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Strength in numbers — whether teambuilding programs focus on physical, intellectual or philanthropic challenges, the intended outcome is the same: to transform individuals into cohesive collaborators for best-in-class performance.
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How many times have meeting planners had to endure groans and eye-rolling when attendees learn that teambuilding is on the agenda? That’s because tried-and-true approaches are beginning to lose their luster with overworked attendees who would rather be checking their BlackBerrys than “playing games” to satisfy the corporate mandate of developing motivated, productive employees. To compete for attendees’ attention, planners are charged with finding innovative activities that put the BlackBerry on the back burner. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting a new twist on traditional teambuilding activities. But now more than ever, what really strikes a cord is teambuilding with a purpose. There is no obstacle course, scavenger hunt or boatbuilding program that compares with the smile on the face of an underprivileged child who gets his first bike ever — or his first prosthetic hand — assembled by your team. The same objectives of cooperation and communication are achieved but with the added, profoundly powerful component of doing good for others. “Paying it forward” not only enriches giver and receiver, it extends to the company’s bottom line. “I witnessed firsthand my colleagues’ leadership and coaching styles emerge,” recalled Joseph Atalig, sales development manager of the Tempe, AZ regional office of
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Wells Fargo & Company. “Yet the dynamics of working together for something bigger didn’t click until the kids came out.” Atalig refers to the Life Cycles workshop, facilitated by Odyssey Teams Inc. Each team builds a bicycle. When the bike is completed, the kids enter the ballroom to claim their bikes. This is a program he’s participated in four times, each time recording tangible results in the team’s success when returning to the office. Just over a year ago, the impact was measured when his Arizona delegates became the number-one team in sales out of 24 districts with one of the lowest employee turnovers in the state.
Changing Lives “It might be a simple bicycle-building team event,” added Atalig, “but the simplicity is what connects the team members to the local underprivileged youth. We are rewarded by doing something for others, and then witnessing that pure excitement on the kids’ faces. In turn, that accomplishment connects back to the team that built that bike. We realized that we’re not just selling loans and checking accounts — we’re changing lives. There’s a bigger purpose in what we do every day.” When planning his teambuilding event with Odyssey, Atalig was asked probing questions in order to customize the events, ranging from the meeting objective to the culture of their region. Life Cycles is just one of several of Odyssey Teams’ philanthropic programs and a textbook example of teambuilding for a cause. Lain Hensley, owner and COO of Odyssey Teams, said, “We wanted to create relevant experiences so that people can have transformational moments. Forming an emotional bond, such as with the bike-building experience, creates an internal pressure to personally sustain change and motivate first.” Hensley said that for a team to develop there are four stages: forming, storming, norming and performing. In the first stages of teambuilding, the forming of the team takes place. The team meets and learns about the opportunity and challenges, and then agrees on goals and begins to tackle the tasks. Every group then enters the storming stage in which different ideas compete for consideration, a stage when team members begin to open up to each other. In the norming stage, the team adjusts their behavior with one another, developing work habits conducive to creating a fluid team. The final stage is performing, when team members become interdependent, motivated and knowledgeable. “If teams don’t go through these four phases, they won’t know where they are,” explained Hensley. “The first three stages are accomplished by teambuilding, so we can certainly escalate that time period through specific teambuilding activities.” Once Odyssey discovered the bridge between training models and philanthropy, Hensley said he started opening the lens to find activities with more global impact. One of those new inspiring programs Odyssey created is Helping Hands, an exclusive program in cooperation with the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation. “The program challenges participants to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas,” explained Hensley. “As participants realize what they’re building, a profound sense of responsibility emerges, as they are literally giving an amputee a new life. This sense of teamwork brings a new purpose to their life and career.” The program includes a video that shows the amputees, tens of thousands of youth and adults maimed as a result of landmine explosions or political violence in developing countries, receiving their new hands.
The Impact Of Jazz Your teambuilding activity doesn’t need to be philanthropic to be effective. When Michael Gold, principal of Minneapolis-based Jazz-Impact, and his ensemble of jazz musicians take the stage, within minutes the crowd is on their feet. Yet this isn’t your typical stage. Gold is presenting an interactive seminar for a group of financial managers on corporate teambuilding. His innovative business consultancy links the principles of the jazz music art form — innovation, experimentation and collaboration — with business fundamentals. “Jazz is the sound of people negotiating change,” said Gold.
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“I bring both worlds together. Our jazz ensemble is a team, just like any corporation, any department, any group. Jazz is a good model because every voice and instrument is wildly different. When we come together on a shared platform, we interact with each other and bring an enjoyable program (live music) to the audience. “Jazz has been a part of our culture for decades,” said Gold, “but many still don’t appreciate its evolution in the world of music. During the interactive demonstration, we move between talking about what we are doing on stage to bringing clients’ culture into those experiences. We show how personal a team can be and how they resonate when they work together.”
Dude Ranch Redux For Ramsey Potts, state sales director for AFLAC of West Virginia, his event was successful by structuring the entire meeting, including the teambuilding activity, around Mother Nature. “When I announced to my management team that the annual incentive trip would be to a dude ranch,” Potts recalled, “I nearly had mutiny on my ship. Many were disappointed that we weren’t going to the beach and felt like a dude ranch was little incentive to perform. I had to assure them frequently that Rancho de los Caballeros was a luxury ranch resort.” Just 90 minutes northwest of Phoenix, Rancho de los Caballeros is an historic ranch resort with 79 guest rooms, 8,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, 18 holes of golf and 100 horses for exploring trails on 20,000 acres of spectacular Sonoran desert. Planners can offer their attendees an authentic dude ranch experience with additional luxuries such as gourmet dining, the awardwinning championship Los Caballeros Golf Club and the luxurious Spa at Los Caballeros. Images of “City Slickers” and sleeping under the stars while eating beans and wieners prevailed until the team arrived at the ranch resort, said Potts. Potts and his sales team participated in a popular teambuilding activity offered at the ranch called “team penning,” which matches teams with a cowboy coach to compete on horseback. The objective is to herd three calves into a framed pen, while working against a clock. Meeting planner Ramsey Potts, state sales director for AFLAC of West Virginia (far left) along with cowboy coach and attendees participated in a “team penning” event. Teams competed on horseback to herd calves into a framed pen while working against a clock. Photo by Dennis Hartin
“The horses are so well trained that we just go along for the ride,” added Potts. “In fact, several people (including myself) were rather reluctant to get on the back of a horse. However, by the end of the event, the team came together and there was more than a little friendly competition. “From the ‘team penning’ to the championship golf course, from the trap and skeet shooting to the beautiful horse rides through the desert, from the relaxing spa to the cowboy cookouts, Rancho de los Caballeros is the perfect combination of an incentive trip mixed with a healthy dose of
teambuilding.”
Traditional Teambuilding That Works Nicolette de Guia is a meeting professional for a national personal line insurer’s conference planning team who coordinated a very successful Distribution Leadership Forum at the La Quinta Resort & Club, La Quinta, CA. To set the Forum apart from other meetings and to engage the audience in a team event tied to performance, de Guia explored the various venues available both on and offsite. “The theme Accelerate to Win tied in with our company’s objectives and NASCAR-sponsored programs,” said de Guia, so with that in mind, and with the aid of some very insightful, creative and flexible partner vendors, de Guia found what she wanted. But instead of the group going to the offsite venue, the offsite venue came to La Quinta and in the end, was masterful. “We took the concept of the race and made it our own,” said de Guia. The teambuilding event included extensive graphic pieces including pit passes, qualifier books, NASCAR-style lanyards, very inventive and creative racing style décor, Breathalyzers and an authentic NASCAR race car along with a special guest NASCAR driver, Kasey Kahne. De Guia enlisted the help of her vendor partners: Access Destination Services-Palm Springs, La Quinta Resort, Eventworks
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(décor company), and Karting Ventures Inc. to bring racing to life at the resort. The hotel agreed to close down a busy onsite parking lot, and Karting Ventures arranged delivery of 12 go-carts and brought in their whole operation from track to operators. “We had them at ‘ladies and gentlemen, start your engines,’?” de Guia reported. “Before the racing experience, our general session was relatively quiet with very little audience participation. It needed some life and excitement. After the teambuilding session, the entire personality of the meeting changed. Everyone seemed to feel like a part of a team, more relaxed, focused and more engaged overall in the meeting content. This teambuilding event was extremely successful and a very effective morale booster. “Our racing theme resonated with everyone,” said de Guia. “Name a teambuilding activity from bike building to scavenger hunts, and we’ve done it. Our goal wasn’t to cleverly disguise a teambuilding event. Out of 120 attendees, only two sat out. We needed to get everyone engaged in the meeting, and we wanted them to have fun doing it.” Objective, time, budget, corporate social responsibility and diversity of group are just a few topics raised by Beth Daniel, sales manager for Access Destination Services-Palm Springs. “To come up with unique events, I always start by asking the right questions. Maybe there’s an upcoming sales pitch, a new product launch, a merger. Teambuilding is a fun and interactive learning experience that brings a group together toward a common goal.” Teambuilding isn’t without challenges, added Daniel. “You have to work with the variables and logistics: weather, team numbers, theme, etc. Whatever the theme or objective of the meeting, we can uncover or create the perfect teambuilding event.” Daniel said traditional teambuilding activities, such as chili cook-offs, build-a-boat, culinary themes and game shows can still be quite effective. However, brainstorming for that “perfect” fit to create something unique is crucial. “With de Guia’s event, for example,” explained Daniel, “I had originally proposed an offsite racing venue, but the budget brought it back to the hotel and engaging the services of Karting Ventures. Together, we took our vision and tweaked it to fit a hotel location, including closing down the parking lot.”
The Disney Dynamic There is no shortage of creativity at Disney Parks and Resorts, which provides the expertise needed to execute innovative teambuilding programs. Disney Institute offers a variety of teambuilding and professional development programs proven to drive success. Group experiences are designed to actively develop relationships that lead to strong results. When a group of 20-plus senior officers needed to team up, Jeffrey Brown, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Waterbury, CT-based Webster Financial Corporation, brought them to the Disney Institute. A Disney teambuilding event Pluto’s Pursuit kicked off the two-day meeting. In the activity, teams band together “in pursuit of the prize” during this one-of-a-kind scavenger hunt throughout a Disney Destination Theme Park. This activity jumped to the top of the list for Brown as the fastest way to throw a group into the “deep end of a pool.”
Disney Parks and Resorts organized a teambuilding scavenger hunt for Webster Financial Corporation that took place in the Magic Kingdom. Photo courtesy of Webster Financial Corporation
”We’d just completed a major restructuring,” explained Brown, “merging several different departments. To create a shared services environment, we wanted a means for these 23 senior managers to get to know each other in a short period of time. We also wanted a more relaxed environment before throwing them into a classroom. “A scavenger hunt may seem simple,” agreed Brown, “but it’s a fun way to introduce a group and get them to work together. It’s very easy to discount these sorts of activities, but I find it
immensely powerful if done well.” For the past seven years on behalf of FirstMerit Bank, Carrie Holet, retail sales and service consultant, and Michele Pfeifer, senior vice president of performance and learning resources, have planned Disney incentive trips that include teambuilding events. Their attendance ranges from 45 to 75 employees from
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the top-performing branches. FirstMerit Corporation is a $10.4 billion diversified financial services company headquartered in Akron, OH. “We are always interested in ways of enhancing team dynamics,” said Pfeifer. “We’ve done everything from cooking a gourmet lunch to a team Park Challenge. Because they’ve earned these trips, we already know the teams are competitive and like challenges, so we build on that spirit.” Through the Disney experience, Holet and Pfeifer customized their teambuilding experiences, offering attendees glimpses into the theme park that they couldn’t get with a general admission ticket. The teams are small, and attendees are grouped with people that they often do not know. “Our gala events are exclusive parties in venues not accessible to the public,” explained Holet. “Teambuilding events like Pluto’s Pursuit or On Location allow us access to behind-the-scenes areas. We tell attendees all they have to do is pack their bags, and we’ll do the rest. Teambuilding events make that experience more intimate. These are all unique encounters that they take back to their branch as a motivator to earn their return trip next year. From college-aged to senior citizen, Disney teambuilding events are flexible for all ages.” Holet and Pfeifer are also conscious that many of their attendees are repeat winners, so they work together to create something new that appeals to first-timers and repeat winners. They start by opening up the lines of communication with Disney, passing on details about their current group of winners, and creating a teambuilding event that effectively targets the meeting’s objective. Whether launching a new product, building business strategies or cultivating leaders in a recent merger, teambuilding is a proven tool that boosts performance. But perhaps the best programs are those that help to change lives for the better. I&FMM
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Destination Hotels & Resorts Partners with Odyssey Teams September 01, 2009 By Alex Palmer Groups staying at any Destination Hotels & Resorts can now give their events a charitable boost. The hospitality management company has partnered with Odyssey Teams to offer philanthropic team-building activities at its more than 30 hotels, conference centers and resorts. Odyssey Teams creates programs that allow groups to strengthen their teams by collaborating on charitable projects. Among the programs offered are Life Cycles, in which a group of participants assemble bicycles to donate to children in need, and Helping Hands, in which teams put together prosthetic hands which are then given to amputees in developing countries. Odyssey has created programs for corporate groups at companies like Walmart, Wells Fargo, Pfizer and Kinko's. "We get people connected to who they are, who they work with, what they do at work and why they do it, which in turn helps them improve their connections to customers, customer service and their lives outside the office," said Bill John, president and co-founder of Odyssey Team, in a statement. The new partnership is part of Destination Hotels & Resorts larger corporate social responsibility efforts, which includes the sustainability program Destination Earth, launched in 2008 to protect the communities in which the organization operates. Maureen Callahan, vice president of marketing for Destination Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement that the company's properties "are very much a part of the local community where they reside and Odyssey Teams" programs, which encourage groups around the world to give back to their communities, fit in perfectly with our company's core values." SAVE
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CRM Meetings Destination Hotels & Resorts Partners with Odyssey Teams
August 31, 2009 Offers groups charitable team-building programs By Alex Palmer Groups staying at any Destination Hotels & Resorts can now give their events a charitable boost. The hospitality management company has partnered with Odyssey Teams to offer philanthropic team-building activities at its more than 30 hotels, conference centers and resorts.
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Odyssey Teams creates programs that allow groups to strengthen their teams by collaborating on charitable projects. Among the programs Odyssey offers are Life Cycles, in which a group of participants assemble bicycles to donate to children in need, and Helping Hands, in which teams put together prosthetic hands which are then given to amputees in developing countries. Odyssey has created programs for corporate groups at companies like Walmart, Wells Fargo, Pfizer and Kinkoยนs. "We get people connected to who they are, who they work with, what they do at work and why they do it, which in turn helps them improve their connections to customers, customer service and their lives outside the office," said Bill John, president and co-founder of Odyssey Team, in a statement. The new partnership is part of Destination Hotels & Resorts larger corporate social responsibility efforts, which includes the sustainability program Destination Earth, launched in 2008 to protect the communities in which the organization operates.
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Our Readers Like MOST POPULAR | MOST EMAILED Maureen Callahan, vice president of marketing for Destination Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement that the company's properties "are very much a part of the local community where they reside and Odyssey Teams' programs, which encourage groups around the world to give back to their communities, fit in perfectly with our company's core values."
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Thanks to one activity on Solta Medical's global sales meeting agenda, the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance in California is now equipped with badly needed computers for its after-school youth program. The computers actually were built by the 100 sales reps who attended the medical laser firm's January conference in Newport Beach, Calif. The activity, arranged by destination management firm PRA Orange County, was designed not only to foster camaraderie and inspire ingenuity among the medical laser company's team, but to leave a lasting, positive legacy in the community where the meeting was held.
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Solta Medical's experience is just one example of how volunteer activities are becoming a more common component of meeting and incentive agendas. (For related statistics, turn to this month's Research findings, "Doing the Right Thing.") According to Padraic Gilligan, managing director of global destination management firm Ovation Global, the negative press the meetings industry has received is spurring corporations to leave a "philanthropic footprint" in the wake of their events. "You need to offset the perceptions of being extravagant by doing something for the community, the destination," Gilligan says. Give-back activities also can make attendees feel good about the organization. "Companies need to engage their employees in meaningful ways. The bottom line is that these types of programs impact employee attraction and retention," says Alan Ranzer, executive director of Impact 4 Good, a Bethesda, Md.-based team-building firm that specializes in CSR activities.
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The ways groups can have a positive impact on a destination or community are myriad. They run the gamut from cleaning up a public park to building homes or renovating schools. For example, for a sales conclave held in Malta last year, pharmaceutical firm Allergan and its meetings management firm World Events Group created a Monopoly-style board game whose "properties" featured community facilities on the Mediterranean island that needed refurbishment; players or teams who "bought" a specific property thus became in charge of that project in real life. The upshot: The firm's 760 sales reps renovated nine properties, including a women's refuge and an orphanage. The cost to the sponsoring organization can range from as little as $100 total for gloves and bags for a beach clean-up, to $100 or more per participant for a more sophisticated materials-oriented activity, such as a bicycle-building program for children.
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October 2009: Colorado Following are tips for how to add CSR components to meetings and incentives.
Getting started
Throw a dart at a map of Colorado and you can’t miss hitting a location known for its astounding natural beauty. White capped mountains, fertile valleys and towering forests populate the state. Picture all of this splendor next to the
The first step: Find out if your company already has a community affairs program, says Ira Almeas, president of East Hanover, N.J.-based Impact Incentives & Meetings. "Many corporations have a strategic alliance with certain causes, such as fighting hunger, building literacy or health-related charities," he notes. Check with the hotel: Some chains, such as Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (fairmont.com) and Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts (ritzcarlton.com), have formal programs that match groups with various volunteer activities and community charities. Another option is to work with professional firms, such as Impact 4 Good (impact4good.com), Give
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Instead of Take (give-instead-of-take.com) and Odyssey Teams (odysseyteams.com), which match groups seeking charitable programs with local organizations in need. They typically have packaged team-building activities that can be executed anywhere, plus they can create custom events based a group's interests or tied to the sponsor's industry. Destination management firms such as PRA Destination Management (pra.com), based in San Diego, and Ovation Global (ovationdmc.com), based in Dublin, increasingly are adding CSR activities to their roster of offerings. To find one, contact the Association of Destination Management Executives (adme.org) or Site (siteglobal.com), which has many global DMC members. Destination marketing organizations (destinationmarketing.org) and national tourist boards also can assist in arranging CSR activities. And if your company has a branch in the meeting destination, it's likely a locally based employee can recommend worthy causes in the community.
Activities for the Greater Good
Following is a sampling of activities that are well suited to groups. (Be sure plans are cleared with the proper authorities, such as beach or park commissions, when necessary.) Create military care packages. Teams of attendees decorate and fill boxes for U.S. troops. For example, PRA San Diego (pra.com) has participants create packages for Marine squadrons based out of nearby Camp Pendleton and now serving in Iraq. Teams write personal notes to the squadron and include a photo of the "packers." For assistance, contact the U.S. Department of Defense Community Relations department (www.ourmilitary.mil). Give a facility a facelift. Groups can spruce up a facility that serves the local community, such as schools or senior centers. Work can include painting, landscaping and general maintenance. For reference, the United Way (liveunited.org) represents more than 1,300 community programs throughout the United States. Help at a food bank. Attendees sort and pack food for local food banks, who distribute the meals to the homeless, senior citizens and families in need. Feeding America (feedingamerica.org) can help locate a food bank. Build bikes. Participants assemble bicycles and donate them to a local charity for children. Among the team-building firms that can implement this activity are Impact 4 Good (impact4good.com) and Odyssey Teams (odysseyteams.com). Nourish young minds. Attendees read to local children or help them with homework. United Way (livingunited.org) can help you find charitable children's groups; for schools, contact the National School Board Association (nbsa.org). Perk up a park. Choose a local greensward in need of TLC; teams can compete by number of garbage bags filled with debris. For help, contact the National Park Service (nps.gov); the National Recreation and Park Association (www.nrpa.org) or the National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials (nacpro.org). Lift young spirits. Teams make layer cakes and colorful cards of hope and encouragement for charities such as Ronald McDonald House (rmhc.org) or children's hospitals. Or, participants can decorate and stuff pi単atas with toys and games for hospitalized kids. Impact 4 Good can make arrangements; contact the American Hospital Association (aha.org) for children's hospitals in your area.
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COMMENTS Thank you for pointing out the link error. The correct link is liveunited.org, and has been fixed, above. Posted by Anonymous on 7/29/2009 1:34:58 PM
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By Jonathan Vatner 6/18/2009
Give attendees a bonding experience -- and the satisfaction of helping local children -- by letting them build bicycles for needy kids. In Odyssey Teams' Life Cycles program, groups get together to build a bike, learning important workplace skills in the process. At the end of the event, the kids come to claim their new bikes. The activity costs around $175 per person for the minimum group size of 25, and $90 each for 1,000 participants. (800) 342-1650; odysseyteams.com
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Anonymous Comment: Perhaps I am missing the point, but I think the money would be much better spent purchasing bikes from a mass retailer. The photo shows three people building one bike which would make the cost $525, unless the team completes one bike per team member. That is a VERY expensive bike, so I would hope the team members learned some very valuable lessons while working on the bikes. 683917 Comment: This sounds like a great idea but I would like to suggest that the recipient child should be part of the assembly process in order to teach him/her new skills, as well as to provide a little "buy in" to pride of ownership of the bike. Everyone wins with this program! ANI
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by Maria Lenhart With an increase in demand for philanthropic programs, team-building companies are devising ways to take new and creative approaches to community giving. At Adventure Associates, a new program named “Get Set, Give” is similar to a traditional scavenger hunt, but instead focuses on helping people in need.
More Coverage Rallying the Troops
“People work in teams of four with GPS devices to find clues and they also have a certain amount of spending money,” says Rebecca Tilley, co-owner of Adventure Associates. “They have to look for ways to help people out, but they don’t just give them the money directly. For example, they might spend money on balls for a school or they might provide someone with a week’s worth of bus tickets. The teams have to get out into the community and ask questions about what is needed. Then they come together at the end to share the experiences.” At Odyssey Teams, which has been designing programs with a philanthropic slant for nearly a decade, the newest offering is Helping Hands, a program where participants build prosthetic hands. The recipients are children and adults in developing countries who have lost hands due to landmines and political violence. According to lead facilitator Todd Demorest, the program can easily take place in a hotel meeting room and typically is two to four hours long. Teams of three people assemble the prosthetic hands from kits and also decorate a care package box for each recipient. “Afterwards, the teams watch a video of some of the past recipients and their families--they see how it has affected their well being,” Demorest says, adding that a picture of the team who built each hand goes into the care package box. “It becomes a very personal thing,” Demorest says. “When recipients get the hand, they get to see who built the hand. We also get pictures of the recipients and send them back to the client.” Odyssey Teams also offers Project Playhouse, a team-building program in which participants assemble playhouses that are donated to local children’s groups as well as to shelters. According to Demorest, as participants work with the raw materials they are given—lumber, paint, finishes and decorative items—they tap into creative, leadership, communication and decision-making skills that will make them more effective in their organizations and in their communities. The teams are encouraged to customize their playhouses with paint and other decoration. They can also compete for awards based on creativity and team spirit. Often, the children who will receive the playhouses are invited to inspect them and act as judges for some of the awards. “So many people think they are not good with their hands,” Demorest says. “They might stumble and bumble around for a few minutes, but pretty soon, they’re really building a playhouse for deserving children. What might have seemed like a game at the beginning has really aligned people and given them a connection.” Along with socially responsible programs, cooking challenges and other culinary-related programs have also gained in popularity in recent years. An example of new options available in this genre is TeamBuilding Unlimited’s Chocolate Stimulus Package, which offers several different activities centered on chocolate. In Ultimate Chocolate Tasting, participants learn about the history of chocolate and how to enjoy and appreciate high-end varieties of chocolate from around the world. In the Chocolate Challenge, teams are challenged to design and decorate chocolate creations that reflect their team or company. “In the Chocolate Challenge, people are really building with chocolate--we even had one team from a scientific company create a research lab out of chocolate,” says Janet Rudolph, creative director of TeamBuilding Unlimited. “Or they can create elaborate cakes, which can be chocolate or not. The cake can serve as the group’s dessert or taken back to the office.”
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Braving the high ropes course at Meramec Wilderness Learning Ranch in Steelville, MO, are Hardee’s Food Systems employees who found success by overcoming fears and self-limiting perceptions. Photo courtesy of Hardee’s Food Systems Inc.
By Karen Brost
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“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” So said industrialist Henry Ford, inventor of the assembly line. Though he was referring to workplace teamwork, his words ring true on a number of other levels for the beleaguered corporate meetings industry, which has found itself on the defensive lately. So much so that the next time your thoughts turn to teambuilding programs, your very next thoughts will be transparency, accountability and results. The times might be different, but human nature never changes: Getting a diverse group of people to work well together is no simple task. As the legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel discovered, “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.” Yet, effective teambuilding is about far more than creating internal camaraderie. It can be about building character and communities. When done right, these activities can have a significant impact on a company’s success — and its reputation. People who learn to collaborate and execute as a team are the glue that will hold the company together when a shaky economy threatens to pull it apart. You might say we’re in it together now more than ever.
Trading Places Arizona Outback Adventures (AOA) is a Scottsdale, AZ-based company that creates teambuilding programs for clients all over the world. “Teambuilding means different things to different people,” said Bernard Philippe, general manager. “Often it means doing a group activity, and for other groups, it really means doing a business simulation. They are looking at teambuilding to increase communication and obviously teamwork, but also to look more at some of their specific business processes and the efficiency within those processes.” Amanda Martin-Palmay, collections development manager for the Center of Excellence at Toyota Financial Services (TFS) in Chandler, AZ, hired AOA to design a teambuilding activity that would address some communications challenges the company was facing. “We have a layer of leadership we found was a little disconnected from each other,” she said. She explained that these front-line staff managers, called team leaders, work in different departments, including customer service, collections, administration and inventory control, yet they need each other’s cooperation to resolve customer issues.
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“We thought it was important to bring them together for some teambuilding so as to facilitate more comfort in having dialogue with each other and resolving problems together rather than going to the next level of management to resolve,” Martin-Palmay continued. “One of our main themes was ‘being in the other person’s shoes.’” Photo courtesy of Arizona Outback Adventures Philippe and Seth Heald, AOA’s president, worked with TFS officials to plan the event. “They started out by really digging in for probably the first three meetings we had, just trying to understand what was going on in our business, and it really was not about the teambuilding event,” Martin-Palmay noted. “That’s probably what impressed me the most. It’s quite difficult to come in and figure it out and then come up with a way to help. They did a great job on fact finding and researching and trying to understand the real need that we had.” “Ultimately, it was about customer service,” Philippe noted. “How do we help people understand each other better and increase the efficiency of dealing with the customer?” AOA staged the program at Fort McDowell Adventures, a scenic outdoor venue located on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation just east of Scottsdale. To build in a little friendly competition, AOA turned the event into a bike-building contest. Teams were formed with one member from each department, and each team visited a series of Team dynamics are tested during stations where they could win a bike part by answering a Pluto’s Pursuit, a Disney Institute question related to handling a customer situation. scavenger hunt through Disney Team members were not allowed to answer questions from their own areas of expertise, however. “If I’m in theme parks and resorts. customer service, I have to answer from the administrative Photo courtesy of Walt Disney World Resort perspective and tell the customer service person why it is the way it is,” Martin-Palmay explained. “It’s really funny. You really see people taking the other side and owning it.” Philippe added, “We put them in a role they’re not comfortable with. We also engaged them by forcing them to communicate as a team, so they can get advice from the real customer service person or the real administrative person.” If the team answered the question correctly, they won a bike part, but if they answered it exceptionally well, they got an “extra” such as a bell or streamers. “Whoever had the most souped-up bike won,” Martin-Palmay said. The bikes were then donated to the local Boys and Girls Club. After the teambuilding exercise, AOA held a debriefing session to clarify what was learned and help develop an action plan for going forward. Afterwards, the group wound down by riding a mechanical bull, having a quick draw contest and taking pictures at an old time photo booth. “We had guys dressed up in women’s dresses taking pictures. We have teams of team leaders from two different departments taking pictures together. You see all those pictures on people’s desks,” MartinPalmay noted. In addition to donating the bikes they built, each team planted a cactus on the reservation to help preserve the desert area. “TFS is really about being the global good citizen, and that absolutely was key for us,” she added. Martin-Palmay said she could not have been more pleased with the outcome of the event. “They were so into it. They were so energized. It’s absolutely talked about here still. It far exceeded my expectations.” This Arizona Outback Adventures charity bike-building activity helped Toyota Financial Services employees bond through a shared sense of purpose.
Building Teams AND Communities Teambuilding programs with an emphasis on corporate social responsibility are increasing in popularity and importance, and the choices are virtually endless. The Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club in Lihue, HI offers an outrigger canoe racing event that enables groups to give back to the community while enjoying an authentic Hawaiian cultural experience. As participants learn about the Hawaiian traditions of this ancient ocean sport, they also learn that the harder they work at coordinating their efforts as a team, the farther and faster they can go, not only in the ocean, but in the workplace. The races are led by members of a local canoe club on Kauai. Since the resort is located right on the beach, no transfers are necessary. The event costs
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between $120 and $150 per person, and all proceeds benefit the local community. “The money that the groups pay will go directly to the kids’ program of the supporting canoe club,” stated Jay Heidenreich, director of sales and marketing for the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club. “It is a really great way for a group to have an interactive teambuilding event that incorporates culture and then the money paid goes right back into the community.” The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, CA offers a variety of socially responsible teambuilding activities called “VolunTeaming.” Groups can elect to participate in a build-a-bike competition or clean up a local beach for the nonprofit environmental organization the Surfrider Foundation. They can also have a competition to create sculptures out of cans of food. After the event is judged, all of the food is donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Odyssey Teams, a teambuilding and leadership skills development company based in Chico, CA, has formed a partnership with Rotary International to create a philanthropic program called Helping Hands. Groups participating in this program assemble artificial hands to be donated to youth and adults who have been injured by land mines or political violence or who have irreversible birth defects. The recipients live in developing countries where the average cost of a prosthetic hand can be $3,000. As a teambuilding activity, Helping Hands inspires employees to work together toward a common goal while gaining an appreciation for things they take for granted. According to the company, “As participants realize what they’re building, a profound sense of responsibility emerges. An amputee, after all, is going to use Odyssey Teams’ Helping Hands teambuilding this hand.” Odyssey’s goal for the program is to program gives corporate groups the provide 10,000 hands to those in need. opportunity to assemble artificial hands for later donation to children in developing Learning The Ropes countries. Outdoor adventures are another popular Photo courtesy of Odyssey Teams
choice for teambuilding activities. Bruce LaSurs, director of facilities for Hardee’s Food Systems Inc. in St. Louis, MO, chose to take his nine-person team to Meramec Wilderness Learning Ranch to experience a ropes course. The facility, located in Steelville, MO, occupies 1,200 acres along the Meramec River and is operated by Boys & Girls Town of Missouri. “I searched for a unique activity where not one of us was an expert, and everyone was vulnerable — especially me,” LaSurs said. “Our group needed expert trainers to challenge us and bring us together, earning that bond in trust.” LaSurs was familiar with the work of the Boys & Girls Town through charitable activities. “I was impressed with the quiet confidence and flexibility demonstrated by their leaders, and more impressed with the results I witnessed in the children they steward, shape and guide — children who learn to transform themselves beyond the most difficult circumstances. “These folks know how to break down barriers and deal with intense obstacles at core levels for acceptance and growth,” he continued. “They can get through to the toughest corporate groups and provide them tools to sustain teams and continue growing together. “The high ropes course is, at once, both exhilarating and sobering. It is the equalizer. It is composed of large wooden poles, climbing spikes, and platforms and cables, laced with more Simulated steer roping instigates some hootin’ familiar elements in boxes and benches, pipes and and hollerin’ at metroConnections’ Western logs, ropes and swings. It embodies the very round-up and chili cook-off teambuilding human fear of falling, and entwines that with the competition. excitement of height and the power of a
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commanding vista.” Photo courtesy of metroConnections LaSurs explained that the course can be navigated by nearly anyone who has average balance and strength and who is capable of climbing a ladder. Participants who completed the course were rewarded with an opportunity to go ziplining, which LaSurs described as “as close to flying as you can get.” LaSurs summed up his group’s ropes course experience. “Success is often showed in ways other than completion of physical challenges: Successes came in the struggles and drive people showed to challenge themselves beyond their perceived limits. Some addressed their biggest fears, multiple times, to reach farther at each attempt. Others benefited from the group’s encouragement and support to take risks and successfully participate in ways they did not expect. There is a renewed sense of dedication and purpose in our group. Wonderful results are stemming from a shared experience at the Meramec Wilderness Learning Ranch. The impact from this event is profound.”
The Drum Café experience puts corporate conference attendees on the same page as they learn the universal language of drumming. Photos courtesy of Drum Café Atlanta/Orlando
The Beat Goes On It’s not always easy for an organization to drum up support for its latest product or strategy, but one company has discovered a unique way to do just that. Drum Café, which has offices around the world, utilizes the universal language of drumming to help groups break down their barriers and align to a common goal. David Graves, senior vice president of metroConnections, a Minneapolis-based event production company, has used Drum Café at least three times in the past and has another engagement coming up. “One thing I like about them is that they’re able to adjust the program to what we’re looking for to meet the needs of the client,” he explained. “We bring them in when the client’s message is built around getting everybody on the same page, when we’ve got people from all over the country and now we need to get everybody thinking about the new product, the new direction or the new message.” The Drum Café team begins the program by placing an African drum under the chair of each attendee before they enter the room. Then, as Graves explained, “We have the drumming start on stage, the doors open, and everybody floods in the room. It’s upbeat, it’s fun and it’s powerful drumming. Then they get in there and they find that there’s a drum at their spot.” Graves described the dramatic way in which Natalie Spiro, director of Drum Café’s San Diego office facilitated one of his events. “She comes out on stage and for the first 10 minutes of the program she never says a word. The drummers are drumming and she’s pointing at the audience. She’s making facial gestures and demonstrating, but she Universal In Production challenges never speaks. Within 10 minutes she’s got the whole room teams to produce a one- to drumming together — one half doing one thing, and the two-minute video, the content of other half doing another — and she’s got rhythms being which can support any number of created. It’s a really neat experience. Then they go into the goals the organization may want to messaging: ‘Look how easy it was to get all of you on the achieve. same page. That’s what we need to do.’?” Photo courtesy of Universal Orlando Resort Graves continued, “It’s interesting and fun, and a great way to open a conference. It’s kind of funny to watch the group in the first few minutes. They don’t know what the heck is going on. Then once they start the program, they start to get it.” Graves has done the Drum Café program for groups of up to 300, but he said they can accommodate much larger groups, as well. “You get caught up in their energy. If you want to go the extra step, they’ll take the group and really get them moving.” Graves noted that he has seen groups form conga lines because they were having so much fun.
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The Games People Play When they’re designed with specific goals in mind, games also can be an effective teambuilding activity. Ronald Roberts, president of Action Centered Training (ACT) in Eagleville, PA, and a professor of leadership and motivation at The Pennsylvania State University, has invented more than 70 games for corporate training. Planners can arrange for ACT to facilitate the games or they can purchase the games and implement them on their own. One game is called “What Goes Around, Comes Around.” “It’s about blaming people,” Roberts explained. “You have 25 people stand in a circle. You put eight hula hoops on the ground about six feet apart in a giant circle. Each of them puts their left foot in a hula hoop and the goal is to pass a beach ball around from one hoop to the next as many times as possible. But if any one person drops it, the entire team’s score goes to zero. Literally, if anyone drops the ball, everyone suffers. That’s the analogy. “It’s what I call an incremental process improvement game,” he said. “One of the trends in teambuilding is to back off task-driven behavior and focus on process-driven behavior to understand the underlying processes behind everything. It’s a big trend. In the beach ball hula hoop game, if somebody drops the ball, does the blame go to him or the person that passed the ball to him?” Or, as Roberts explained, is the problem really the system because everyone was passing the ball too quickly? “On all of my games I try to get people to fail or perform less than stellar in the first run because then their ego is hooked,” he detailed. “Then performance increases, times cut down dramatically as they buy in and commit and are actually connected to the process.” Roberts shared an example of a paintball program he facilitates where 25 members of a corporate team compete against seven of his highly trained marksman scouts. “The scouts kick their butts for the first three or four games until they say ‘What the heck is going on? Why do we keep losing 25 against seven?’ The seven people understand that you have to work smart, not hard. They outflank them, they outmaneuver them, they sucker them in and draw them in.” Roberts explained that once the corporate group starts to understand this, they begin to strategize and function in true team unity. “When they win, it’s a very sweet victory. You can hear the cheers a mile away.”
Keeping The Focus On Results As Roberts noted, “Great teambuilding is a simulation that teaches people about soft skills. It’s a simulation for the real workplace where they can practice the skills necessary. Soft skills drive hard skills, whether you’re an engineer, a doctor, an accountant, a manager or a salesperson. Your ability to communicate, work as a team, demonstrate leadership and plan strategically all affect your performance at those hard skills.” Philippe has learned through experience that the amount of time a company spends on a teambuilding event is critical. “There’s only so much that people will be able to retain and stay focused on. We do so many teambuilding events that we know there’s a magic time of 2½ to three hours to see the end result and have a vision of the goal. “Once you go past three hours, people start wondering, ‘What am I doing here?’ The idea of a teambuilding event is that it’s always great to have a big rah-rah at the start, but you have to have the same feeling of accomplishment at the end.” C&IT
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