Friday Funnies: Robert Purvis

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that ‘individuality’ is the key to success.

~Robert Purvis

Friday Funnies: Robert Purvis

Team Building Tuesdays: Sheryl Sandberg

If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.

~Sheryl Sandberg

Team Building Tuesdays: Sheryl Sandberg

Friday Funnies: Exercise

I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Exercise

Team Building Tuesdays: Booker T. Washington

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

~Booker T. Washington

Team Building Tuesdays: Booker T. Washington

Friday Funnies: Franklin P. Jones

The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.

~Franklin P. Jones

Friday Funnies: Franklin P. Jones

Team Building Tuesdays: Never Done

If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.

~Anonymous

Team Building Tuesdays: Never Done

Friday Funnies: Oscar Wilde

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go

~Oscar Wilde

Friday Funnies: Oscar Wilde

Team Building Tuesdays: Oprah Winfrey

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.

~Oprah Winfrey

Team Building Tuesdays: Oprah Winfrey

Friday Funnies: Grain of Salt

I always take life with a grain of salt, …plus a slice of lemon, …and a shot of tequila.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Grain of Salt

Team Building Tuesdays: Walt Disney

If you can dream it, you can do it.

~Walt Disney

Team Building Tuesdays: Walt Disney

Friday Funnies: Franklin Jones

A bargain is something you don’t need at a price you can’t resist.

~Franklin Jones

Friday Funnies: Franklin Jones

Team Building Tuesdays: Vincent van Gogh

I would rather die of passion than of boredom.

~Vincent van Gogh

Team Building Tuesdays: Vincent van Gogh

Friday Funnies: Wet Paint

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Wet Paint

Team Building Tuesdays: Thomas Edison

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

~Thomas Edison

Team Building Tuesdays: Thomas Edison

Friday Funnies: Best Friend

You are such a good friend that if we were on a sinking ship together and there was only one life jacket… I’d miss you heaps and think of you often.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Best Friend

Allianz Life Gives TONS of Donations Every Year...Literally!

Minneapolis-based life insurance company Allianz Life definitely has the right idea with it comes to fulfilling a mission of social corporate responsibility.

Their employee giving program is something to behold, and we were proud to become a part of it this past February.

Allianz Life gives back through our Bike-A-Thon™ workshop.

Although this company makes a regular practice of getting employees involved in giving back, we were glad to help this winter, with our most popular charity team building workshop.

Building bicycles for local kids has always triggered something special in the corporate groups we’ve worked with over the years.  There’s just something magical and exciting about putting together bicycles that you know are going to be enjoyed by kids right in your own neighborhood.

So even though employees of Allianz Life are constantly involved in programs where they’re giving back, they too felt the magic of Bike-A-Thon™!  The energy was incredibly positive from the ice breakers at the start of the workshop right on through to the final donation ceremony.

Bicycles were donated to Toys for Tots

We usually have a lot of arrangements to make for a charity team building workshop.  There’s the receiving charity to line up, and they usually send a representative for the final donation ceremony, and of course making sure donations fall into the right hands- it’s part of what we do for our charity workshop clients.

But Allianz Life has an ongoing gig with Toys for Tots.  They donate toys all year …to the tune of 3,600 toys donated last year alone!  We’re proud to be part of that impressive donation, and grateful that the bicycles will make their way to local kids in Minneapolis who will enjoy them for years to come.

Tons of donations in 2015 from a company that cares.

That’s an impressive number of toys donated, but Allianz Life’s giving doesn’t stop there.  They also donated over 20,000 pounds of clothes PLUS over 20,000 pounds of food to Second Harvest Heartland, who distributes them throughout the Twin Cities.

What’s even more impressive is that they don’t simply write a check when it comes to giving back.  Allianz Life’s giving program is called the Employee Giving Program, meaning they get everyone involved!

Our hands-on charity team building workshop fit right in with their giving initiatives, so we were a perfect match for their giving goals.  We were honored to be a a part of their giving program, and happy to help them help local kids too.

If you’d like to schedule a Bike-A-Thon™ workshop as part of your employee giving program, just call us- we’re here to get you started!

Allianz Life Gives TONS of Donations Every Year...Literally!

Team Building Tuesdays: Muhammad Ali

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’

~Muhammad Ali

Team Building Tuesdays: Muhammad Ali

Friday Funnies: Brian Gerald O"Driscoll

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

~Brian Gerald O’Driscoll

Friday Funnies: Brian Gerald O"Driscoll

Team Building Tuesdays: Go Confidently

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

~Henry David Thoreau

Team Building Tuesdays: Go Confidently

Friday Funnies: Axel Rose

I discovered I scream the same way whether I’m about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

~Axel Rose

Friday Funnies: Axel Rose

Team Building Tuesdays: Uncomfortable

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

~Jillian Michaels

Team Building Tuesdays: Uncomfortable

Team Building Tuesdays: Where You Want To Go

Focus on where you want to go, not where you currently are.

~Brian Tracy

Team Building Tuesdays: Where You Want To Go

Friday Funnies: Hospitality

Hospitality: making your guests feel like they’re at home, even if you wish they were.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Hospitality

Team Building Tuesdays: Og Mandino

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

~Og Mandino

Team Building Tuesdays: Og Mandino

Friday Funnies: Oscar Wilde

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.

~Oscar Wilde

Friday Funnies: Oscar Wilde

Team Building Tuesdays: Anonymous

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.

~Anonymous

Team Building Tuesdays: Anonymous

Friday Funnies: In Trouble

The sole purpose of a child’s middle name, is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: In Trouble

Team Building Tuesdays: Run The Day

Either you run the day, or the day runs you.

~Jim Rohn

Team Building Tuesdays: Run The Day

Friday Funnies: Wilson Mizner

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

~Wilson Mizner

Friday Funnies: Wilson Mizner

Team Building Tuesdays: Jack Canfield

Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

~Jack Canfield

Team Building Tuesdays: Jack Canfield

Friday Funnies: That Moment

Nothing stinks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: That Moment

Team Building Tuesdays: Jim Rohn

Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.

~Jim Rohn

Team Building Tuesdays: Jim Rohn

Friday Funnies: Good Evening

Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good evening’, and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Good Evening

Team Building Tuesdays: Joe Biden

Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.

~Joe Biden

Team Building Tuesdays: Joe Biden

Friday Funnies: Second Mouse

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Second Mouse

Team Building Tuesdays: Half The Effort

Don’t put in half of the effort unless you’re okay with half of the results.

~Anonymous

Team Building Tuesdays: Half The Effort

Friday Funnies: Agree With You

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Agree With You

Team Building Tuesdays: Bruce Lee

Don’t fear failure. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

~Bruce Lee

Team Building Tuesdays: Bruce Lee

Friday Funnies: Isaac Asimov

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

~Isaac Asimov

Friday Funnies: Isaac Asimov

What Are Charity Team Building Activities?

Charity team building activities are events which bring groups of people together with the sole purpose of creating something for someone less fortunate. Events range from building a bike, stuffed animal, wagons, and just about anything that ends up being requested. These events will also help you focus and learn many different life skills. They are located all around the world, and offer several different types of specific activities.

Giving back to the world and blessing less fortunate people with things they would love is beautiful. It gives you a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. A lot of people from time to time can tend to think a little too much about themselves. Attending such an event can open one’s eyes up and help them appreciate the very blessings they have. A lot of people don’t realize that even the most basic luxuries in life that we’re provided with, some other countries around the world would be willing to die over. Being able to have a toilet, electricity, clean water, vehicles, food, clothes, and safety are always overlooked. Why? Because most people are brought up with it and don’t know the difference of living without them.

The fact is simple. There are less fortunate people out there that would love to receive some of the products these charity team building events offer. Giving back to a world that has given so much to you is only fair. These events bring you together with all different types of people. You’ll learn how to communicate effectively, to be more selfless, be more open-minded, and accept a certain level of responsibility within the team that you may not be accustomed to. Stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something for someone else instead of yourself is a great opportunity for you to change some of your unhealthy habits and take a step forward to having a new outlook on life.

Most team building events around the world will typically last for a few hours. Then again, it will all depend on how the event is setup and structured as to how long it’s going to last. Some people prefer to turn it into a retreat, vacation, or whatever it is that they may prefer. It will all depend and vary from event to event.

Conclusion about Charity Team Building Activities

Finding and locating one of these events are becoming easier and easier as times goes on because of how much notoriety they’re receiving worldwide. Doing a little research online should find you exactly what you’re looking for. There are all different kinds of events going on all the time. Once you’ve attended a charity team building activities event, you’re more than likely going to want to participate in many more. It’s an amazing feeling working with a bunch of different walks of life that all have the same purpose of working for the greater good. Giving back is important when trying to create a stronger character within yourself. Find an event today if you haven’t already, because it will bring about some very cherishing moments in your life you’re guaranteed to never forget!

What Are Charity Team Building Activities?

Team Building Tuesdays: Do What You Can

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

~Theodore Roosevelt

Team Building Tuesdays: Do What You Can

Friday Funnies: Bob Hope

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.

~Bob Hope

Friday Funnies: Bob Hope

Team Building Tuesdays: Do Or Do Not

Do or do not. There is no try.

~Yoda

Team Building Tuesdays: Do Or Do Not

Friday Funnies: Zig Ziglar

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.

~Zig Ziglar

Friday Funnies: Zig Ziglar

Team Building Tuesdays: Dalai Lama

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.

~Dalai Lama

Team Building Tuesdays: Dalai Lama

Friday Funnies: Robert Frost

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

~Robert Frost

Friday Funnies: Robert Frost

Team Building Tuesdays: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Team Building Tuesdays: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday Funnies: A Better Tomorrow

I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: A Better Tomorrow

Team Building Tuesdays: Change Your Thoughts

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

~Norman Vincent Peale

Team Building Tuesdays: Change Your Thoughts

The Magical Power of Team Building Exercises

Team building exercises have brought about a major change in the growth of the team and ultimately in the growth of the company.

Tried and tested by several companies here in the U.S., team building exercises are greatly adopted now to bring a change in the working environment and bring about an environment of positivity in the work culture. In fact, the rise in the growth of companies adopting team building activities is clearly reflected by the dynamically growing number of companies offering team building services.

As part of this program, several outdoor activities are planned by the experts for the team. This brings a refreshing change and a chance to interact with each other. One of the best methods is the Amazing Scavenger Race. The fun-filled race creates the opportunity for the team members to get to know each other. The chance of team building crested by such outdoor games is not possible even after more than 1000’s of professional interactions. Besides creating a great team, such events even contribute towards learning leadership and collaboration skills. Activities like our Amazing Scavenger Race conducted at places such as New York, California, and Minnesota helps the team members in working upon execution strategies, and planning tactics along with other skills that would help during the execution of several projects.

Any company which is facing a crisis due to unidentified reasons should go for such events. In fact, many such companies have a greater chance of improvement as there are several professional team building consultants and motivational keynote speakers. These professionals specialize in conducting certain well-designed events that result in building a team with great spirits and refined potential. These professionals structure the event as per the specific goals and objectives of the company, so as to conduct the corporate team building programs effectively. It is due to their smart work and skills that such events are executed successfully and with positive results.

It is essential to consult a professional agency to organize any team building exercises.

The structure of the event decides whether the event would succeed or fail. The professionals are trained and deeply understand the sensitivity of the case. It is the type of event which has tremendous scope for individual learning.

Our team can arrange various Team building exercises like Amazing Scavenger Race and Conference events, Conference events, and general event planning. Such programs build up a strong corporate team building in your organization and have definite success. The corporate people prefer to undertake the mind games that not only interest their employees, but also help them to sharp their mind. These games consist of problem-solving activities and team efforts including puzzles, quiz competitions and many other similar activities.

There are also some games, which the management can use in their indoor team structure games like Surviving the Desert, Personal Coat of Arms, Blind Polygon, Lifelines, Pat-on-the-back, and so on. These games both indoor and outdoor are amongst the most demanding and considered most suited for the team building among employees.

The Magical Power of Team Building Exercises

Friday Funnies: Children

Children: You spend the first 2 years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next 16 telling them to sit down and shut-up.

~Unknown

Friday Funnies: Children

The Importance of Bicycle Team Building Activities

Bicycle Team Building Activities are procedures that involve sharing, friendship and nurturing of team spirit amongst the members.

This sense is cultivated in the minds of members through group discussions as well as interactive sessions. The building of well-organized group is extremely necessary for a lot of the group activities as the present work culture is increasingly getting focused with the partition of labor as well as the growth of the global market. Communication is a key element in the success of projects both small and large. For structuring a victorious squad, a number of steps are to be taken by the organizations which are discussed below:

The first step in the process of Bicycle Team Building Activities is assembling a collection of suitable participants. Every team needs a leader who will help guide the team to success. Usually leaders will have definite traits that set them apart from other members of the team. The people chosen for this role should have self-assurance along with the ability to generate faith amongst the fellow members of the group. This trait makes them highly effective leaders.

The second step is the formation of essential team goals that are to be efficiently conveyed to all the team members. For increasing inter-group faith as well as for making a successful contribution towards the achievement of the objective, the members should be well-aware of the reasons for which they were brought together. With clear and well defined goals and roles, which are explained to team members, they can work towards achieving organizational objectives. Otherwise, there is prospect of the members getting de-motivated as well as disorganized.

The structure of team should be measured in the context of the goal. A balancing of skills with individuals having multiple skill sets is requisite for attaining these goals. A correct combination of sensible as well as theoretical skills will make sure that achievement of objectives becomes probable. While the members are theoretically as well as technically sound, they can go a long way towards positively contributing towards the group goals.

It is healthier to assign every member with a job that they can execute well according to their qualities and skills. Organizations anywhere in the world that may require a well-organized team can contact team building service providers from whom they can get the correct type of guidance in building teams and undertaking team activities.

The objective of Bicycle Team Building Activities

The objective of Bicycle Team Building Activities are to give back to the neighborhood throughout the course of the activity. Teams have to work throughout a diversity of challenges and make use of their problem solving as well as interpersonal communication skills. Utilizing their cooperation and skills, they obtain the tools required to complete their bicycle. At the end of the event, a rapid debrief highlights the skills learnt. The children appear to observe their bicycle for the first time and participants are given the prospects to meet as well as talk with the child that will ultimately get the bike they built.

By integrating a generous point of view to your subsequent corporate event, you are structuring employee morale as well as gaining the admiration of the workplace, all while directly benefiting a group of people in need.

The Importance of Bicycle Team Building Activities

Team Building Activities – Improve the Culture of Your Team

Team building activities are able of increasing a significant group culture within several organizations.

These days, a lot of organizations are coming together for off-site meetings and the reason behind such meetings is not only sharing and compilation of information but also to expand their group culture by providing their staff with a prospect to ‘face time’. Any organization anywhere in the world can plan for team building activities. Those keen on including Bicycle Team Building should consider the following advantages:

Interactive session

Only interactive team building activities will allow the members of a group to appreciate each other. This is because while people are linked to each other, they will vigorously contribute towards the activities. Rather than knowing each other just by title, it would be healthier when each and every member of the squad appreciates each other as individuals. For getting ideas on organizing interactive bicycle team building activities, associations can get in touch with specialized firms for suitable ideas. In addition to giving ideas, a number of firms also systematize suitable activities on their own once an organization becomes their client.

Think creatively

In the present financial system, it has becomes important that everybody has to learn to do additional work within smaller time frames as well as with limited resources. What will occur if the number of members in a group is smaller when compared to the number of members in other groups challenging the smaller team throughout an event?

Members of the group should be trained to handle such circumstances. Organizations contributing the service of bicycle team building proffer training as well as guidance to the members concerning what should be done in such situations. After the training, the members will start thinking imaginatively and they can easily handle the lack of resources or other similar situations with their knowledge and common sense.

Give back

Team building activities that consist of something with compassionate twists are gaining reputation these days; this is because service mankind is becoming an essential element of organizational culture these days. Among a lot of popular activities, Bicycle Team Building is gaining popularity lately. In this activity, the team members contribute in the making of toys. The toys thus produced are donated to children in orphanages as well as hospitals or through various charities. This is because; this kind of actions brings about pleasure to the members of the group, whilst the disadvantaged children greatly enjoy playing with the toys. This also proffers them a sense of happiness for being involved in an activity, which turns out to be supportive to others.

The Bicycle Team Building experience combines benevolent giving with an enjoyable and light-spirited outlook at individual styles as well as how they influence the connections in the workplace. This type of bicycle team building workshops assist your team to distinguish how every member conveys a distinctive personality to the group. With this acknowledgment comes understanding as well as an appreciation for their ability plus talents as well as their dissimilarities.

Let us plan your Bicycle Team Building Activities and make your employees contented!!!

Team Building Activities – Improve the Culture of Your Team

Team Building Tuesdays: Farrah Gray

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.

~Farrah Gray

Team Building Tuesdays: Farrah Gray

Baltimore"s Very Own Les Mills Inc. Builds Bikes for Local Kids

Our Baltimore charity workshop facilitators are old hands at building bicycles.

They’ve probably built thousands of bikes by now, after assisting team after team with their charity initiatives during our workshops.

But when Les Mills Inc. came to us and scheduled a Bike-A-Thon™ workshop, we knew we’d met our match!

Les Mills USA is based in Baltimore… did you know?

In the unlikely event that you’ve never heard of Les Mills, they’re only the world’s largest producer of music-based fitness programs.  Have you heard of Body Pump™?  That’s Les Mills.

Their programs are used in gyms all over the world.  It’s a New Zealand company but their US headquarters are right here in Baltimore, lucky for us.  It’s a great company that produces a great product, so of course we’re proud to have them in our city.

Baltimore team building for masters of the game.

Les Mills is a thriving company that’s been ruling the group exercise industry for over thirty years.   That means they must  know a thing or two about teamwork!

A major component of their product offerings includes RPM™, an indoor cycling program that’s used all in gyms everywhere.  Let’s just say this company knows a thing or two about bicycles too!

It was so fitting then that they went for our Bike-A-Thon™ workshop.

A bicycle workshop for the season of giving in Baltimore.

60 people from Les Mills were signed up for the second week of December.  That’s smack dab in the middle of the Season of Giving, and of course that was no mistake.

The group from Les Mills were celebrating the end of the year with a charity workshop.  Like so many companies, they’re joining the growing trend that has people giving back for the holidays rather than simply celebrating at the company holiday party.

So much more fulfilling!

A few surprise challenges and teamwork is put to the test.

Life is full of surprises and it’s how well you deal with the occasional curve ball that sets you apart from your competitors.  Les Mills employees know this very well, and they proved themselves masters at this game too.

Bike parts don’t always slide together the way you want them to.  When teams encounter obstacles to finishing their bikes on time you can see the frustration on their faces.  We got to see some great teamwork skills being put into action as the groups solved their bike assembly dilemmas and came out as winners.

Good thing, too- reps from the charity arrived just as bikes were completed.  The give-away ceremony was touching and capped off a holiday charity workshop in the most perfect of ways…with smiles all around.

Baltimore"s Very Own Les Mills Inc. Builds Bikes for Local Kids

Friday Funnies: Jack Handey

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

~Jack Handey

Friday Funnies: Jack Handey

Richmond Lawyers Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith Built Bicycles for Kids During the Holidays

Richmond does the Holidays up right- from the Parade of Lights on the James River to the Christmas Parade, Virginia’s capitol city knows how to celebrate.

That includes a group of lawyers from Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith who celebrated the Season of Giving with some charity team building.   Their #1 priority was giving back to the community so they approached us for one of our charity team building workshops.  We knew right away the perfect workshop for them was going to be our Bike-A-Thon™ bicycle team building workshop!

A holiday charity workshop is a great break from stress, not to mention a way to give back.

Giving gifts to kids in the community happens all over the world this time of year, but when lawyers on a mission get together for a charity team building workshop, the giving really gets turned up a notch!

This group put everything they had into building bicycles, despite pressing matters back at the office.  We like to think of our workshops as providing multi-faceted benefits.  Getting away from it all is one of them.

A team building workshop is a chance for employees to leave the stress of the job behind for a few hours.  In the meantime, they’re building positive bonds with each other and improving team working skills.

These Richmond lawyers loved making commercials.

One of our most effective and popular activities in these charity team building workshops is called “Commercials”.  Teams write TV commercials for fictional products or services, then perform them in front a judging panel of their peers.

Lawyers being lawyers, this group went full-on competitive!  The creativity and showmanship was first-rate, and it seemed they loved the judging aspect as much as they enjoyed creating the commercials!

Giving turns local with Bike-A-Thon™

We love it when teams choose to “go local” with their donations.  In fact, we encourage it every time!  With Bike-A-Thon™ it’s an especially good idea because a special event which happens at the end of every workshop.

When all the bicycles have been built, we have the kids from the receiving organization come to accept the donations.  It’s almost always the best part of the whole workshop.

The lawyers from Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith had chosen to donate to the local Richmond Boys & Girls Club, which is probably our most often-selected charity for the bikes.

That didn’t work out, however, so at the last moment we lined up a local church school in Richmond.  Those kids sure were pleased we went with them!  Smiles all around, team bonds were built, and everyone had a good time.

 

Richmond Lawyers Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith Built Bicycles for Kids During the Holidays

Team Building Tuesdays: Believe

Believe you can and you’re halfway there.

~Theodore Roosevelt

Team Building Tuesdays: Believe

Friday Funnies: Earl Wilson

If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of payments.

~Earl Wilson

Friday Funnies: Earl Wilson

Team Building Tuesdays: Start Today

A year from now you’ll wish you had started today.

~Anonymous

Team Building Tuesdays: Start Today

Friday Funnies: Bill McGlashen

Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in one ahead.

~Bill McGlashen

Friday Funnies: Bill McGlashen

Relypsa Leaders Set the Tone for Hilarious but Productive Redwood City Workshop

It speaks volumes when company leaders are part of team building workshops.

It’s not every leader who can interact in a workshop setting where hierarchy is checked at the door! The message being sent: this stuff is important so let’s do this!

A recent workshop for a group from Relypsa included several layers of the company, right up to a cluster of VP’s who arrived for the challenges. Meeting in Redwood City at the Sofitel Hotel San Francisco this Fall, they had booked a Bike-A-Thon workshop and arrived ready to go…

Demonstrating the power of positive energy.

Well they were almost ready to go! We had a late start so there was very little time for icebreakers. And with a group like this, whose members may not know each other well because they come from varying ranks in the company, icebreakers are pretty useful!

No worries, though: the little cluster of VP’s made everyone feel right at home with their wonderfully powerful positive energy.

That kind of energy is highly contagious, and it soon spread to the other groups in the room (even one which didn’t seem to be feeling the whole workshop thing at first…).

From reluctant doubters to creative singing geniuses- team building works!

Those VP’s again…they turned out to really lead the way in creativity, too. In our “Commercials” activity, the group is divided into teams. Each team must write an original TV commercial for a product, then perform their commercial for the others.

If you were to measure energy levels, the VP group certainly went off the charts. Their commercial involved dancing and singing and even jumping around the room.

Of course it looks and sounds like fun and games, but all this is actually the result of some very good communication, collaboration and other important skills.

Hands-on activities that work for the whole Relypsa group.

Once the “reluctant” group felt the energy, they got into their commercial as well and actually produced a nice piece. Their collaborative creativity had the rest of their colleagues laughing and applauding them.

You could feel the teamwork growing- the high-energy activities and the very high-energy group was able to overcome a tiny bit of negativity in the beginning, with a little help from their leaders.

There were new Relypsa employees present, who didn’t know anyone…the team building even worked for them as they were made to feel that they were part of the group, and their input mattered during the creative problem-solving activities.

In the end, the Relypsa group left with newly formed bonds, some grounded practice with communication skills, and a whole new regard for their Vice Presidents…just some of the important ingredients called for in teamwork.

Relypsa Leaders Set the Tone for Hilarious but Productive Redwood City Workshop

Team Building Tuesdays: Lao Tzu

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

~Lao Tzu

Team Building Tuesdays: Lao Tzu

Schneider Electric in Nashville Gets Help in Dealing with Change

Like many of our clients, Schneider Electric came to us with a very specific goal in mind: they needed help dealing with the repercussions of some major corporate change.

Not only that, but they needed it right away!

With only a week to get ready for the customized workshop events, we all worked very hard to pull everything together.  Judging from the impressive results of the workshop, it all came together beautifully in the end!

First, we ironed out the kinks with some ice breakers.

Before we begin any team building games and challenges, we always do ice breakers. With a group that’s dealing with some internal issues stemming from changes in the workplace, it’s even more important to set the tone with some effective ice-breaking activities.

This group from Schneider Electric in Nashville, Tennessee had recently suffered through some organizational restructuring, and they had a new VP.  Things like that can set a group on end, disrupting productivity in a big way.

Corporate team building games that get everyone on the same page serve to realign the group and build trust back to up healthy levels.  Only then do we begin the team building challenges that follow.

We had to deal with a little change ourselves: the assigned room for this workshop was an IT training room, set up in a traditional classroom style.  Since our workshops are more interactive, we moved to the cafeteria, which suited our needs perfectly.  Good thing the workshop facilitator arrived a day early to check out the space!

Then we addressed corporate change with Minefield.

The Minefield activity is a great one for building trust and strengthening communication.  Team members must guide one another through a “minefield” of small physical obstacles, using only words.  There’s a direct link between good communication skills and success in this team building game.

The takeaway from this activity was the importance of your peers when navigating unknown territory…the perfect metaphor for corporate change!

Then the fun began: building bikes for charity!

Now that teams had worked to a certain level of trust and communication, they could put it all together and compete to earn bicycle parts and tools for assembling their donations.

Gears for Years was the chosen charity for the Schneider Electric group, and a representative arrived to see that the bikes went to the local charity: a shelter for children in downtown Nashville.  They provided a gratitude plaque for the team, and presented it to the Schneider Electric group as their way of saying thanks for giving back.

 

Schneider Electric in Nashville Gets Help in Dealing with Change

Team Building Tuesdays: Hard Work

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

~Colin Powell

Team Building Tuesdays: Hard Work

Bicycle Team Building: Pumped For Success

Depending on your weight, age and a few other vital statistics, you could burn 40 calories per mile riding a bike. Imagine how many calories you could burn building one! Bicycle team building is a great physical, mental and social workout for any group of rising corporate stars.

Today, corporate social responsibility is an important part of every successful business model. Bike building for low-income kids is one of the best ways for a company to create goodwill in the community, pull employees together, and have fun at the same time.

The whole process of planning the bike assembly, collecting all the parts and necessary tools, and assigning tasks takes the kind of teamwork most staffers don’t experience in the office. That’s the point. Everyone has to step out of their corporate comfort zones and learn to relate to each other in an entirely different setting.

No Spare Parts

Bicycle team building levels the playing field. How? Although it may not always be immediately apparent, everyone has an important role to play and each person can feel valued.

Through the skillful leadership of a wise facilitator, the normal pecking order that usually persists at work may disappear as team members are given the freedom to let their creative and organizational talents shine.

A seemingly quiet manager-in-training may rise to the top of the heap as a tough negotiator when the time comes to parse out bike assembly assignments. Even when a teammate’s worst character traits surface, the others have an opportunity to learn how to unruffle his feathers and get him back on track in a less politically risky setting than the workplace.

More Than A Vehicle

The bicycle can become more than a vehicle for a needy child. It can take the team from one level of cohesion to another through clearer communication and a spirit of camaraderie.

Bicycle Team Building: Pumped For Success

Team Building Benefits Leaders Too

Team building isn’t just about the members of the team, it’s critical for the leadership as well.

What’s true in science, as in the case of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project boys, and in sports, such as Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers, can hold true in organizations as well.

Successful leaders usually have great teams behind them. In most situations, teams are able to accomplish what individuals find difficult or impossible to do alone.

Trust is Essential

The first step in the team building process is identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, defining the tasks to be completed and assigning each task to the member best suited to do it.

A clear delegation method will create trust between a leader and his or her members, with both parties coming to a better understanding of the specific task that has been delegated and how it should be done.

Timelines are also in order and need to be discussed with team members, allowing them to air out their view to find out whether or not compliance to these timelines are possible.

Team Work without Friction

A good team is made up of members who are committed to one another in particular and to the team in general bound by a common vision. The need of the team to accomplish the goal provides them with a strong driving force. The vision gives them the compass for reaching that goal, keeping all team members moving not only at the same common speed but in one singular direction.

Because they are united in arriving at the same destination, there is little or no friction during the journey. This is the ideal process by which an ideal team moves. The commitment of the team members extends to their priority to work as a team, giving up their individual needs if necessary to reach the goal.

Happiness is Not Self-Serving

Choosing individuals, each with a different set of skills, talents and interests, as team members involves discretion and wisdom because it’s really all about forging those individuals as tightly as possible to fit them together and establish bonds with each other. Getting them for a team building workshop helps them strengthen these bonds, with clear-cut team building objectives that emphasize motivational participation.

A team that works well can be likened to an individual who is multitasking all at once, and then it becomes an assembly of several individuals doing his or her own thing, making the whole far greater than the totality of all its parts.

Simply put, good team building programs designed by experts will inspire a team member to set aside his or her own motives to achieve more than the members can accomplish if each of them worked alone.

Team building is an excellent way to recognize that happiness in the workplace is possible when a member is supportive of the others, and each member’s task complements the rest of the team’s work.  Contact us today and let us show you how we can help you succeed!

Team Building Benefits Leaders Too