Increasingly, as employees are urged to work smarter and not just harder to deliver the desired results, a good outcome is almost always a joint effort. While team-building may not be every employer’s or every employee’s idea of a productive or fun time, fostering and motivating the team to get the best out of them is proven to contribute to a project’s success. Three industry leaders explain why it is so important.
Oliver Sheer – Managing Director – BeChallenged
1. Make it about the individual – more often than not we lose sight of the reason we put on conferences and incentives… it’s all about them. ‘What’s in it for me?’ you hear the participant say. The participant drives the success of the conference/incentive, so get their buy in early and allow everyone to be involved, learn something new, feel part of a team, be a hero, make memories, and feel a sense of achievement.
2. Professional facilitators – team-building facilitators, facilitate for a living. They have been there and done it before. Use the knowledge and experience of these people to develop your agenda and ensure your participants are engaged, smiling and laughing. Talk to your facilitator about a holistic approach when talking team-building program and not just a quick fix add on. They will help make you feel and look great.
3. Encourage more expansive thinking – when you partner content delivery or key note speakers with a team-building activity participants have time to digest the information and put ideas, thoughts and behaviours into practice. Take the learnings or experience to the next level of understanding.
4. Shared experience – We go to a conference to build relationships and share knowledge so it’s important we make sure we help facilitate this. 100% inclusive shared experience that everyone can talk about, at conference, after conference and online.
5. Value for money – whether your outcome is to make them smile and laugh together, break down the barriers and make them more buoyant and upbeat, launch a new product, develop learnings, reinforce a theme, pump up a sales team or make long lasting memories together, the cost of a professional team-building program will be the best value for money at your conference. Ok, I might be a little biased but trust me.
Sam Mcneill – Creative Director – Song Division
1. ROI should be your top priority – Effective team-building experiences should not just be about running around in 40 degree heat like a headless chicken, racing to win a cheap trophy or box of chocolates. When executed successfully, team-building should help organisations educate their attendees and communicate key event themes and messages, becoming an invaluable addition to any meeting or event. Nothing is more satisfying than when a former client tells me that years after working with SongDivision, they can still remember the chorus of the song they wrote with us.
2. Engagement is key – Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Organisations can spend thousands of $$ on speakers and countless hours talking at their attendees, hoping that they take it all in like sponges when the reality is they are usually on their iPhones or falling asleep within minutes. Great team-building experiences engage and involve attendees in unique and unusual ways, making them purposeful and memorable.
3. Team-building can be a great leveller – SongDivision always encourage our clients to mix up participants, either randomly or for a specific reason (e.g. to get certain divisions working together more effectively). This means that the CEO might be grouped with the office receptionist, yet both are placed on a level playing field and given equal responsibility to deliver an objective. The outcome creates strong relationships between colleagues that may never have existed otherwise.
4. It really does build teams – That sounds obvious I know, but as anyone who has ever played in a sports team or performed on a stage in front of hundreds of people will tell you. The right team-building experience will create a bond like no other.
5. It’s fun – Well it should be anyway. While having fun may not be the top priority of your meeting or event, it is the key to real learning and take-aways. Think back to your favourite teachers at school. For me, they were the ones who made learning fun and interactive. We explain SongDivision as “Team building, heavily disguised as a rock concert!” Great teambuilding should leave attendees walking away with a huge smile on their face. Nothing makes me happier than hearing a participant say, “I thought this was going to be another silly waste of time, but that was incredibly fun and something I thought I would never be able to do.”
Leona Watson – Managing Director – Cheeky food events
1. Increase your ROI 10 fold – We all know teams can be ‘clicky’ and/or bring grievances to conferences. Well-chosen team-building should break those down, resulting in greater engagement at the conference and increased productivity back at the office. It’s all about your bottom line.
2. Save precious time and $ – team-building is often omitted due to tight agendas. But when scheduled into allocated meal times your team gain valuable outcomes from a fun, interactive welcome party, awards night, brunch or speedy lunch. Held onsite, meal dollars are absorbed in the team-building budget, so it’s a win/win.
3. Interactive conference themes – Just being told what to do via PowerPoint is a sure-fire way to disengage delegates. But if they creatively work together to bring their ‘war cry’ or team focus to life, you know they’ll GET it. Team cooking events, tailored to the theme, bring the heat of a kitchen and the workplace together.
4. Fun entertainment – Beat the pre-team-building groans and deliver a team event that is 100% engaging from the second everyone arrives. Enjoy music, vino and smiles all-round whilst achieving a successful, and delicious, reward to enjoy together. Beats the ‘done-amillion- times’ sit down dinner, welcome BBQ, workshop lunch or cocktail soiree.
5. Everyone’s a winner – Young, old, fit, tired, cynical or new employees? It’s hard to find a team event where everyone feels part of the success. CEOs can effortlessly cook with their executive team or a new graduate. With a relaxed atmosphere and scrumptious food – team cooking creates an enviable squad.