Friday, February 24, 2012

Successfully Executing Team Building Events

Corporate events are not successful unless there is unity and teamwork involved. It has been observed numerous times that organizing events successfully is not an easy task. Reasons for corporate events may go deeper than you realize. For example, let’s say you want to have a supplier appreciation event. Obviously, you want to let your suppliers know they are appreciated, and keep up the public relations with each company. 

Other reasons can be defined by determining exactly what you want to accomplish. Along with showing supplier appreciation, perhaps you want to be able to casually discuss future plans and opportunities with your suppliers. Or maybe you want to announce to all your suppliers that you will be opening a larger facility within the next year. By identifying these types of underlying reasons, you can use corporate event planning methods to structure the atmosphere to facilitate the results you desire.

Identifying primary and secondary reasons will help you choose locations, themes, agendas, and even timing for your event. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to throw a large event. Carefully planning your corporate events makes sure you gain all you can from each event.

Once you have set your goals for the corporate event planning, then it is time to begin to work with the specifics. Things like location, food and beverage, speakers, entertainment, activities, and date and time must all come together to create the best of corporate events.

Even if you use a professional planner for your corporate events, you still need to devise a basic list of what you expect in each area of the event. The more information you can provide to your corporate planner the more successful your corporate events are likely to be.

Another important key to team building planning is to make a list of everything you want to happen at the event. Once you know the agenda of the event, you can then begin to consider where the event will take place. Choosing the location after you know the agenda helps to ensure that you only consider locations that can provide everything you need to make your event successful. 

Activities and entertainment are an important part of all successful team building events. Making sure the attendees get the information you are providing is only a part of the planning. You want attendees to enjoy presentations and activities. Remember, even though you are planning a business event, emotions still rule reactions. Make sure your activities and entertainment evokes the desired emotions.

Coordination between providers is crucial. Make sure you give each of the providers you contact a schedule of the events as well as pertinent information about your chosen location. This helps each provider to plan and make sure they can provide their services as your contract specifies. At least two weeks prior to your corporate event, make sure to contact each provider to confirm that everything is going as the schedule dictates. Checking with each provider well before the event gives you plenty of time to make changes if something is not going as planned.

Using these tips for your corporate event planning will make the task flow and generate the results you desire. Make corporate event planning a regular part of your business and you’ll see the rewards.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Success of Team Building Events

Teambuilding is a structured process of taking a group of people (and teaching them to appreciate the differences each brings to the table and learning to work as a united group. When work groups learn to appreciate differences, they become a cohesive team and are able to meet goal objectives in a more efficient way.

Team building is important because it provides a support structure for the organization and creates an environment where team members feel involved and valued.  A healthy, functional team environment fosters creativity which is critical to a growing, thriving organization.

It is important that every team has a sponsor – a person who provides the team with the goal and the resources needed to accomplish the goal.  The team also needs a strong team leader who helps direct and keeps the team to task. Every organization is heavily dependent on its workforce for growth and performance, and the more the employees interact and work in close coordination with each other at the workplace, the healthier it is for the company. There has been a paradigm shift in the corporate sector, where the performance of large departments is evaluated in terms of the performance delivered by the smaller teams within such departments. Therefore, it is very important to keep these teams encouraged and contented so that the overall performance level of the organization improves, and team building events are a great way of doing this.

Team building events are organized for various purposes. These events are a great help when a new project is to be kick started or new employees are to be inducted. However, team building events can also be held every now and then to ensure that employees stay constantly motivated and share excellent inter-personal relationships among themselves. Taking up challenges and coping with constraints in these events helps employees to bond and improve their teamwork skills.

An event is a good place to try and out other thoughts and concepts of how to function together as a team. With events it is essential to utilize play and fun to illustrate the crucial nature of building teamwork and communication in the business environment. 

An effective team building event like Team Amazing Race or cooking Team building are an eye-opener for an employee, as he realizes his importance in the company, while the management also takes notice of the good work done by an employee and appreciates him for that. Team building events make participation an inspiring experience by offering lots of creative activities for members such as special games, cultural programs, and goal oriented discussions.

These events are great occasions to highlight the achievements of individual employees and at the same time educate them in an entertaining way so that they can have a successful future in the company by performing better. The employees can come out with a greater sense of satisfaction, encouragement and direction.
Under the present threat of recession, where employees are in an uncertain and frustrated state of mind, team building events can really uplift their morale and instil more trust and commitment to company goals. Organizing team building events is generally the responsibility of the HR department of the company, but companies can also hire the services of specialized agencies that can arrange such team building events.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Fun Filled Corporate Events

Encouraging teamwork is a top priority for many leaders. There are obvious benefits: increased productivity, improved customer service, more flexible systems and employee empowerment. A team is a group of people working towards a common goal. Generally, the objectives that a team sets out to accomplish can't be effectively achieved by individuals. Within a business, every employee serves as a crucial member of the company's team. No matter where you are on the corporate ladder, you add intrinsic value to your organization through your strengths, talents, gifts and other assets. 

At the same time, you should acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of other members of your team. Rather than hinder, try to help teammates employ their skills to the fullest. No one person knows and can do everything. So how do you help build an effective team that contributes to a positive, successful work environment? Here are four tips to help you make your team a better team.

The first is that everyone is responsible for the success of their team. At group meetings, for example, be an active participant who contributes valuable content. If you're not familiar with the discussion topic, silently observe the team's process and find ways to facilitate its progress. Good communication is essential to success in the workplace. We've all had experiences of hearing the wrong message, assuming incorrectly, misinterpreting others' behaviours and feeling offended. That's why it's important to use clear communication, as well as active listening skills with fellow team members. Don't just seek to be understood, but also seek to understand. In corporate events there is more emphasis on commitment. Commitment equals buy-in. A good work team needs to agree on and believe in its basic purpose - its mission or reason for existing. Work teams that have clarity of purpose can easily visualize their connection to organizational success. With strong commitment to move toward the same goal, the team creates a synergy - a force that is greater than the combined energy of its individual members.

Good work teams are like close-knit families. They require acceptance, nurturing, patience and support. They won't always agree and often need to compromise their personal preferences to achieve the best results. Effective work teams need continued support and feedback to stay focused and to feel good about what they are doing. For a team to reach its full potential, members must be able to share their thoughts and ideas, and to see that these are valued and heard.

The professional companies like Team Building Adelaide and Team Building Perth will provide for every type of help and organize everything in a professional manner. They will look after the needs of food and drink items as well other important aspects as well. They will also evaluate the event If you want to determine how successful an event is, you’ll need to collect feedback from participants. Create an evaluation form to hand out (and, if possible, collect) at the end of the event. To encourage participation, your evaluation form should be anonymous and short. Taking these few steps will make the event a huge success.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Team Building Event that is Successful

The latest success mantra of any team is working towards common goal in a united manner. The team building event can make or break a business. So now you can work towards making a better team through holding various events like conference events or planning a day out for the staff. 

When organizing such events dates are important, especially when there is a need to secure venues and check the availability of key personnel or speakers for conference events. Typically, it is recommended a lead time of about 2 to 3 months to plan for a small to medium-sized team building event, catering for less than 80 participants. If the event is large-scale, the lead time may escalate to 6 months, or even a year before.

When conducting team building outside working hours, some organizations may wish to consider dates of school holidays or school exams, especially for organizations, which place emphasis on a balanced work and family life. To encourage maximum attendance from participants, organizations may wish to leave the school examination and vacation periods untouched, for their staff to spend that extra time with their spouse and children.

Duration of the team building session should also be taken into account - is it going to be a half-day or full-day event? If there are specific issues to be tackled or other forms of planning or training involved, it may be good to consider a 2-day or even 3-day program.

Having information about the profile of the participants is usually sufficient. However, whenever possible, unearth the type of activities the participants are inclined towards - are they indoor-games type of people or the outdoor adventure type or do you have a good mix of both? 

One can derive such preferences by having a poll or survey with the participants if you have an intimate group size, or by gathering the views of a sample group if your group size is overwhelming. The rule of thumb is to have a good mix of indoor and outdoor activity especially if your group size is big, unless you are deliberately exposing the participants to a particular type of setting, or you know their specific preferences.

The budget would have a significant influence on the venue, food and beverage, as well as duration and type of team building activity. Next, you have to decide if the team building event is to be handled in-house or to be outsourced to an external vendor. Of course, if the budget permits, there are many advantages in outsourcing the team building portion.

To run a corporate team building event, you would need manpower and chances are, if your colleagues are running the event with you, they cannot participate. External vendors would likely be more experienced in conducting the activities and less likely to make mistakes. The vendor would also provide all the logistics involved, leaving your team and yourself free to participate with all your other colleagues. Keeping these points in mind will help you make a successful team.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Corporate Team Cooking Classes

There are some people turns clear of the kitchen as its very menacing to them. Having no formal education and learning to cook must not lead to such kind of high levels of stress and nervousness. Cooking is made-up to be fun, exciting and an expression of love. So, you do not have to be a cooking massive so as to cook fantastic food.

In case you decide to take the force and sign up for one or probably a handful of cooking classes, it must be a pleasant experience. Otherwise, in case you are uncertain about participating, you can immediately sit back and watch because the chef takes you gradually all the mode throughout the cooking process. The best part is, finally, you are able to contribute by having the benefit of a magnificent epicure meal organized for you. Based on the master chef whom you choose to take classes under, you will learn a few axioms about cooking similar to "Everything tastes better with bacon."

Team cooking classes can assist you to recover your cooking skills and train you how to cook delicious and mouthwatering meals. Although all at once some of the professional cooking classes not only assist with cooking lessons, but also assists to encourage team building through these classes. The individuals attending these cooking classes are expectant to effort together in a group and are consequently capable to be more competent. Actually, the professionals and specialists use to teach in these classes that assist you to get better your cooking skills and also permit you to calm down your mind from daily routine jobs. You can come with pioneering ideas, play with the dissimilar elements and come up with innovative dishes as well.

The time duration of the cooking classes might varies from one hour to 3 months. You can record and contribute in any of the classes that are alienated into 4 categories that are Health, Emotional Intelligence, Wellness and cooking, culinary adventures and families or spouses. You can now record with them and can be learnt new recipes through the cooking classes. Also, on the other hand, you also get to interrelate with other members of your class that helps you to build friends and consequently you are able to enjoy the whole procedure by functioning mutually. This overall helps in Team Building and civilizing your team competence too.

So far, companies experience this is the way to go, maybe because the conventional team building activities like rope courses and military style outdoor fortitude test that have been around for last many years have seen their day. 

Corporate trainers such as Team Building Melbourne or Team Building Perth are also now approaching with new exercises to inspire teamwork and expand leadership persona too.