Conducting team building events can be highly motivating to the spirit and morale of your business. A well planned and facilitated team building event is critical to the success of any business. These events help you refocus on the direction the company is going, the goals of the business and your individual role in that direction. Everyone leaves with a better understanding of the organization’s mission, a clearer alignment of the individual and corporate goals, and a more motivated team.
I am fortunate to work with a company that recognizes the importance of providing team training events. Once or twice a year, our entire team gets together at our corporate office in upstate New York. I have to admit that this is one of the events in my year that I look forward to most. It is a great time to be together as a group and hear what everyone else is working on. We are all so busy with our daily responsibilities that we aren’t always aware of the amazing things other team members are up to. Our annual team meetings give us a chance to see what everyone is working on and gets us motivated and recharged to keep going. I always leave these meetings inspired to take it to the next level.
We had our annual team meeting last week and as usual, I left more energized, motivated, and ready to get back to it. Our management team always plans a fantastic event that involves a mixture of business and fun. This year we had different team members from different departments present status updates on the projects that are currently being worked on. We had sessions on communication, growth mindsets, and innovation. We had a team building activity which consisted of a Murder Mystery Dinner titled “Tell Death Do Us Part.” This is the second time we have done a Murder Mystery Dinner and it is one of the most fun activities we do. We dress up in costume and bring our characters to life. It gives us a chance to spend time with our team in a casual environment and learn new things about our coworkers. There is always a lot of laughter!
If you are a school director or owner, I encourage you to figure out how to take your team meetings to the next level. Don’t feel like you need to start out with a full, two-day event. If you need to, start with a half-day and build from there. Make sure you plan for the event and have an agenda, incorporating topics you think your team would benefit from. Make sure it doesn’t turn into a complaining session. Make it about the future and where you are heading and all of the possibilities that exist.
If you are an instructor and your school doesn’t do any type of team training, don’t just stop there. Go to the individuals in charge and talk to them about it. Help them see the benefits of a team building event. You could even offer to help plan the event because it isn’t easy to plan a detailed meeting. Get involved!
What does your school do to build an effective team?