in field offices and power plants up through corporate channels at each of our subsidiaries and headquarters to support communities and ecologies within their service territory.

Rick Highsmith
The Leader’s Institute

Folks from General Electric Health Care conducted a bike team building event in Baltimore. Baltimore, like any large city, has a number of inner-city kids, whose lives have been smacked by the recession.  It’s hard for parents to get food on the table, forget what most children dream of – bikes. 

Bike part by bike part, team by team, GE employees solved clues to win a part, and Build-A-Bike.  Voilla!  Ten dreams for ten kids, from The Boys and Girl’s Club.  To get a bike, they had to do something extra, improve attendance, grades, attitude.  And are they well-behaved?  You betcha!  Readying to come into the room, one little boy spoke up, “Girls first.”  And they all quietly fell in line, girls first.

Doors open, ten adorable kids claimed some dreams, and put a lurch in more than one heart, and watery eyes to many GE folks who built the bikes.  They mixed with the kids to say hello, get to know them a bit, make sure seats were the right height, exact a promise to wear helmets, and take a picture or two.

GE folks walked away, with a feeling of doing good, knowledge that they just infused these youngsters’ lives with joy.  The bikes are physical empowerment for these kids, giving them control of at least one thing in lives.  This event sends a clear message,  “Someone other than your family cares about you.  We want you to succeed in life.”  This kind of team-building philantropy is woven deeply into the very fabric of what, and who GE is.

It is sure that the faces, of these little ones, are etched into the minds of all who came together as a team.  More than one participant thanked me for giving them the chance to meet these kids.  What!  My pleasure – they did the work.  By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor & Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Starbucks Partners kicked off the New Year by gathering together at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville.  They built ten new bicycles for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee in a Build-a-Bike Team Building Event.  This team building project was initiated through Starbucks’ “Shared Planet ™” program.

Kim Kaine of Boys and Girls Clubs said, “Some of the children receiving bicycles had never owned one before.  Now, through Starbucks bike team building event, the kids are the proud owners of their own bike.  This donation of their time is greatly appreciated.  Thank you Starbucks!”

Starbucks website explains the “Shared Planet ™” program, “From the neighborhoods where our stores are located, to the ones where our coffee is grown – we believe in being involved in the communities we’re a part of. Bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference in people’s lives – it’s all part of being a good neighbor. And it’s a commitment rooted in the belief that we can use our scale to be a catalyst for change.”

The following video shows how thrilled the kids are…

Richard Highsmith

About 50 attorneys from Citigroup were surprised by their evening activity. At the end of the first of two days of meetings they joined together in a beautiful setting to take part in a team building exercise. The exercise turned out to be the opportunity to build bikes for at risk third grade children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Westchester.      On the schedule was just a time slot entitled “Team Building.” But when they entered the room with tables set around and another table that housed bicycle parts they quickly knew this was more than just a lecture or games. After a brief introduction the teams received their assignment- to build 8 bikes to go to a local charity. It wasn’t as easy as just building the bikes; they encountered some problems along the way that had them working together and seeing each other in a little different light than they might normally. In the end the bikes were completed and the real surprise was when the children who were receiving the bikes were introduced to receive them.

It was an evening of surprises. The attorneys didn’t now they were going to do bike construction; they didn’t know the children would be there to receive the bikes; and even the children weren’t aware that they were getting bikes until they arrived at the facility. One of the thrilling highlights was when Matt, one of the bicycle recipients, presented a thank you plaque to Katie Kessler, the principle organizer of the event.  After the program was over everyone enjoyed meeting the children and spending time reliving the event. There was a fantastic feeling of camaraderie and generosity within the group. I talked to several people, and perhaps one of the third grade girls, wearing her new bicycle helmet summed it up really well. I sat down with her and said, “Wow! Hot chocolate and cookies, a new helmet and a brand new bicycle, a pretty neat night, huh?” Her response choked me up, “This is the best night ever!”

A big thanks to Katie Kessler; the Citigroup committee that chose the Build-A-Bike team building event; and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Westchester for making a truly worthwhile and memorable event. And a special thanks to Jill Franco for her help in the logistics of putting the program together Thanks to you all for a wonderful evening and a very special memory.

Johnson and Johnson has long helped Mom dry the tears and cheer up the kids with a little ouch-less help for skinned knees.  But this company is so much more. It is at the forefront of medical breakthroughs, striving to discover new methods to improve our quality of life.  Need a hip replacement?  They have developed it.  Need to know what is going on inside your head, lungs, or heart, Johnson and Johnson is right there.

At a conference in Princeton N.J., the Scientific Affairs Division of Pharmaceuticals looked inward.  To their credo, which calls on them to put the needs and well-being of the people they serve first. They explored the goodness of volunteer efforts of their own people, and their accomplishments were many.

Build-A_Bike. At the core of their credo is to give back to the community, and today they got down to the nuts and bolts of giving to kids in their community.  Learning how to build a stronger team, they learned how to They built a stronger Johnson&Johnson team, by solving a puzzle to earn a wheel, or handle bar, to build bikes for kids who have none.  When all the nuts were tightened, seats adjusted, tires pumped and checked for safety, 36 smiling kids claimed them, amid tears of joy from those who tightened the nuts, and pumped up the tires.  It was a tangible, and heart-felt lesson in how giving back, rewards the giver.  by Connie Timpson/Regional Instructor/Performance Coach

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Over 100 people from SXC Health Solutions came together in Chicago for a Build-A-Bike Team Building Event. After hours of fun, laughter, and teamwork 16 bikes were completely assembled and given to children from the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago. River West Meetings planned the event for SXC and their employees were excited to participate and contributed to the success of the event, and when the children were brought in at the close of the event to receive the bikes- it was a very moving moment. In the end, SXC had a great time and made a life changing difference in the lives of 16 children and in the communities that they live.

SXC has a goal of making their customers, clients for life. To do so they focus on three strategic areas: customer focus, operational excellence and employee fulfillments. in the Build-A-Bike event these areas were addressed in creative ways and ideas were expressed and experienced that will guide toward the goal. Often times when workers are in different locations, or branches, and now with more and more people having home offices- that separation can lead to silos where one, or small groups work together without the benefit of a larger group. After time that individual, or small group, can become totally dependent upon themselves and not see how they are connected to a larger group. Through the Build-A-Bike event the participants learned that often the best way to solve a problem, reach a goal, or overcome an obstacle is to break down the silo and get help and aid form other sources and resources.

It was a fun afternoon, values were reiterated, mission was underlined, and vision was reinforced. And beyond just that everyone had fun and contributed to help at risk children and the community at large. What a great team member enhancement, child and community development, and team building event.

Over 20 people from IKEA Indirect and Material Services in Philadelphia came together for a Rescue Bear team building event in which the end product was building stuffed animals that were given to the Lower Macungie Ambulance Service in Macungie, PA. The group gathered at the Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Macungie, PA, for this special time of team building, group meetings. Throughout the event there was plenty of fun and laughter as games were played, memories expanded, values reinforced, and personalities explored. Overall it was a great time to experience the company of co-workers in a little different atmosphere than usual.

The basic lesson surrounding the event dealt with how talent is often time a determinant in filling positions, but then those people filling similar positions, all having similar talents and temperaments become a team, but somehow aren’t very effective. The talent pool is there, but with similar attitudes it can be hard for the team to be work in the most efficient manner. Personality clashes are too often the result of like personalities having different ideas on a matter. Resolving the problem is more difficult than if the team members have complimentary personalities. When dominant personalities are team members the work is complicated by people wanting to lead and no one willing to follow. The more expressive personalities are more concerned with enjoying the journey and having fun so they are easily distracted from the task for a more cheerful and entertaining activity. The amiable person on a team is so concerned with consensus that the work can suffer trying to get everyone to agree unanimously on the process. If all members are analytical then the concern will be getting enough information and making sure it is accurate that the actual work may be delayed.

The best functioning teams make sure they have a cross section of personalities so that they compliment and add to each other. The best and most effective and efficient teams are not made up of the most talented people, but rather those that can work together in such a way that the talent pool is augmented. That is, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When designing teams and assigning responsibilities, look beyond just talent and make sure that the personalities and temperaments of the teammates are complimentary to each other. Building Bears that are donated to area first responders is a great way of building teams and experiencing the lessons of personality developments.

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 (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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Employees from CVS Caremark had a fun and energetic time when they participated in the Ace Race Teambuilding Event. This entertaining program involves several activities that culminate in each team building a miniature golf hole. The items used in the construction include non perishable food items. Once each team has designed their hole then they have to make a hole in one. Each team member rotates until one person has made the ace. Once you have made your own hole and aced it, then you move throughout the rest of the course taking shots at making a hole in one at each hole. You cannot continue to the next hole until a player on your team has made an ace. As each team progresses through the course each team must rotate who takes the shots. The game is finished when one team has completed all the holes. At the close of the event the food items are donated to a local food pantry.

The participants from CVS Caremark were very creative in building their holes and each of the 6 teams enjoyed not only creating the holes but the race to make an ace at each hole. The actual team building took place while designing the holes and then passing the golf club form one member to the other. Building the hole took communication and reliance on people who had some experience, while the golf shot took some skill, as well as teaching those without any golf experience how to make the shots. Of course, on of the basics of good teamwork was the sharing of information, not just within the immediate team, but with other teams to help them accomplish the task at hand. Often times we find ourselves in competition within one company. We are in different locations, or division, or departments, or… and as a result we compete for limited resources, limited budgets, limited human resources and… Competition within a company can be good if it is creative and brings out the best in the teams without bringing discouragement. But if teams find themselves competing in a highly competitive fashion it can hurt the overall company. In actuality, all the teams within a company are on the same team, in fact, they make up one team. And if one team prospers at the sake of another, then the overall team has suffered. Part of team work is seeing how the smaller teams fit into the larger picture and making sure that the main team is the winner.

Thanks to CVS Caremark for a fun learning opportunity and making this Ace Race Team Building Event a great success.

Folks from Union Bank converged on San Diego, California, to strengthen their team, recognize each others’ strengths, and use those strengths to solve some puzzles, Build-A-Bike team building event, and make some kids smile.  Throw away the notion that bankers are always serious – these folks had some serious fun!

Creative, of yes, Charlie’s Angel’s move aside, there is a new team in town. They laughed, clowned around, and together cracked some codes to get some bike parts, see who could Build-a-Bike the quickest.  They collaborated, asked for help, helped others, and learned that no, does not always mean what it implies. There was a little head scratching, a bit of frustration. (Oh…..just like life and work.) Yes, there was a winner – a group of kids whose families have been hit the hardest by the recession.  All of the Union Bank people won as well.

Angels they were, wanting little more than to make some kids smile.  And their efforts were rewarded.  Kids from the local Boys and Girls’ Club shyly smiled, got some riding lessons, and said thanks.   This is the first bike many of these kids have owned, and certainly the first new bike.  They were excited to ride, and they rolled away feeling like someone other than their immediate family cared about their journey in life .  Union Bank built a stronger team, while giving back to the local community.  It was an emotional win, for everyone.        By Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/Leader’s Institute

70 salespeople and members of leadership from Rimage Corporation in Minneapolis, MN, came together for an evening of fun and learning while experiencing a Build-A-Bike team building event. There were several activities, and a high energy pace that kept the participants moving and creatively coming up with ways to complete the tasks and solve the problems. There was even a time of emphasizing the core values of the company. The end result was a lot of laughter, a sense of camaraderie and 12 bikes being built and given to local children form the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Minneapolis, Minnesota. The children being present at the end of the event to receive the bikes added to the pleasure of the evening.

The representatives at the company were gathered from Europe, the Pacific Rim, Australia, and the US. The international group overcame language and cultural barriers to work together to accomplish tasks, solve problems ands eventually gather the materials assemble the bikes. With the varied cultures 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 Rimage for a great team building event and for making the difference at work, and in Minneapolis community by enhancing the lives of children.

Lenovo’s leadership team came together in New Orleans, Louisiana to share a team building experience. The Creating a Team Culture Workshop was a great experience of sharing, skill building and attitude improvement. These talented people came from the US and China to participate in this fun and activity-driven experience that had people sharing, laughing and learning more about each other and practicing practical leadership skills. As often is the case, the quality of the people enhanced the quality of the event. Also, the cross cultural dimension added fun and insight into the event which was a solid learning experience.

The smaller group added to the intimacy and made the meeting more informal and made it easy to emphasize the material on leading effective meetings. Often times meeting are schedule because that’s what we do- we have meetings. These meeting often lack clarity or meaning, but are largely seen as too much time with too little results. Even if there is a definite design or purpose for the meetings too often they just become information sharing and too many topics are covered to be effective; or so much extraneous material is introduced that nothing really get accomplished that makes difference.

Each meeting needs to have a definite purpose, a definite statement as to the reason for the meeting and a specific goal or agenda to accomplish. The leader must be willing and able to keep to the task and judiciously wade through the tangents that come up without losing the focus of the desired outcome. Often problem solving meetings fail to put into place a solution that has accountability built in. The meeting needs to address possible causes of the problem as well as possible solutions so that the problem can be well defined and understood from a causality perspective. Be careful not to place blame, but rather consider the contributing factors. To come up with solutions without considering possible contributing problems is to overlook a major part of the problem solving meeting. Lenovo did a great job in defining the problem, considering possible causes and solutions, and then solved a real problem that each member of this team was facing.

Thanks to Lenovo for a great experience with great people. The Leaders Institute looks forward to a great relationship and more opportunties to work in Creating a Team Culture.

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.

33 Members of the E.A. Renfroe, a company provides a full range of catastrophe support services to insurance companies, self-insured corporations and governmental entities during times of disaster or claims overload, enjoyed a fun team building event at the beautiful Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort in Destin Florida. The Camaraderie Quest corporate team building event is a high tech scavenger hunt and this one tool place on the grounds of the resort. The four teams got to know each other better, see one another in different than usual circumstances, have some fun, and even learn a few things about leadership and corporate team building. The morning activity had them out on the beach, throughout the hotel and interacting with the hotel staff. It was a fun event and the time of sharing at the end proved both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Often times we get to know one another only through work situations. This event helped them to see one another being silly, outside their comfort zones, and being very creative. All keys to help a team function better. Another benefit was that these adjusters usually work solo, so this gave them a chance to re-acquaint as see and experience the strengths of fellow workers. Thanks E.A. Renfroe and the Hilton Sandestin Resort for having a fun learning experience with the Camaraderie Quest Team Building Event.

Partner companies of Creative Education Concepts and ConvenePro, both providing continuing education opportunities for health care providers and medical professionals, hosted a ½ day “Creating a Team Culture” workshop in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, January 8^th. 12 leadership individuals from the companies came together in Chicago from their headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. Each one had a fun and experiential learning experience through sharing information, learning leadership principles, and working together to integrate the learning opportunities with activities to help make each principle stick.

Each person came to the team building event from various backgrounds and various expectations for the program. But each came with their own specific talent and abilities. As the morning progressed each began to understand and appreciate each other better. One area of team building that is often taken for granted is expressing appreciation, not just for work done, but for the qualities each individual possesses that makes then an asset to the company. It can be easy to say, “Thanks” or “Great job!” or even “I really appreciate the work you do.” But it makes much more of an impact, and anchors positive behavior when the leader (or anyone) takes a few moments to observe the qualities or characteristics within a person that causes them to do a good job, or complete a task admirably, or work at a high performance. It is better to recognize that the person has talent and potential that can be augments by recognition.

Next time someone does a good job, completes a task, or just needs a little recognition, go one step beyond saying thank you and give them a compliment based on the strengths they displayed. It is much more powerful and meaningful to say, “I really appreciate your attention to detail, because of that quality in you this report is really great and surpasses expectations.” than to say, “Thanks for the report.” It much more important to say, “You have a great sense of humor and I really am glad you share it with us, it brings life and energy to our meetings” than to say, “You sure are funny.” Next time someone does a good job, exceeds expectations, or you just want to compliment someone- trying go beyond a simple “Thank you” and give them a strength centered compliment based more on who they are than what they did. This is a basic ingredient of creating a team culture.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s, corporate vision “Value through Innovation” has lead them forward in pharmaceutical discoveries and practices for 125 years! It practices what it preaches – corporate and social responsibility. As part of its affirmation of family values, they extended a hand to The Atlanta Ronald McDonald House, that Ronald built 30 years ago.

Kay Camacho, House Manager, had a Christmas wish; a dollhouse to put in the playroom. Boehringer Ingelheim, made her wish come true. As part of an semi-annual gathering, folks from Boehringer Ingelheim, built a stronger team and a doll house for Ronald through a team building event with The Leader’s Institute.

It was easy and fun. Solve a puzzle, get a piece, use some glue, a little tape to hold it until it dries, the strengths of each team member and voilla! A beautiful dollhouse stood ready to travel to its new home – the Ronald McDonald House. And yes, Kay Camacho loved the house, and the folks from Boehringer Ingelheim felt very good about building the house and their team at the same time. Amy Shabazz, the team leader, said the event “far exceeded her expectations. It was an excellent program. We learned a lot and had fun doing it.” Connie Timpson Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute.

A team from the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group came together in Plano, 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.

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!

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.

New Foundland.  Statoil builds better teamwork in their land of wonder.  It only takes one stop to fall in love with this rugged land of ice burgs, whales, unusual birds, and really nice, giving people. Well yes, it is part of Canada, and well, Canadians are known for their “niceness”, but it is more.  This rugged land is full of mysteries, discoveries, and rich natural resources that helped this Canadian Province carefully, step past this global economic crisis. At Statoil, they are thankful that they have mostly skirted the economic danger.  Their homes are worth more than they were five years ago, and employment is not a real problem.

Their good fortune humbles them.  They are generous.

And did I mention nice?They wanted to give to those who are less fortunate,  strengthen their team, learn new ways to communicate, and let loose.  And so they did.  They chose The Leader’s Institute’s Build-A-Bike Program, for a perfect end to an annual meeting, and share their fortunate circumstances with children who do not have so much.

It takes a while to get to this land that frequently beckons movie producers to walk its streets and explore its rugged shores.  One of my favorite films, the shipping news was filmed here, I now understand why.

The great contrast to this resource rich and rugged land is the hearts of those who live there, and give back during this time of holiday and need.  As an instructor, it was a rewarding experience to share their joy. Share the joy with your team, a Build-A-Bike program could be the gem at your next corporate event. Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/The Leader’s Institute.

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.

“O Canada”… yes, I was in the land of ice hockey, nippy temperatures and good people.  Hundreds of Pfizer Pharmaceutical reps gathered in Toronto, to conduct a team building event , explore new, innovative, ideas, how to more effectively reach their communities, communicate with each other, and give back to their community.
They practice the Pfizer motto “It takes more than medication to be truly healthy.”It takes a giving, caring attitude, a thankfulness that they have done well, and a willingness to share, give back, and “pay it forward.”So Pfizer chose The Leader’s Institute’s Build-a-Bike program to put learning, laughing, and giving all in one room. Split into teams, they got very creative.  Some belted out songs, others tumbled, all for a panel of judges that decided who was the most creative, enthusiastic, showed the best showmanship, and delivered on their team motto.  Tough choice.  Lot’s of newly discovered talent.

The real competition, using each others strengths to solve puzzles, to get some bike parts. After a lot of “figuring it out” helping others, and getting some help, sixteen bikes stood waiting for the touch of a small hand and foot on the pedal.

Surprise!  They were rewarded by seeing sixteen shy, but eager kids claim a bike, specially made for them.  Yes….there were a few tears. Kids from the Toronto area now understand that many people care about them, that the world can be a pretty good place, that they now have control over at least one object, their bike.  Empowering a child to feel cared about and giving them the power of two wheels is a gift they will long prize.Pfizer employees felt the palpable reward of giving back.

It goes to Pfizer’s company motto,  “It takes more than medicine to be truly healthy.”  It takes a community.  Build-A-Bike may be a perfect fit for your next conference or corporate meeting. by Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/Performance Coach/The Leader’s Institute

Lycee Francais.  In the heart of Manhattan sits an educational gem.  Children from more than fifty nationalities walk through the doors of, Lycee Francais, to share cultures, learn to be bilingual in French and English, and become better citizens of the world. That belief in education carries over to the continuing education and enlightenment of faculty and staff.  On a day when students were at home or on holiday with parents, it was back to school for the support staff and teachers.  I had the opportunity to teach school leaders how to Create a Stronger Team Culture. It is a Leader’s Institute program that turns a day of learning into a fun and rewarding learning process.

We focused on how to be better, more-effective leaders, how to communicate on a much effective level, and laughed while we did it.Learning how to take a step back and recognize each-others’ strengths, become more cooperative, and far less judgmental of each other, was the lesson of the day.  And it was all done in a very interactive way that also helps strengthen memory, by thinking in the way the brain really thinks – in pictures.

You might say that it is most of the good and kind stuff our moms taught us.  Somewhere along our path to leadership, most of us learned to be managers – with subordinates, and processes, rather that leaders who inspire and guide.  All you have to do to make the change, to become an effective leader, is be willing to change.  Yes, there is learning how to undo a lot of bad stuff that we have learned over the years.  But Creating a Better Team Culture, by creating more effective leaders will take any team into a stronger, more enjoyable future.  All you have to do is open your brain to the possibilities and learn.  Connie Timpson is a Sr. Instructor with The Leader’s Institute.

Connie, your session was a big success!
We will want to have you back.
Lauren Bedell, Lycee Francais.

I just got back from Bridgewater, New Jersey, where Ethicon Women’s Health, just build and donated 6 bikes to the United Way.  Ethicon Inc. is a subsidiary of  Johnson and Johnson.  It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johnson & Johnson product line. Ethicon has been the world leader in manufacturing of surgical sutures   and wound closure devices for over a century. After World War II, Ethicon’s market share in surgical sutures rose from 15% to 70% worldwide.  In Bridgewater, NJ, Ethicon had fun and created a team building event to remember.  They commented after the event, “Your enthusiasm was contagious and brought out the best in everyone (no slipping out to take conference calls during this program).  Thanks for the great event”  I was truly impressed by the spirt of giving this group expressed when after the event they individually raised and donated an addition $450,00 which they donated with the six bikes to the United Way to help families this holiday season.  It was a pleasure being part of Ethicon Inc.

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.

MedImmune Build A Bike in the DC Area Makes the Holiday a Whole Lot Better for some some local kids.   They came together to build a better future for kids who need a helping hand.  Some dedicated folks from MedImmune lived up to its culture, its motto of Innovation, Inspiration, and Integration.  They gathered to learn teamwork in a fun way.  A way that celebrates their core beliefs and give back to those less fortunate. In a world of science that is as important as life itself, this worldwide biologics unit of AstraZeneca searches for the tiniest detail, a molecular structure, a cell that can be targeted and treated for diseases like cancer, deadly viruses or auto-immune.You feel an urgency among these people to hurry up and “make it better” “discover” or figure it out.

What all these dedicated scientists, and professionals do every day is hard to comprehend.  It is hard to imagine that in 1988 four dedicated individuals came together and called it MedImmune.  Now they are one of the world’s leading biotech companies, and carry their passion and company culture into their community.

If you are looking for an event that will strengthen your team and give back to your community, Build-A-Bike could be the centerpiece for your next conference, convention or meeting. 

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

I just got back from Hamilton, New Jersey, after conducting a corporate team building event with a group of 60 enthusiastic participants from Novo Nordisk.  Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services. Created in 1989 through a merger of two Danish companies dating back to the 1920s, it has become one of the world’s leading companies in diabetes care. Novo Nordisk also commands large sectors of the markets in homeostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. In this interactive team building event the group built and donated eight brand new Huffy bikes to the Boys and Girls Club of New Jersey.  The international group worked through brainy triva and structural challenges to successfully complete their task.  They said that their success was due to strong team work, collaboration and communication.  Together we created a team building event that was both fun and memorable.

I just got back from conducting a corporate team building event in Parsippany, New Jersey where Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited were starting their new employee and leadership orientation.  Deloitte, for those of you who don’t know is the largest private professional services  organization in the world. According to the organization’s website as of 2010, Deloitte has approximately 170,000 staff at work in more than 150 countries, delivering audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk, and financial advisory services through its member firms.  Deloitte, having used Build-A-Bike to build team spirit at other company events requested Build-a-Bike to be part of their orientation process to help anchor in an interactive way the importance of communication and collaboration across groups, teams and departments.  The group worked together to successfully complete their task.  As a group they build and donated six bikes.  The gifts of bikes were accepted by the Boys and Girls club of Parsippany.  It was a great team building event full of learning and fun.

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.

I just got back from Danbury, Connecticut where I was doing a corporate team building event with Smiths Detection. Smiths Detection, a company that develops Emergency Responders and handles Military inquiries for hand-held chemical and biological detection and identification devices, were getting ready to close their year and wanting to give back this holiday season, just completed a fun and interactive team building event, build-a-bike.  With  80 of their Danbury employees, it was a race to the finish.  Smiths Detection, seeing that although friendly competition can make for increased energy and fun, quickly realized that it was only through sharing information and collaborating, that they could meet their goals of building 16 bikes for kids.   After building the bicycles Smiths Detection, personally delivered 10 bikes to their local Boys and Girls Club and six bikes to Connecticut Children’s Place.  Smiths Detection did a great job of building community and unity with this brainy team building event.

Last month fifty Resort Managers from across North America came together in Las Vegas to have fun and give back to the community through a Build-a-Bike team building event.  The goal going in to the event was to provide the participants with an opportunity to get to know each other in a fun environment with a charitable element.

How important is mixing fun and laughter in learning?  Laughter and humor are part of the human experience.  As human beings, we have the ability to laugh at others and ourselves, to make jokes, to add humor to situations, which are seemingly without humor, and to be absurd.  Humor is a part of everyone’s experience. Scientific research has shown some significant results concerning how humor can benefit the health of an individual.  Humor has been correlated to stronger relationships in groups, suggested to be a coping mechanism against adversity and even been shown to have significant effects on the physical health of a person.  A number of studies show humor also improves learning/retention of new information and creativity.

The Build-a-Bike provides a “fun learning experience,” according to Karen O’Keefe and is “an engaging fun event,” says Cherie Ordway.  Both of these Resort Managers found the value of having fun, while learning to be better teammates.

And let’s not forget eight children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas received new bicycles…

Rick Highsmith

The Drive Technologies Division of Siemens Industry participated in a Build-a-Bike team building exercise on December 15^th in New Orleans.  More than 130 managers and field service representatives came together and built 26 new bicycles for the local Boys and Girls Clubs.  The Siemens Caring Hands program was established globally in 2005 to coordinate volunteer activities worldwide. This program mobilizes employees to donate their time and talents to carry out Siemens’ commitment to impact the communities in which they live and work through volunteerism. Caring Hands program has three areas of outreach:

1. Community Service – The goal is to engage and involve employees in the mission of corporate citizenship. In 2010 Siemens employees in the United States volunteered more than 41,000 hours.
2. Disaster Relief – Caring Hands Disaster Relief involves employee fund raising in response to local, national or global disasters that impact our employees, operations or business partners. Following the earthquake in Haiti Siemens donations include water purification systems, portable ultrasound medical systems, critical care blood gas and blood electrolyte analysis, DOT-IT flashlights (with batteries) and more.
3. Community Excellence Awards – These awards recognize teams of employee volunteers who undertake outstanding and innovative community service projects. In recognition of each team’s efforts, the Award includes a cash grant donation for the non-profit organization of involvement.

“Siemens Caring Hands is the company-wide effort that links employees across the country, believing that one inspired person can make a difference, but together we can change the world.” [Quoted from www.siemens.com]

The Drive Technologies Division of Siemens found a great way to celebrate the holiday season!  And the Build-a-Bike team building is an excellent example of Siemens Caring Hands.

Rick Highsmith

Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco, California just build and donated four bikes to the Salvation Army’s Adopt a Family Program.  At this team building event, 14 different countries and nationalities were represented within this group of 24 participants.  This highly diversified group  stretched their communication skills by solving brainy team building trivia questions.  They worked together as a team, collaborated and leveraged their diversity to overcome challenging obstacles all in the name of building bikes for children.  Dolby Laboratories has been a leader in audio innovation since the 1960s.  Beginning with Dolby® noise reduction, a form of audio compression and expansion that reduces background noise in tape recording. This highly technical group branched out, for one night of assembling and donating bicycles.  The Salvation Army and the children of San Franscico receiving these bikes were very grateful for Dolby Laboratories’ contribution.

Last week I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls, founded in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat., is a fortune 100 diversified, multi-industrial company with 130,000 employees in 1,300 locations across six continents.  Johnson Controls are responsible for creating quality products, services and solutions to optimize energy and operational efficiencies of buildings; lead-acid automotive batteries and advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles; and interior systems for automobiles.  Johnson Controls is currently, ramping up a six month leadership and development program centered around their core values of  sustainability, contribution, service leadership and collaboration.  Through our Build-A-Bike, team building event, this group embodied the spirit of these values by building and donating 15 bikes to the Boys and Girls club of Milwaukee. With Milwaukee having the second highest unemployment rate in the country, Johnson Controls made a huge impact by giving these gifts of bikes this Christmas season.

by Connie Timpson/Sr. Instructor/The Leader’s Institute

Jet Blue likes you.  “Yes, you can have 2 free bags of cashews.”  Your suitcase?  Check it, and put away your credit card, the first one is free!  That attitude has paid off in customers and a growing footprint in the industry.  Their caring does not stop with customers.  They have a growing, caring footprint in their local community, helping those who need it the most – troubled children, and families.  This year, scrappy, happy, determined, and good-hearted Jet Blue Crewmembers, came together to learn more about themselves, how to quickly diffuse tension in a high stress industry, and how to build some beautiful new bikes for foster kids at the Forestdale Foster Care Agency.

For over 150 years, against staggering odds, Forestdale, a foster agency has rescued kids from the edge.  Their mission is to protect, nurture, and strengthen families in trauma.  Emotionally or physically injured children, find the path to their doors.  Sometimes a school for street children, a haven, an orphanage, and a place to rest, children come to Forestdale, and Jet Blue is a big part of their support system.

Jet Blue could have spent a day at the spa, a night out on the town, or dinner at a fine restaurant, to celebrate their tenth anniversary.  Those thoughts never crossed their minds.  They wanted to give back to their community.  So they partnered with The Leader’s Institute’s Build-A-Bike® Team Building Event, to learn how to be stronger team members, appreciate each other’s strengths, and build some bikes for kids who only dreamed of owning their own bikes.  420 Jet Blue Crewmembers, solved some clues, sparred with judges, laughed at themselves and built 60 brand new bikes for 60 kids in the Forestdale Foster Community.  When the folks from Forestdale accepted the bikes and talked about what the bikes will mean to their kids, you could hear a lot of sniffles,  followed by a lot of smiles.

This holiday just got 60 bikes brighter for kids who have seen, and lived through too much.  This holiday, they will know that they are cared for and loved, by their extended Jet Blue Family.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of working with Gamestop, which, pretty much, revolutionized the electronic gaming industry when they opened up their stores nationwide to not only sell games for your Wii’s and PS’s, but also buy them back from you when your finished with them. Gamestop’s human resources group were at their home office in Grapevine, Texas (between Dallas and Ft. Worth — just north of DFW airport) for some training and their annual meeting, and they decided to spice up their meeting a little and give back to their community by conducting a cool philanthropic team building event at the conclusion of their meeting. Gamestop chose the Build-A-Bike® charity team building event and they donated their completed bikes to the YMCA of Irving, TX.

One of the interesting things that I noticed about this group was that, even in their business meetings, they made a conscious effort to make the delivery fun and interesting for everyone. So when we got to the team building event, it was kind of like a comedian or singer having a warm-up act. The group was already in the mood to have fun, so it was really easy to keep the energy up and let them cut loose a little bit. Many times, when we are organizing or attending annual meetings, we forget that in addition to learning something and building camaraderie, we should also have a little fun when we get together with our coworkers. It doesn’t take much to get the group energized, but those little things early on in an event are critical establishing a fun atmosphere.

The morning activities focused on principles of leadership and team building. The group shared ideas and participated in activities to help demonstrate principles and build them into skills that can be practiced in the workplace. The 17 individuals were a cross-cultural group and their actions represented the excellent quality of the Reckitt Benckiser company. 
In the afternoon the group did a great work of doing what they needed to do to “earn” the parts to build bicycles that were donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Mississippi. Each group worked as individuals and then with the other groups to complete the assignments and build the bikes. One highlight of the day was near the end of the program when the children receiving the bikes were brought in to meet the group. This was a surprise the participants weren’t expecting and made a definite emotional impact on them, as well as the kids.

This group from Reckitt Benckiser was particularly open and engaging in the activities. One ingredient of team building is the ability to share ideas openly without fear of negative repercussions, or ridicule. To build strong team people must be able to accept other ideas and see things from other’s perspectives. That means there has to be an atmosphere where team participants feel free and are even encouraged to share, and their sharing is appreciated. The skill of seeing things from another person’s perspective and appreciating the strengths the others bring to the team are strong considerations and components of effective teams. 
This group was open to each other and demonstrated a great balance between having fun and taking each other seriously. Congratulations and thanks Reckitt Benckiser and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Mississippi for a great day of growing, laughter and learning.

All accountants are stuffed shirts. They have no humor. Accountants are boring. Take a look at this video and see if these statements hold up…

Recently a group of Ernst & Young accountants got together for a team building. They wanted to have fun… I think they succeeded! They also wanted to have a charitable result since this was “Connect Day,” a day when the company as a whole reaches out to the communities they work in.

Rick Highsmith with The Leader’s Institute conducted a Rescue Bear© team building event. The result was 45 stuffed animals, wearing costumes of fire fighters, nurses and doctors. These were donated to the Emmanuel Cancer Center in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

A fun morning, a deserving charity and some team building – it’s hard to find a better way to begin a two day conference.

Rick Highsmith
Senior Instructor