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In part 1 you saw the factors that have a negative influence on a team. In part 2 you saw a number of simple measures that you can implement to have a positive effect on your team. Now that your team is better motivated and more coherent you can consider the skills development. For this, it is better to outsource specialists. Often staff see team building as a day off or as a necessary evil. Either way, the mindset is wrong for learning and your company will be wasting money. The reason for this is that many team building companies employ what can be termed 'touchy-feely' games as the basis of team building. For a start, this can alienate many of your staff who could feel uncomfortable when their face is a few inches from someone else's backside or if they have to hold hands with someone of the same sex. Also, these may well have been appropriate when teambuilding was in its infancy. These are then followed by problem solving exercises like build a chair that is strong enough to support a car from half a sheet of newspaper. These allegedly help to build lateral thinking skills. Generally they lead only to partial success with several members not bothering to contribute or being pushed out by a dominant team member. The reality is that the good experiences tend to be negated by the boring or uncomfortable. Nor are staff motivated to take part - watch a 'team' on such a team building day and invariably you will find at least half do not participate. Any good from the day will be lost. Thankfully, team building companies are starting to realise this and to evolve. When choosing a team building day, look for providers who develop thinking and communication skills in motivational environments. A day out on quad bikes or doing archery may be good for team morale and team bonding, or good corporate entertainment, but you will have already taken care of that (see parts 1 and 2) in-house. Companies like Hydroactive offer novel team building days such as the medieval team building day, others offer 'It's a Knockout' events based on the TV game of 30 years ago. But what you really need now is something to challenge the mind. Spy Games ltd is a provider of spy themed team building events. Some are pure entertainment but they offer the 'Enigma Project', a unique series of activities that provide opportunities for creative thinking in a motivational environment. This gets everyone involved. In addition, there is an element of competition based on collecting Spy Games Dollars. That fosters even more business skills such as negotiating, decision making, teamwork and planning as well as getting total involvement of all participants. Intersperse the skills activities with fun activities and you have a winning combination. Corporate Treasure Hunts are also being used increasingly for team building. Organisations such as Hunt for Treasure have clearly thought through the team building aspect. By providing more clues than could be answered, they develop planning and decision making. Negotiation skills are called for when carrying out tasks such as obtaining props from local businesses to stage photographs. Lateral thinking and observation are used for answering the clues. Time management is needed to avoid hefty penalties and everyone is involved. Whatever outsourced team building provider you choose, you need to consider carefully whether or not it will motivate the staff on your team and whether it will actually develop any useful business skills. And bear in mind that fostering a team spirit is built or destroyed by the attitude of you, the team leader.
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When your team is ready, visit Spy Games for highly motivational corporate team building activities, or Hunt for Treasure, for treasure hunts in Paris, London, Rome, Brussels ...
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