Team Building: Back to Business & a Bottom Line Focus
The team building industry has been “dumbed down” by providers who have been passing off “fun and games” and entertainment as team building. This blog advocates a return to a bottom line and business oriented approach to team building. It zeroes in on strategies that organizations can use to improve the effectiveness of team building and executive retreats. I’ll share my experiences, some insights and ideas to help you ensure that your team building initiatives are effective and engaging.
I recently had a number of conversations with similar themes. I’ve combined them into a few of scenarios to highlight some of the ways in which team building gets derailed. These calls were not from Mom and Pop shoppes but large and successful companies.
Scenario 1:
Caller: I understand that you offer team building and I would like some information.
Me: Fabulous, it would be a pleasure. How can I help you?
Caller: Well, we would like to do some team building for a group of 60 people. We want to do it in about 2 weeks.
Me: Okay, can I ask you a couple of questions?
Caller: Sure.
Me: What are your objectives?
Caller: I am not sure.
Me: I see. Well do you have an idea of whether this is to provide your team with an experience that will focus on some business issues or if it is strictly for recreation.
Caller: I am not sure. I think it’s just for fun.
Me: About how much time have you set aside for team building?
Caller: I am not sure. A couple of hours I think.
Me: Do you have a rough idea of budget?
Caller: We want to spend about $25 per person.
Me: Trying really hard not to let my shock show.
I see.
I let the caller know that her budget was well below anything that we could offer. I then spent some time helping her brainstorm and pointed her in the direction of some recreational facilities that might be suitable for the team and then suggested that she serve the group pizza.
Scenario 2:
A company contacted me to find out about our polo team building sessions. Hint: Polo is NEVER a low budget offering. They were calling less than 2 weeks before their sessions. I went over their needs and let them know how the session could work and pricing. When I didn’t hear from them after a few days, I called to follow up. They responded that they had decided to have a picnic at Centre Island and play baseball. I nearly fell off my chair. Talk about wanting champagne on a beer budget.
Scenario 3
I’ll call this paying for an expensive dessert before the main course. This scenario has happened a number of times but I will share the most extreme example. A member of a team that was planning a corporate retreat contacted us in a panic. They had used up most of their budget booking the group into a high end conference retreat. Little was left over to hire a facilitator or keynote speaker. They wanted to know if I would be willing to work with the group for a fraction of their budget. The answer was “That will not be possible.”
I suggested other more affordable options for accommodation, nice venues that would fit within their budget and leave enough room for proper faciliator fee. The response was “We really want a treat”. They weren’t even open to the possibility of staying double occupancy to stretch their budget further. I was stunned. I suggested that they find someone who was new to the business and looking to get some experience.
Scenario 4:
This is similar to scenario 3. Again it was a committee of inexperienced employees. They were based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and planning a trip to Penang for a large group of employees and their families. They had requested information about a team building simulation that fit the objectives of the retreat. Eventually they asked if the 2 day simulation could be cut down to half a day so that the group would have more time to go shopping. Again I was stunned.
8 Misteps That Can De-rail Any Team Building Initiative
So, where did these companies go wrong? Here are a few key areas:
- Objectives were unclear.
- There was confusion about the difference between team building and team recreation.
- The inquiries were left until the last minute with little time allowed for logistics and planning.
- No one had briefed the person making the inquiries about the purpose of the session and other important details.
- The budgets were totally unrealistic.
- The timeframes alloted were too tight.
- Senior management had relegated decision making to a committee consisting of inexperienced employees
- a decision was made to make expensive accommodation or shopping the priority instead of focusing on the business objectives of the retreat and allocating the budget accordingly
Team Building: Getting on the Right Track
The purpose of this blog is to explore strategies to boost the value of team building in terms of ROI. We’ll discuss in detail how to steer clear of each of the misteps that can derail your next team building initiative. I’ll share some of my experiences, insights and ideas to help you ensure that your team building sessions are effective and engaging. Finally, we’ll provide assistance to companies with the nuts and bolts of planning team building retreats and sessions.
Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A.
This sounds mighty familiar Ann with some people who are hiring speakers
I really like the set-up of your blog…
Nice!
All the best!
Man is a social being thus he needs to interact with people. Almost every individual has experienced, in one way or another, how it is to work in a group – from his childhood games to wherever he is now earning his living. Unfortunately, not every group succeeds in its objectives or goals. Failure is a possible consequence whenever we get into a challenge. However, we can always avoid this much dreaded “failure” if every member of a group would not fail to use or exercise TEAMWORK. Yes, every group of people must not only work as a GROUP where every individual works for his own advantage, but instead, every one should work as part of a TEAM – where he is working towards a common goal. When these “small contributions” build up, success is hardly unforeseeable.
How can a person work as part of a TEAM? It’s actually so easy: just remember the word TEAMWORK as a guideline. Also remember that all these should work together – should be there hand in hand from the conception of the team to the achievement of the final goal. No one of these can be enough and can work in isolation to be able to come up with a successful team.
So what you’re saying is companies need to plan a budget, allot time and set up goals in advance.
Got to keep in mind that for most of them its a first and they can use all the info they can get. If the budget scares them, then that’s that, but at least they’ll know why their sales have to make their targets
Well that’s not ALL I’m saying. However, with respect to the specific points you raised, Sounds pretty basic doesn’t it? Yet, most of the time this just isn’t happening.