The Secret of Great Team Building - Use Corporate Entertainment Events.

Corporate team building as a concept has been around for decades, but it has moved on a long way from the early days. Ask a middle aged person what the phrase 'team building' brings to mind; they will almost certainly cold and wet outdoor activities in Wales or Scotland lasting for a weekend. Or possibly they will talk about problem solving tasks involving &nbspplanks of wood, old tyres, milk crates and a few empty oil drums.

Ask a twenty something the same question and they will probably describe something quite different.

Why? Because smart team builders realised that their craft needed to move on. So they came up with a whole host of far more interesting events, often taking corporate entertainment events as a starting point, modifying them to create a team building situation.

How? The principles of team building have remained the same. The following sequence was coined way back when certain people were setting themselves up as gurus of team building …

Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing

But all this boils down to in plain English is that the team members need to get to know each other. They need to gain confidence in each other and need to learn to work together, efficiently as a unit in order to solve problems. Hence the simple 'stick and string' problem solving challenges using cheap and cheerful materials in the early days. Yes, sure, that worked, but there were two flaws. Firstly, the activities all needed similar skills, involving lateral thinking, communication skills, manipulative skills and team work I.e. quite a narrow and rigid set; secondly, people today tend to have more sophisticated tastes.

So that's where the corporate entertainment comes in. Take a purely entertainment based activity, add some challenge to it and there you have it - a fun team building exercise. One which staff will enjoy but still bond, develop trust and lateral thinking. Team building by stealth.

OK, some examples to help you on the way.

The treasure hunt started as an office social event when a couple of people (or social committee if your company was lucky enough to have one) got together, spend several weekends driving round the local area, writing clues and organising a buffet or disco afterwards. That has now evolved, there are many corporate entertainment companies who have taken the treasure hunt a step further. They not only provide all the clues in a ready made package, they supply a variety of challenges such as word games and shopping lists. Plus they provide a professional event manager to ensure the hunt runs smoothly. The added challenges require high levels of team work plus organisational skills in order to achieve success thus developing the essential skills needed for a successful team - cooperation, lateral thinking, negotiation, problem solving … all in a fun atmosphere. Learning in a fun atmosphere is always more efficient, at least for the majority of people as they are more receptive.

Themed days or half days are another popular corporate-entertainment-cum-team-building idea. There are a whole host of these such as spy themed events where your employees will work together on espionage themed tasks such as surveillance, weapons handling, identification, crossing a room full of laser light etc. Or at the opposite end of the time scale, you can find medieval themed events that include jousting, archery, building a trebuchet, storming a castle and more.

So how do you decide on which event is the best for you? Look for one that offers challenges that need a wide range of skills in order to achieve success; look for events that will be inclusive; it is easy to alienate staff by pushing them way out of their physical comfort zone (remember, that's why the wet weekend away raises groans and dissent!) and also look for companies that offer novel and interesting themes. To find these events is now fairly easy, search Google (or your favourite internet search engine) for &nbspcorporate treasure hunt, spy themed corporate entertainment, medieval themed corporate event and so on and you will be sure to find plenty of alternatives.

So good luck with developing YOUR team!