Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Ways To Encourage Unity In Your Company

Team-building is a fantastic way to get employees and team members to bond. As we’ve covered before, having a well-bonded team which works well together is essential to getting great business results. And the best way to kick-start this is to do some intensive team building. A team building course can help your employees get to know each other, to intuitively understand one another’s strengths and weaknesses, to like and respect one another. However, team building doesn’t have to end once the course is over. If you want to preserve and enhance team unity, here are a few ideas you can try on a more day-to-day basis:
Watch Out For Problems

One of the best ways that you can preserve team unity is to keep an eye out for developing issues. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be constantly scrutinizing and questioning your team - simply that you should make an effort to involve yourself in your team’s dynamic and culture. The more immersed in your team’s dynamic you are, the more you’ll be aware of anything which is throwing that dynamic off. And spotting problems early is half the battle in solving them.

Create A Supportive Environment

If you want a happy, unified team, you need to make people feel that they’ll be listened to and aided when they are experiencing tough times. Rather than penalizing people for things like the occasional off day, let them know that you understand that they’re human, and that they can turn to their team members for help if needed. People who feel under pressure to hide ‘weaknesses’ from their colleagues suffer far more from workplace related stress than others - and that in turn leads to a pronounced drop in happiness, motivation, and (ultimately) productivity. While some problems - substance abuse, for example - may need a certain amount of outside therapy, and may require an absence from work, for many problems, providing a supportive environment in which people do not feel judged or afraid for their jobs when going through hard times will pay dividends in team unity and workplace satisfaction.

Don’t Stamp On Respectful Dissent

If you have a workplace situation in which one person (or a group of people) come up with all the suggestions, and nobody else says anything, it might be time to have a look at why this is occurring. Rather than assuming that the ‘ideas people’ are simply the best and brightest you have, take a peek at how dissent and differing voices are dealt with in discussions. Often, people simply stop speaking up when the strongest voices in the group shout them down should they offer a differing opinion. Not only does this prevent all relevant viewpoints from being heard, it also deals a heavy blow to team unity - fostering resentment and feelings of inferiority. Make sure that people feel able to respectfully put forward dissenting opinions during discussion, and that all of your employees are using good listening skills as much as they possibly can.

Ensure Clarity

Nobody likes to spend their work hours hovering around either with nothing to do, or unsure of what they should be doing. Once you’ve begun a project, ensure that everyone is aligned, is happy with what you’re doing, and is happy with their own role in this. Once everyone knows what they’re doing, they’ll feel a certain amount of control, and confidence. Not knowing what you’re doing, or what your role is, creates insecurity. Insecurity creates anxiety, which creates stress, which creates irritability, which creates disharmony within the team dynamic. Not to mention frustration on the part of those who think that others should be doing something they’re not. Clarity is a seriously important part of any workplace dynamic - and one which is too often neglected by employers!

Don’t Be Distant

One of the best things about a good team is that people will feel confident and able to get on with their jobs relying on the support of their team members, without constant recourse to management. However, management support is always needed as a fallback. Even if you never actually have to step in, knowing that you’re involved and available will really help to foster confidence. This is particularly true if you take the time to make each team member feel welcome, appreciated, and as though they belong. So don’t be aloof - involve yourself!

by Emma Crosby

Monday, October 17, 2016

Team Building Success - Is it Necessary?

Team building activities should be fun and everybody wants to be successful but what happens when a team fails?

One of the most enjoyable aspects of running experiential team building games and simulations is their unpredictability. Anything can happen. In most cases, there is success, triumph and lots of woohoos but what happens when it all goes wrong?




On one level it is a little disappointing however it provides a unique opportunity for reflection and learning.  The debrief for the activity allows for discussion and analysis about what happened or what should have happened.

About ten years ago I remember running a construction activity with a group where nothing fitted together. The groups had not communicated their design and they had not double checked their measurements. Our debrief was in the form of a Royal Commission into what went wrong. It seems the errors that were made during the activity were the same ones that were occurring at work. Teams were located on different levels of their building and they would not clarify their communication so mistakes were being made. The activity highlighted the importance of effective and frequent communication. Teams acknowledged their need to make the effort to double check their message has been received and understood. Whilst it may take time to meet, plan and discuss, it inevitability leads to a better result.

The team building experiential allows for mistakes to be made without the financial consequences that might happen if mistakes were made at work. Teams can improve their teamwork in a safe environment in a short amount of time. So whilst everyone loves success, sometimes a failure in a team building activity might result in success back at work.


Monday, October 3, 2016

Seven Elements of an Awesome Team Building Activity

The ACE Escape is one of our most popular team building sessions and in this post we try to understand what are the essential elements of an awesome team building activity.

1. A Simple Premise
The goal of the activity is easy to understand and straightforward. Open the locked safe.
There are lots of unique props that add to the appeal and intrigue yet the goal is clear and simple.


2. Physically Inclusive and Non Weather Dependent
Every person should be able to participate regardless of their physical limitations or fitness levels. Whilst the ACE Escape is a mental challenge involving many activities each one is not physically demanding. The entire activity can be conducted at a table or on the floor.


3. Engaging and Fun
Everyone should be involved throughout the exercise and their combined contributions are essential for completing the task. The ACE Escape involves a multitude of puzzles and code breaking so that individuals are consumed in a task yet they must pass on their findings for the activity to progress.


4. Venue Friendly
Some activities require large outdoor areas or purpose built facilities. One of the great strengths of the ACE Escape is its portability and minimal room requirements. It can be conducted in virtually any room.


5. Level of Challenge
The task needs to have the appropriate level of difficulty to challenge the group. Everyone enjoys success but if it comes too easily or quickly it is not appreciated. The rate of success should ebb and flow so that the group encounters bursts of productivity interspersed with periods of inaction. During the ACE Escape the best teamwork seems to occur when the group have hit a roadblock. In many cases, the group are able to find a solution once everyone shares their individual problems.



6. Competitive and Collaborative
People enjoy competition yet a team building activity should be collaborative. The ACE Escape involves the team working collaboratively to achieve the most competitive time possible.


7. A Finale
The activity should have a natural conclusion that is exciting and brings together all the contributions of the team members. The finale of the ACE Escape involves the opening of the digital safe yet the emotional high happens just beforehand when the group know they have the answer.