Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A. @executiveoasis
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Team Building Tips
From Executive Oasis International, Toronto
Executive Oasis International, a Toronto based management consulting firm, helps rapidly changing organizations succeed even in the midst of turbulence.
From Apprentice inspired business simulations to implement real projects or create hot pop-up up events for charity to winter and wilderness survival retreats near Toronto to desert survival retreats and an oil rig simulation in Dubai, Executive Oasis International brings you a world of exciting team building that delivers bottom line value.
Our clients have included Holt Renfrew, Novo Nordisk Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scalar Decisions, Bell Mobility, Mars Canada, OCBC Bank (Malaysia), Baxter (Dubai), McKinssey (Dubai), Blue Nile Dairy (Sudan), Rogers Communications (Fido), Batelco (Bahrain), Ericsson AB (Saudi Arabia), Sidra Capital (Saudi Arabia), and GlaxoSmithKline GSK (Saudi Arabia), and Bidvest (South Africa).
Based on our global experience designing and delivering team building for companies from 16 countries in the Americas, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, we are pleased to generously share the best team building tips, strategies and trends in this Corporate Team Building Blog.
Yes our team building retreats and sessions are upbeat and interactive but we we deliver much more value than just a “fun in the sun” during a corporate play day. We deliver powerful simulations that draw parallels between the dynamics of your team and the realities of doing business in a turbulent economy.
Once you have sampled our innovative team building approaches through this blog, we hope that you will keep Executive Oasis International in mind the next time your company requires team building, an executive retreat or on-site consulting to boost the effectiveness of your teams.
Quick Team Building Tips
These tips are listed in term of the frequency with which we have seen team building derailed because they have been ignored.
Before your eyes glaze over and you conclude that it was not worth the bother to browse here, remember, these tips are based on mistakes we see daily in the RFPs we receive. It is rarely that most of these are NOT violated.
The first 3 by far have had the major impact with number 1 leading the pack by miles.
- Don’t Confuse Team Building with Team Recreation and Entertainment.
- Set a realistic time-frame to achieve your objectives and always leave some wiggle room in your agenda.
- Set a Realistic Budget and be prepared to discuss it.
- Plan WELL in Advance: Don’t leave your planning until the last minute.
4b Select your team building supplier before you lock in your dates and Venue. - Provide the Context: Ensure that you give the member of your team who is contacting prospective team building partners all required information.
- Clarify your team building objectives.
- Ensure that senior management spearheads all team building initiatives.
- Set priorities appropriately
(i.e. An expensive venue is never more important than hiring a skill facilitator. Allocate your budget accordingly.
About Our Founder & President
Our blog posts are hand-crafted by Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A @executiveoasis, our President and Founder. Anne has an M.B.A. from York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto. She has over 20 years of experience in team building, training and organizational development.
Cvent, the largest and most high profile event portal in the world, was so impressed by the quality of our content, that they have engaged her to write for their blog 5 times a week for the past 1 1/2 years.
Our Approach
This team building blog advocates a return to a bottom line and business oriented approach to team building. Why? The team building industry has been “dumbed down” by providers of recreational activities who have been passing off entertainment and activities that are strictly “fun and games” and as team building. Our clients deserve better.
While we will occasionally discuss corporate events that can be used to reward your team, our primary focus is to zero in on strategies that your organizations can use to:
- shape a vibrant corporate culture
- improve team cohesion
- break down silos
- improve cross-functional teamwork
- boost the business impact of team building your team building initiatives
In each and every post, Anne will share tips, ideas and insights to ensure that your team building initiatives are effective, engaging, and yes, fun.
She’ll regularly information about the team building programmes offered by Executive Oasis International all over the world and lessons learned that will be of value to your team.
Visit Executive Oasis International Website
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I also think that company culture is very important, i just had to read a book on that subject. nice article.