Team-Building Exercises for Emergency Preparedness
It is a somewhat concerning fact that many people who work together would not know how to react to each other should an emergency occur. This means that even if your staff have a great vibe with each other, should a fire or other emergency happen in the workplace, they will likely panic rather than…
Team Talks: Mastering the Art of Remote Team Building
Encouraging close-knit and goal-driven team players can be a dilemma with the constant evolution of work setups. As businesses embrace remote setups, it is crucial to boost team spirit and foster camaraderie even with stretching distance among teammates. Establishing a remote setup that works optimally requires mindful planning, valuable peer-to-peer and team conversations, and practical…
Bridging Distances: Tools for Keeping Remote Teams Connected
The digital revolution has not only transformed the way we work but also how we connect with our colleagues. Today, teams span cities, countries, and continents, proving that collaboration isn’t bound by geographical borders. However, maintaining team synergy in a remote environment poses its own set of challenges. Let’s explore the indispensable tools that help…
The Ultimate Guide to Team Building: Strategies for Success
In today’s fast-paced business environment, effective teamwork has become more crucial than ever. A high-performing team can achieve greater results, boost employee morale, and enhance overall productivity. This will lead to a happier work environment for all employees, leading to increased loyalty to the business. Team building is a key component of fostering a collaborative…
Team Building for Remote Teams, Navigating the Challenges of Virtual Collaboration
As remote work becomes more prevalent, team building for remote teams is becoming increasingly important. As the COVID-19 pandemic starts to move from the current to the past one thing is for certain, remote learning is here to stay. It’s still important to provide substantial team building and with the right strategies in place, this…
Welcoming New Team Members: The Importance of Team Building for Integration
We have all been there. It’s your first day at a new business and there’s a lot to get used to. New work, new people, new commutes, and so much more, it can all feel a little overwhelming at first. It’s important that the rest of the team help to welcome the new team member…
How To Elevate Your Employees Skillsets & Promote Loyalty with Your Team
When your employees feel valued and supported by their companies, they’re more likely to be loyal and invest in their careers there. In this post, we’ll show you ways you can help your employees elevate their skillsets and promote loyalty for a long and happy career with your business. Retain Top Talent with Learning &…
Team Building Activities That Will Strengthen Your Team
Whether your team have been working together years or is brand new, team building is a chance for everyone to get out of a typically office setting and do something fun that can teach transferrable skills. Here are team building activities that will strengthen your team. Outdoor Activity Courses Get your team together to battle…
Team Building Activities to Boost Communication and Collaboration
Team building is very important when it comes to effective communication and collaboration, and there is always room to improve this. In a fast-paced work environment, it’s critical that employees communicate effectively which will overall bring greater outputs for the business. Keep on reading to discover some team-building activities that will help boost communication and…
What Team Building Exercises Do Professional Sports Teams Do?
One for all, and all for one. This phrase emphasises solidarity and support within a group or a team, and sports teams rely on solidarity and support for success. So, how does the phrase “One for all, and all for one.” apply to professional sports teams? How do these sports teams support each other during…
Are Team Building Exercises Important in Esports?
All teams need cohesiveness to be successful irrespective of the kind of team it is, whether it’s a sports team or a corporate team. Team members that don’t get along with each other will never win. Team building is one of the managers’ most effective methods to get team members to gel and work well…
4 tips to organise a successful office Christmas party
It’s that time of the year again when most people have their sights set on the Christmas break, a time to completely chill out and relax before coming back to work in January refreshed and ready for a new year. There’s just one thing standing between you and the relaxation of a Christmas break. Organising…
How to Find the Right Employees and Retain Them
The process of hiring new employees is crucial in every business. They are the company’s lifeblood as they are the reason it operates. As a hiring manager or business owner, you want to find the right people who best fit the roles you need. Finding suitable individuals will benefit the company as it will help…
How to successfully integrate a new member into your team
So you’ve done the painstaking task of recruiting a new member to your team, now the key next step is to successfully integrate them. Having a proper process in place will be mutually beneficial, your new team member joining seamlessly will make the process less stressful for them and also make the process more effective…
How to Earn Through Property Business?
In today’s world, the expenses have been raised and the demand to meet the ends has become difficult. A single pay from a family member, or even dual-pay by both spouses’ isn’t enough to run the house. The extreme demand of having extra income has become essential, and for people who own property, have land,…
5 Risks in Joint Ventures to be Aware of
A joint venture could represent the best decision you have ever made for your business, but it could also come undone as a result of poor planning, prioritising, or unstable relationships between partners. Here are some of the risks to look out for and avoid at all costs. 1. Interruptions The mark of any strong…
How Team Building Can Help Your B2B Company In The Long Run
If you’re starting up a B2B company, then employee engagement and customer retention should be at the forefront of your mind. Building a productive, happy team will not only help your company to prosper and build, but it can also help with retaining important customers and growing profit. One of the best ways to achieve…
Team building tips for remote teams
Although many people are enjoying a number of benefits that come with remote working such as; less time commuting, more time with family and friends, and the general flexibility to work anywhere with an internet connection, attention has also been drawn to the difficulty that can arise when trying to build team camaraderie. Barriers of…
3 Tips to improve your public speaking
The thought of public speaking can strike fear into even the most confident of people, in fact it has even been suggested that a fear of public speaking is an instinct originating back hundreds or even thousands of years. Social acceptance was the difference between life and death and still is amongst many species within…
How to improve time management
Possessing good time management skills is vital both when working independently and whilst completing tasks as part of a team. Managing your time effectively can help you to be more productive and therefore less stressed. There are some simple actions you can do to help improve your time management skills. What is time management? Time…
Why is team building important for the workplace?
For CEOs and managers who want to grow cohesive and effective teams, team building should be an important part of their schedule. There are a number of important benefits for both individuals and organisations as a whole when regular team building is implemented. Encourages better communication When individuals have to work together to reach a…
Get your productivity back with these quick tips
It’s easy to start a day off with good intentions and a full colour coded to-do list ready to be worked through and ticked off. This can make it even more disheartening when you get to the end of the day and you haven’t managed to be as productive as you hoped. Sometimes you just…
Planning the Perfect Team Away Day
When planned correctly, an away day can have a substantial positive impact on the performance of your team. The perfect away day can incorporate many opportunities for leaders and team members to get know each other better, share visions and goals, and to discuss or tackle important issues. Away Day Checklist To ensure your team…
How to Choose the Best Team Building Activity in Paris: 4 Options for Companies
The mesmerizing capital of France is a city that can offer a huge number of activities for every resident and traveler. In addition, in Paris, you can choose an activity for a corporate event if you want your employees to team up and build friendly relations with each other. Usually, companies choose to organize a…
How to manage conflict between team members
Even some of the most high performing and successful teams can experience conflict between certain group members. Teams are often put together for the mix of skills and perspectives and although this provides a well rounded group, there is also going to be the risk of clashing opinions and experiences which can cause problems. If…
5 ways to motivate a disengaged employee
A disengaged employee is not necessarily a bad employee, there are ways that you can bring them back from the brink… Disengagement at work is a worldwide phenomenon and reports have previously shown that around a quarter of all workers in the UK are actively disengaged at work. But what does disengagement at work actually…
Best Virtual Team-Building Activities For A Remote Team
Nowadays, the majority of companies have switched to the format of remote work. With the advent of the online format of work, new forms of team-building activities have appeared. Find out about the best activities to build a team. Team building is an essential tool in the hands of any leader. This method can be…
3 great gifts that will motivate your team
When it comes to motivating a team, gifts and presents/bonuses can be a good tool within your kit to reward people and make them feel valued by the company. Ultimately this is one of the main positive effects that come from rewards as opposed to being the specific goal in and of themselves. This week…
Is team building important in the workplace?
With the many modern distractions that the hectic life of the modern office worker can bring many are left wondering whether activities like team-building and days out are worth paying for and worth interrupting people’s busy schedules to take part in. The Innovate Team Building Directory is passionate about team building, but is it important…
Should you focus on your strength’s or weaknesses?
When you are working through your teambuilding plan personal and professional development can often factor in the wider matrix and inevitably many people focus on their weaknesses, developing action plans for how to work through shortcomings and make improvements. It is a logical approach, your strengths are your strengths, and you should focus on your…
How to arrange a day out that the team will love
Getting a team day out right can be a challenge. You have to manage for different personalities and different people are going to like different things; some will prefer more relaxed activities whilst others will want to get right amongst it. This week, we share our thoughts on how you can arrange a team day…
3 ways to avoid creating a blame culture in your organisation
In general, people like to get along with each other and part of this process means not dropping each other in it! Whilst this is admirable, you also need to have good communication to determine where there are points of improvement that can be made. Here are 3 ways to avoid creating a dreaded blame…
Why you should optimise the workplace well-being of your employees
Getting employee’s performing at their best can be one of the biggest challenges when managing in an organisation and different people often require a different approach. Despite the struggle getting a workforce that is well organised and looked after has some big benefits for your company. A healthy workforce is often a productive one The…
3 key ways team building directly benefits your business
Creating the right balance within a team can be a challenge and in 2021 traditional team building activities have all but been made impossible, but that is not to say that you should not invest in team building in the new year. Creating a good team with synergy in terms of goals, objectives and the…
Why you should encourage workers to have fun in the office
When it comes to creating and building a team that enjoys their work, allowing them to have fun is one of the most important things that you can do. It is often said that life is too short, and we feel it is certainly too short to not enjoy the work you do or the…
How can I give my team’s motivation a shot in the arm?
Getting the right balance in a team in terms of motivation and task orientation can be difficult. You want to keep your employees pushed in terms of personal and professional goals but also performing work that pays the bills and grows the business. Motivation is key in team building and as a result, is one…
How you can motivate your team to perform better in 2020
With the new world of work presenting a number of different challenges, it can often be difficult to keep workers task orientated as well as goal orientated. With working from home for many becoming the new normal here is the danger for people to become isolated in the way they work. In today’s blog, we…
How you can stay calm under pressure situations
Staying calm under pressure may seem to come easy to some but it is in fact a skill that is developed over time. It comes with practice and whilst it may seem very challenging in testing situations, the importance of keeping what the All-Blacks call a ‘blue head’ is critical when it comes to building…
Why teambuilding and teamwork go hand in hand
When you think of a team, what would you put at the top of a list of characteristics that would make up that good team? Some that come to mind may be initiative, trust, empathy, leadership or creativity? What is clear when looking at these characteristics is that they are more attitudes than hard skills…
Virtual team building activities for boosting team morale
Team building activities as a whole are a great way of getting teams working and socialising together. During these more challenging times where we are all working in different environments, virtual team-building activities can help to keep bonds between employees strong and can boost morale.
5 tips for building a great team
The power of great and collaborative teams cannot be underestimated when it comes to business success. A successful company operates best when it has employees with a team mentality, each filling an essential role and fulfilling long-term goals within the business. We’ve highlighted some of our top tips on how you can build a great…
How to stay connected with your team during lockdown
The Coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed all of our lives, and has had a particular impact on how we work. As a result, many people are now working from home and are more isolated than they were before. There is now more of a need for teams to be communicating and engaging with each other to…
3 activities you can do with your team during lockdown
Lockdown is well and truly in full swing, with businesses and individuals all starting to feel the strain. It’s important now, more than ever that teams communicate effectively so that they can feel less isolated and less lonely during this strange time. Whilst we know that getting involved in proper team building events isn’t possible…
How to really break the ice when welcoming a new employee
If your company has recruited a new employee, it can be difficult to welcome them into the team, and individual introductions with each staff member can often be awkward. However, there is another way to break the ice!
The benefits of trying something new
In business, it’s common for people to stick with tried and tested methods, or follow certain processes. Often, they don’t do this because it is the most efficient way; but because historically that is just how things have been done. In order to grow a business, grow personally, or even to progress within your industry…
Top tips for encouraging teamwork in your business
Creating a workplace environment that facilitates good teamwork requires effort, experience, and the right management structure to ensure it is followed through. However, there are ways that you can strengthen your team from the start and get everyone working together in harmony rather than working against each other.
The benefits of introducing team building to your workplace
Let’s be honest, many people roll their eyes at the idea of team building, especially in the workplace. However, team building can offer significant value for both the employer and the employees within a business. Gathering your team together for activities that aren’t work-related can provide everyone with the opportunity to get to know each other….
3 simple steps for better task and work management in the office
Getting the most out of your day can often be a challenge we face in an office environment on a frequent basis. With more apps and pieces of software related to scheduling and relationship management being used now than ever, developing the right process to ensure work is completed in a timely and professional manner…
Finding the positives in networking events
Networking is not for everyone, but in this blog, we will look at how you might be able to look at networking differently.
Learn the power of ‘No’
Whilst leaders across the world manage to gain power by telling everyone exactly what they want to hear it leads us to think, is this really leadership?
5 ways to change how you do meetings
How many times have you come out of a meeting feeling deflated? Meetings are often called to be proactive and to bring teams together to inform of changes, discuss new plans, and drive the business forward. Yet, they usually feel like a waste of precious time, and leave staff feeling more drowsy than invigorated. Take…
How reflection can help your business
To enable yourself and your team to be more productive, you sometimes need to take some time out to think and to reflect. You should give yourself space to consider past successes, future plans for the business, and perhaps review things which didn’t go as planned or expected. In reality, no one gets a chance…
Running wild in new ‘Adventure Spaces’
A lot of us have every intention of adding some adventure to our lives, but we rarely seem to find the time or make excuses when we do have the time, despite the health benefits that come from being outside. Acquiring the kit is the easy bit, the real challenge is finding a few days…
Why good team building is a crucial investment
Despite its reputation for being a bit lame and quite repetitive, team building is a really important investment for businesses to make. Effective team building means more engaged employees, which in turn make the company more productive and more efficient. To some business owners, team building can seem like a waste of money or can take…
The importance of fun at work
Some businesses clamp down on having fun at work, fearing that it could cause too much distraction and negatively impact the overall performance of staff. Yet by doing so, bosses are missing out on a number of opportunities to save money and discover talent. Check out the 5 ways play can give your business a boost:…
Less work, more storytelling
Storytelling is something that we witness almost every day. It can come in the forms of books, movies, and even office jokes. Storytelling is ingrained into our everyday lives and everyone loves a good story, even if we have a preferred style of storytelling – some of us love visiting the opera, whilst others may…
The Japanese Secret to Happiness, Longevity and Job Satisfaction
Do you hate getting up in the morning? Don’t see yourself as a morning person? Ikigai is a word used by the Japanese to explain (as Ken Mogo, neuroscientist, defines it) “your reason to get up in the morning”. Whilst some of us do not experience this Monday morning dread, a lot of us do…
3 Tips for Keeping Calm
We are all faced with challenges in our day to day live that can cause us to become distressed. When something causes tension, it eases us up to make more irrational and less responsible choices and actions. To help reduce negative outcomes from a distressed response, there are many things we can try to calm…
The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter – Liz Wiseman
What makes a successful leader? Leaders are the backbone of organisations. They are the driving force in a business and many people aim to become a leader at some point in their career. To be a successful leader, it is not as simple as getting the role – you must possess the correct traits in…
Fairness is the Most Important Leadership Quality
In many organisations, women are paid less than men to do equivalent work. Whilst business owners do this to take more profits from the company, they may be missing out on the impact they’re really having by treating their staff unfairly. Former investment banker Marco Alvera tells the story of his experience within…
Ask Your Team Members These Questions
Managers have a large amount of influence on their team member’s well-being, mood and performance. Therefore it is crucial to set goals and coach or praise individuals whenever possible. Taking interest in individuals -whether it be on a formal one-to-one basis or in other conversational opportunities- can be very beneficial to boosting morale and in…
360 Degree Feedback: Understand the Concepts and Benefits
It’s hard to imagine a manager who doesn’t understand the importance of regular appraisals and feedback sessions, and yet many still use outdated one-on-one methods. Instead, you should consider a 360-degree feedback method. What is 360-Degree Feedback? Most of the time, appraisals involve speaking to one superior. As a manager, you will probably have spoken…
Building Stronger Teams Through ‘Forming Storming Norming Performing’
Developed by Dr Bruce Tuckman in 1965, the ‘Forming Storming Norming Performing’ model is based around the idea that leadership style changes as a team matures and evolves through certain distinct stages. As the name implies, those stages are: Forming Storming Norming Performing As a leader, your responsibility is to recognize which stage of…
Organisational Change Management Should Be People-Focused
Organisational Change Management (OCM) is too often considered a process that revolves around profit and productivity rather than integrity and people. Adopting more forward-thinking and emotionally-mature principles might seem counterintuitive to the traditional X-Theory organisation, and yet moving in that direction can increase results and profit naturally, all while simultaneously motivating your workforce and underlining…
Experiential Learning: Understand and Implement
Everyone learns differently, so the conventional knowledge/skills transfer style of teaching and training often fails. The traditional process wrongly assumes what needs to be learned and how best to impart the knowledge, with the subject matter typically focused around an exam or other end-goal that does not match the learner’s natural strengths. Experiential learning takes…
Team Building Training and Why Your Business Needs Them
Team building exercises have undergone a negative shift in image in the past but are now surfacing as an essential part of any serious business. A strong team who know they can rely on each other will outperform others in all areas. With trust in the team and fellow colleagues, employees at all levels will…
Five tips for instant team motivation
With massive cuts announced across government spending this week it’s unlikely that the office Christmas party is top of the management team’s agenda. So here are five no cost routes to raising team morale in an instant: 1. Thank each member of your team sincerely at least once a day, not just with a simple…
What to look for in a leader
The recession has exposed weaknesses in not just the financial structure of companies but also in their leadership, even a bad leader looks good when the work is flooding in.
Is dictatorial management set for a come back?
I used to think that hard nosed, dictatorial management was outdated and inappropriate but it looks set for a come back. Would Genghis Khan be a good modern leader? Not so long ago, announcing redundancies was seen as an admission of weakness, the management clearly didn’t have control of their business. Now if you’re not…
10 Team Building Tips To Take Your Team From Great to Extraordinary
Whether you are an organisation, or a professional responsible for facilitating the team building process of a team or group, the following tips are ensured to give you some new ideas on how to accelerate your team building initiatives:
All work and no play … makes for an innovation dead-end
New research by London Business School professor Babis Mainemelis and doctoral candidate Sarah Ronson shows how the best ideas are born in fields of play and how to ingrain more time and space for creativity within organisational settings.
Teams that play together work together
What would you put at the top of a list of characteristics that make a good team? Perhaps initiative, trust, flexibility, empathy, leadership or effectiveness?
Teams in 21st Century: how do we define their role?
Meredith Belbin takes a look at the nature of teamwork today and offers an optimistic outlook.
Ten Styles of Leadership
Leadership is often assumed to be a single skill, something you have either got or you haven’t got.
Coaching for Success
If you are not achieving yhose resolutions – get a coach A 2001 study by MetrixGlobal found that “coaching produced a 525% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business. Including the financial benefits from employee retention boosted the overall ROI to 788%”.
Five Stages of Team Development
Most experts in team development agree that teams will go through five different stages. How fast a team moves through each stage will depend on the team members, their individual skills, the work they are expected to do, and the type of leadership available to the team.
Team Motivation
Motivation. We hear the term often. Generally we associate the word with human behavior, meaning, a state of mind that moves us to action. And even though few of us have had formal training in it, it’s one of those characteristics of life that seems to fit the old adage, “I know it when I…
When You’re in Charge: Tips for Leading Teams
Do you remember that trembly feeling you had in the 4th grade when Mrs. Smith warned you about cheating? You know, looking off another’s paper, talking about the answer, or working with someone else outside of class? Isn’t it ironic that in the classroom you competed against your classmates for the best scores, but when…
Resolving Conflict in Work Teams
Abstract As organisations continue to restructure work teams, the need for training in conflict resolution will grow. Conflict arises from differences, and when individuals come together in teams, their differences in terms of power, values, and attitudes contribute to the creation of conflict. To avoid the negative consequences that can result from disagreements, most methods…
Basic Team Working
What is a team anyway? A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable
Benefits of Teambuilding
The term “team building” has become a buzzword in recent years, and has many connotations. In terms of corporate development, team-building exercises are important not for the immediate experience of the activities performed by the team, but also for the group skills, communication and bonding that result.
Promoting Teamwork And Cooperation
Teamwork is one of the qualities that managers and heads repeatedly try to instill in the people they work with in order to ensure seamless and effective operations.
Characteristics of a good team and team member
Characteristics of a good team Everyone participates actively and positively in meetings and projects. Team goals are understood by everyone.
Can vulnerability lead to succes
One of Stephen Covey’s famous Seven Habits of Highly Effective people tells us that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. All too often we let lesser things obscure our vision and that main thing. Covey doesn’t list vulnerability as one of the Seven Habits but in view of its…
Resolving Conflict in Work Teams
During 1992, researchers at the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University conducted a study that evaluated the factors affecting cross-functional sourcing team effectiveness. The study, titled the “Cross-Functional Sourcing Team Effectiveness Research Project,” collected data from 107 cross-functional sourcing teams at 18 U.S.-based firms over a period of seven months. Responses…
History of Team Building
The emergence of the team idea can be traced back to the late 1920s and early 1930s with the now classic Hawthorne Studies. These involved a series of research activities designed to examine in-depth what happened to a group of workers under various conditions. After much analysis, the researchers agreed that the most significant factor…
Team Types
“What is needed is not well balanced individuals; but individuals who balance well with each other.” – Dr Merideth Belbin Dr David Marriott, internationally renowned corporate psychologist and expert in team and management development, shares some thoughts on the famous Belbin Model and it’s relevance for teams into the next century.
Christmas Team Building
Sponsored by Fresh Tracks Christmas team building events Christmas Parties – The Ideal Time For Team Building The Head of HR is concerned that she’ll have a harassment case on her hands if the booze flows too freely and the Finance Director keeps banging on about benefits in kind and the £150 per year limit….
Chocolate anyone?
Hertfordshire based team building, motivations and event management specialists Fresh Tracks, famed for the creation of the original chocolate team building event the ‘Chocolate Challenge™’ have come up with a novel way of attracting business; they are giving away even more chocolate! The company recognise that for many companies getting around to arranging an away…
Is dictatorial management set for a comeback
I used to think that hard nosed, dictatorial management was outdated and innappropriate but it looks set for a come back. Would Genghis Khan be a good modern leader? Not so long ago, announcing redundancies was seen as an admission of weakness, the management clearly didn’t have control of their business. Now if you’re not…
8 Suggestions to help you think strategically and creatively
I used to rely on the weekend papers for business news, then a couple of years ago I was in a hotel room, killing a few hours before a lunchtime presentation on the morning Robert Peston reported the collapse in the HBoS share price. Make sure you find time to think creatively or strategically Over…
10 ways to reduce your workload
I thought Blackberrys, Microsoft Outlook and Open Plan Offices were all supposed to save us time and make us more efficient. Yet most of the middle managers I come across seem to be busier, more stressed and consequently more indecisive than ever before. Avoid being crushed by your workload and follow the 10 tips below…