In Focus
GROUP DYNAMICS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
experiential learning
FUN ACTIVITY
Dani Polajnar, Teambuilding Academy CEO, Senior Training Consultant
The TBA teambuilding triangle model
The teambuilding triangle No matter what type of teambuilding event it is, be it for 10 or 1,000 people, simple or complex, we at Teambuilding Academy always follow our teambuilding triangle model when organising it. Every event we do needs to cover three main areas: Group dynamics: all the activities that make up the event are team based (the tasks of the event cannot be achieved without proper teamwork) Experiential learning: the attendants learn by experience (they are not only passive observers, but active participants at solving different tasks) Fun: all the events are set in a relaxed atmosphere and environment After the basic areas are covered, we put the education part in the centre of it. This part may be related to business or it can be any type of common knowledge that we’d like our attendants to learn and that is interwoven into the programme itself. A great example of this is our programme called GoTeam – it is a GPS based treasure trail, where teams are led around different European cities (Vienna, Ljubljana, Venice etc.) by computer tablets. The attendants are divided into small teams and have to co-operate to achieve the goals (group dynamics); they navigate the trail and solve different kinds of tasks (experiential learning); they follow a story and execute different kinds of entertainment activities (fun) and by solving tasks related to the city history they learn about its cultural heritage (education). Our main objective in organising any kind of teambuilding event is to give our attendants just the right amount of challenge. This makes the event fun, yet not too simple, and this generates a high rate of intrinsic motivation of the participants. With the team energy level held high, they love to discover, research and solve
mysteries. When people start to play, we know we have achieved the main goal of a teambuilding event – there is just the right amount of trust and openness, which strengthens the invisible team bonds among co-workers, and this is what teambuilding events are all about. While during teambuilding events there is a very high rate of intrinsic motivation for learning, teambuilding provides very useful tools for transmitting corporate messages to employees, introducing core values, corporate strategy or teaching the attendants about some important business or management topics. As an example of that check the case study of our Art of War teambuilding event presented in the next article. What makes teambuilding a great corporate learning event? From years of experience of organising large teambuilding events we have discovered that the event cover story is of the highest importance. It needs to connect all the team-based activities into one big, coherent whole. Whether it be Chinese philosophy, Rock’n’roll, or Secret agent mysteries, the story is the main red thread which intrinsically motivates the attendants to play a role in it. Combined with great scenography, audio, video and other hi-tech equipment it can make any story come alive. When attendants turn into painters, detectives, archaeologists, musicians, designers or movie-makers, it is quite simple to teach them anything we might set as a learning objective, no matter how tough it is. Of course the magnitude of the event is always set by an event budget and whilst programme creativity is limitless, budgets aren’t. The main thing in these tough economic times is to make an unforgettable and high quality learning event come true with the lowest possible budget. This is one of the main areas where a professional teambuilding agency, such as ours, can help you.
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Key strengths: • More than 15 years of experience in training, conference facilitation and consulting • Extensive knowledge in teamwork, corporate culture and communication • Broad experience within different companies, industries and cultures • Excellent communication and training skills • Efficient, precise, enthusiastic, out of the box thinker, innovative, result driven Profile summary : Dani Polajnar has been actively involved in team work and team dynamics for the last 15 years. His major areas of expertise besides team work are leading teams, organisational culture, communication, conflict solving, project management and internal communication in organisations. He disseminates his knowledge and experience in the form of workshops, seminars, coaching and consulting. He is a frequent guest speaker and facilitator on human resource conferences and seminars. He is also finishing a book about the basic principles of teamwork. With a degree from the London School for Public Relations he is also a certified NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) trainer and a member of several international organisations. He is an accredited consultant for the Margerison-McCann TMSDI. In 2009 he was awarded within The best 10 lecturers of the Slovenian market. Dani is a CEO and founder of Teambuilding Academy (TBA), which is dedicated to team work and team dynamic. Their portfolio ranges from educational workshops, trainings and active teambuilding programs to modern and innovative teambuilding experiences and events for bigger groups, performed at conferences or other business meetings. Teambuilding Academy is a part of Catalyst Global, international network of teambuilding providers, which implements state of the art teambuilding events worldwide.