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In today's increasingly digital business landscape, the transformative power of outdoor team building activities is often overlooked. But at Team Challenge Company, we fully understand the potential of nature in boosting creativity, enhancing productivity, and, crucially, strengthening team dynamics. Here's our guide to harnessing the energy of outdoor team building experiences.
Creating Your Outdoor Meeting Space for Team Building
According to author Richard Louv, being deprived of the great outdoors for the best part of your working life is known as Nature Deficit Disorder.
Escaping the traditional confines of indoor meetings can have a refreshing impact on your employees. Consider constructing an outdoor meeting space - a gazebo or a sheltered picnic area. This shift of scenery can ignite creativity, promote 'outside-the-box' thinking, and infuse a breath of fresh air into your everyday business operations.
If you are looking to improve the health and well-being of your employees, as well as the level and quality of work produced, then there are a number of easy steps you can take to ensure this; include outdoor team building events along with outdoor office space.
Engaging in Outdoor Team Building Events with Team Challenge Company
There's something uniquely bonding about participating in outdoor team building events. At Team Challenge Company, we offer a variety of engaging activities tailored to your specific business needs. These activities not only motivate your team but also offer a welcome respite from the office grind.
The GPS Interactive Treasure Hunt will really challenge your staff to work together in a fun environment and the S1 Soapbox Derby encourages creativity and collaboration amongst departments.
Adapting to Weather Changes: Indoor Team Building Options
While weather may not always be cooperative in the UK, that shouldn't sever your connection with nature. Consider bringing the outdoors inside by integrating greenery and flowers into your office space. Assigning plant care responsibilities to staff members can offer another team bonding opportunity and maintain the link with nature, even on the rainiest days.
Are you prepared to tackle nature deficit disorder and foster a work environment that benefits both your team and the environment? Visit our website for additional resources and ideas on outdoor team building activities. Incorporating outdoor elements into your office life not only improves your employees' health and wellbeing but also significantly enhances the quality of work produced. Let's reconnect with nature and charge your team with the vitality of outdoor team building activities.
Think you've got what it takes to tackle nature deficit disorder and create a working space that nurtures your staff? For more resources, please visit our website for outdoor team building events and ideas.
"Communication is the key"...
How many times have you heard that phrase used? In business, relationships, marketing - just about every aspect of our lives depends on communication, and this life slogan applies to all of them.
Cheesy though it may seem, communication really is the key. This is especially the case in the workplace when personal and external pressures, unplanned hiccups and a whole host of other things can lead to a sometimes-tense environment and unnecessarily short tempers.
Whether your office suffers from one or two personal grudges, or team-wide conflict, you need to nip it in the bud. This is something businesses spend a lot of time working on during our corporate team building events, and we have seen first-hand the difference calm communication can make to teams in even the most high-pressure roles and industries.
Check out just a couple of our tips for keeping calm and communicating at work.
Internal Communication
If you don't understand where you're coming from, with a clear objective and clear direction, how do you expect your peers to understand?
Make sure you know yourself at work; your strengths, your weaknesses, your professional narrative (where did you start, where are you now, where are you going and how?). Also, make a conscious effort to keep your conversations and requests brief, concise and clear.
Everyone at work knows time is precious, and as long as you appreciate that, you shouldn't have any issues communicating and collaborating with your team.
Bonus: you won't get yourself all muddled up either!
In-Team Communication
Your team are those you will work closest with. You will often find that you spend more time with your team at work than you do with your friends and family at home. They are who you need to depend on in the workplace, and similarly, they also depend on you.
It isn't just about getting the job done. It is about driving individuals, teams, companies and industries forward. But you can't do that if you are always bickering or crossing wires.
So how do you communicate with your team? Be patient and listen. Once you have taken in what others have said, ensure you understand (maybe a brief verbal recap - or a follow-up bullet-pointed email if you've had a meeting) and if you don't understand, ask questions.
By admitting that you didn't quite get it the first time and putting pride aside for the sake of progress, you will find your team experiences less in the way of clashes, tempers and hot-headed moments. That can only be good for your work colleagues and the business overall.
Inter-Department Communication
Be realistic before you get frustrated with other teams and individuals following a cross-department request. No matter how big or small the company you're at is, no one will know what every person on every team does.
Explain your role, ask about theirs, try and come to an understanding of how each of you (and your departments) complements each other - and try to pre-empt any potential obstacles. This level of mutual respect and understanding will make work life and inter-departmental communication a breeze.
For bonus points, work towards cementing personal relationships across departments. Keeping each other in the loop on the job is one thing, but organising a team event and inviting other teams will boost the sense of camaraderie office-wide.
One last tip for all office communication. Bury hatchets, by all means, but don't bury the problems that caused them. Unresolved conflict can fester and intensify if left unchecked. It is always better to address an issue and work out a way to deal with it once and for all.
You don't have to make it a sombre affair. Enjoying a fun but constructive day out (or in!) with your team can work wonders to air out and clear up any misunderstandings, bringing the team closer together in the long term.
Work life is so much more enjoyable when you work as part of a team that is respectful of each other and working towards a common goal. If your team needs a nudge in the right direction, please give us a call here at Team Challenge Company.
In today's competitive business environment, it's more important than ever to have a strong team of employees who are engaged and motivated. One of the best ways to achieve this is to improve employee/employer relationships.
With temperatures rising and the promise of sunny days ahead, now is the perfect time to plan some summer team building activities.
Whether you're based in England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, summer team building is a great way to bring your team together and improve communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
Team building is not just about improving performance - it is also a chance for staff to have fun and enjoy the great outdoors. Getting out of the office and into the fresh air can do wonders for morale, helping to reduce stress levels and boost overall wellbeing.
So, why not make the most of the summer and plan a team building experience?
There are a wealth of benefits from undertaking a day of developing your team, here we're going to focus on the most important ones.
Firstly, it will improve your overall performance. Allow your team the opportunity to socialise together. This, as well as working together professionally, will really make a difference to their performance collectively.
It allows for individual strengths and weaknesses to be highlighted. Strengths that might not have been appreciated before can now be utilised for the benefit of the business, and weaknesses can be worked on and improved; ultimately strengthening the team as a whole.
By breaking away from the monotonous everyday routine, creativity will skyrocket, and ideas will be bouncing around - all from taking a step back and gaining a different perspective.
Knowing individual strengths and weaknesses allows a team to build more informed working relationships.
Finally, it is a great way of building team spirit, morale and motivation towards common goals.
Benefits of Sunshine
It is a fact that humans react to sunlight exposure - and lack thereof. Much like plants when the sun is shining, the majority of people are more open and forthcoming, making team building activities much more amenable.
Remember, a happy team is a productive team - so don't let the summer months pass you by without taking the time to invest in your staff. Start planning your summer team building activities today and see the benefits for yourself!
For more information about the experiences we provide throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, please give us a call on 03300 04 09 03.
Whether you think your business and team of employees are just fine as they are, chances are you could still benefit from team building activities. Even market-leading companies that are highly experienced in their industries could benefit due to the ever-evolving nature of the workforce.
Put simply, to the above question there is only one answer: yes.
Why? Because communication is essential and, sometimes, wires get crossed, and mistakes happen. This can lead to conflict and issues with trust bubbling beneath the surface that need to be addressed for the benefit of the entire business.
Not only will team building activities help ease tension, but there are so many other benefits to be gained that many business experts believe it should be incorporated into overall strategies and personnel development time.
PLUS POINTS
When conflict arises in the workplace, it can be tough to resolve. Personality clashes are going to happen, but sometimes this can lead to heated discussions. However, studies have shown that team building activities scheduled into the diary on a regular basis - can help to ease tension by improving personal relationships between colleagues. The more your team get on, the more mutual respect grows.
Choosing a neutral setting for your regular get-togethers is for the best as the mind can easily wander to work at hand when stuck in the office.
Like any relationship, trust is important. In the workplace, colleagues need to trust in others' skills and abilities in order to work efficiently and as a team. This is especially important when clients have complex needs that require cross-department interaction.
Moreover, a team will be much happier, safe in the knowledge that their skills are appreciated and acknowledged by those around them.
For team building to improve your team on a long-term basis, you need to have team building activities organised on a regular basis. This not only keeps up momentum on a professional level, but it allows personal relationships to continue and develop, which will only improve the business as a whole.
Our expert team of event managers are on hand to ensure that your business benefits from team building. Give us a call on 03300 04 09 03.
Choosing the right group of people is imperative for business success. Knowing how to choose the right candidates is just as important as choosing the right interviewer and asking the right questions.
Although people leaving for new opportunities is a common part of running a business, outstanding tasks and increasing stress levels indicate the need to add new team members.
When looking for the right person for the job, it's not always about finding the most experienced candidate. Personality, drive, and ambition are also important factors.
Knowing how to choose the right person for your team might seem like a challenge, but the real test is ensuring they stick around. How can you create a culture that cultivates staff and has no issue with retention?
Salary isn't everything; people should want to work for you, but feel they are treated fairly and rewarded accordingly. Regular team building events, individual recognition and training are essential to keeping employees happy. Get the balance right, and you will have succeeded in building the right team for your business.
Team Challenge Company is dedicated to building better teams through world-leading team building experiences to suit your business needs. Get in touch with our team to find out more.
One of the most common questions we are asked is whether team building outside of the office is more successful than activities carried out on site.
In theory, the concept of team building itself is relatively simple. Team building aids your staff to reach their full potential, involving mutual trust, support and respect. However, the reality is that it can be much harder to achieve in the real world.
The success of many internally organised team building events is often limited for a number of reasons.
Firstly, staff members chosen to organise internal events can lack (through no fault of their own) the relevant knowledge to deliver team building.
Secondly, if there are issues and conflict within the group, attempting to resolve them in the same room can lead to employees being defensive and resistant to change.
The obvious way to address these issues is to outsource your team building needs.
Relationship advice specialists always advise couples to deal with conflict in neutral locations, and the same can apply to working relationships. Employees are human and are not programmed to get along with everybody they work with, and arguments will happen. However, the way you address these issues is imperative to the success of your business.
Benefits of using a third party, such as Team Challenge Company
So, whether your business runs from Edinburgh, London, Cardiff or Belfast it pays to get external help for team building activities. Working on these issues on a regular basis will ensure that your teams make professional progress.
For more information, please contact our team on 03300 04 09 03
Employees need to be developed for many reasons, including to maximise their potential, help them along in their career and to integrate them into your already-established team. It is largely down to managers to ensure their employees are able to develop and grow in their role, but some of it comes down to human resource teams who have a duty to look out for the wellbeing of staff – both professionally and personally when it encroaches into the workplace.
If you work in HR and are looking for some ideas on how to improve upon your existing staff development programme, we’ve put together some ideas you might want to consider.
Training
Training your staff in order to aid their development sounds like a basic and obvious concept, but few companies actually invest in proper training for their employees, and when they do, it’s often not done in the most effective way. A lot of people leave a workplace when they feel like they’re not supported in their role properly, and this usually stems from a lack of training. Sometimes, it’s better to be thrown into the deep end, and this can be a great way to see if new candidates can handle the responsibilities asked of them, but this isn’t always a good thing and can have the reverse effect if adequate support is not offered.
The solution? Invest in proper training. Whether that’s right at the beginning when you welcome a new person on board, or if it’s ad-hoc throughout the year, setting up training sessions is one of the best ways to develop your staff, and it’s something human resource teams can easily implement. You might choose to do a training week during a period of time when your company isn’t overly busy, or you might choose to spread the training over the course of a few weeks/months if your business doesn’t really have any quiet periods.
Whenever you choose to do the training, you need to ensure you’re doing it in the most beneficial way. A lot of people don’t respond well to be being sat in a meeting room and watching a PowerPoint presentation whilst simultaneously taking notes. It’s disengaging and unstimulating, and many people switch off and lose focus – taking nothing in and, thus, rendering the training pointless. Instead, you can make it interactive.
Show them what you’re explaining, give them real-life examples and ask them to recreate what they’ve just learned. This will give them the opportunity to really take it all in, put it into practice and learn from other people on the team. They can have open discussions and detail what they’ve previously experienced and how they do things. This provides a great opportunity for them to learn and adapt, whether they’re new or not.
Mentoring
Mentoring is a tactic that is best used with new employees, but it may also be used with existing employees who are looking to progress in their careers and take on new responsibilities. Mentoring involves pairing employees up with someone else – usually a newbie. The mentors are typically long-standing members of the team and tend to be pretty advanced in their careers at the company, making them best-placed to offer insight and support to someone new.
As well as developing a person’s understanding of the job they’ve been hired to do, mentors are great for staff development because they can offer guidance and advice on the culture of the company; informing newbies of how the company as a whole runs. They can also offer a professional friendship which could be one of the first connections someone makes at a new place at work.
It is the job of HR to come up with appropriate mentor pairings that will work well, so those who work in human resources will need to have a good understanding of their existing team and the candidates they’re bringing on board. How good a mentor is will depend on the level of training they’ve had, which further cements the point about providing outstanding and regular training.
Communicate
You can’t expect your employees to grow and adapt unless you communicate with them. Many employers fail to give their employees the feedback and praise they need, but this where HR teams can step in. Employee development in human resource management is closely linked when you take into account the role of an HR person. Their job is to know how employees are feeling and make sure they feel comfortable and happy in their role, whilst ensuring the workplace is a happy and productive place. One way they can do this is in the form of feedback sessions.
Once a week, or once a month, the HR team could talk to every employee privately and ask them about how their week was, how things went, what could’ve been improved and what they would’ve changed. This will give them a real insight into how people in the office are really feeling and what could maybe be changed to aid development and make things more streamlined and productive.
How Team Challenge Company Can Help
If you’re struggling to implement effective staff development at your place of work, we can help with our Team Development programme. For more information about it, please contact us.
As we welcome in the New Year, it's time to start looking ahead to what the upcoming year has to offer and create a set of goals and resolutions that are guaranteed to make your company shine throughout this year.
Having spent the last few weeks reflecting on the successes and the not-so-successes of the past year, you are primed to make strategic decisions and hopes for the year to come. In other words, focus on your progress and developments to get started on an effective business plan.
Promotion and Planning
As we've already mentioned, planning is absolutely essential when working towards building a more successful business. Business planning is a time for you to sit down and reflect on the growth of your business to date, and adapt goals and targets as necessary. Take stock of what has been successful and what hasn't and set aside time every week to review and adjust goals.
Promotion is also key, especially for small or growing businesses. If you want to attract new customers or clients, you will need to make promotion one of your priorities. Create a marketing plan or hire a professional to really maximise your potential.
Optimise Your Time
When running a business, there are always 101 things that need to be done at any one time, and with so many things and people demanding your attention, it can be easy to get side-tracked and end up wasting time on things that aren't particularly important in the long run.
Spend your time focusing on the most important things and delegate those that are less important or time-consuming to someone else. Remember - you don't have to do everything yourself.
Give Back
Your employees are the driving force behind your business' success, and as such, it is important to keep them happy and motivated throughout the year. Organise corporate events or a team building day to raise morale and promote a healthy work-life balance while developing vital skills.
Here at Team Challenge Company, we offer a wide range of corporate events that are ideal for boosting morale within your business and warding off the January blues. Choose from events including treasure hunts, murder mystery events, and more traditional team building days - guaranteed to help your employees reach their New Year targets.
Set Realistic Goals
It is vital to have goals - if your employees don't have goals, then they have nothing to work towards. At the same time, it is essential that these goals are realistic and achievable. Make sure the goals are attainable and will give your employees a sense of success and satisfaction when they are completed.
Make Sure It's Working for You
If something isn't working, stop trying to make it work and try a new approach. Countless business hours are wasted every year on pointless tasks and counterproductive goals. If something isn't working, take the time to assess why, then simply move on.
Achieving a healthy work-life balance and keeping your employees happy and motivated throughout the year are the keys to running a successful business. If you take these resolutions and adapt them to your own individual goals and requirements, you will soon be on track to managing a highly successful business this year and beyond.
Scotland offers the perfect setting to hold your next corporate event with its spectacular scenery and green spaces.
We have corporate events inspired by Scotland to suit all sorts of teams. From trying your hand at traditional Highland Games to navigating the beautiful Scottish mountains in our team survival activity Wilderness Challenge. Alternatively, keep it simple with a tailored treasure hunt around Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen.
It doesn’t get much more Scottish than a set of Highland Games, designed to promote team communication and boost staff morale while offering a day of unforgettable corporate excitement.
Take part in a range of activities from the Mighty Caber Toss, Fisherman’s Fly Casting, a Strongman Stone Lift and even Highland Haggis Hurling! The Highland Games event is versatile; split your staff into teams or have them go head to head. We can tailor the events to your team, ensuring staff are engaged throughout the duration of the activity.
If your staff would prefer to remain in the city, then we’ve got a fantastic exploration activity you can offer – the GPS Interactive Treasure Hunt. This team building event uses a GPS tablet, provided by Team Challenge Company, to guide your teams through a set of virtually activated checkpoints.
The Treasure Hunt can be completely tailored to your company or staff, offering bespoke questions that can better educate employees on services or products your company offers.
Treasure Hunts are extremely versatile; we can prepare events for any location in the UK for any size group and they are great for promoting teamwork and good communication.
At Team Challenge Company, we have the expertise and experience necessary to provide you with the ultimate corporate event or team building activity. Should you require any further information on our Scottish-inspired team building activities or any of the other corporate services we offer, you can contact our booking team today on 03300 04 09 03.
