Booking a Team Building Programme - What You Need to Think About

Organising and running a team building or management development training event is  a difficult task at the best of times. Fior instance outcomes must reflect the time and  money invested,safety is also paramount.

Objective Setting & Outcomes

It is fundamental to any successful team event that your objectives are clear. For instance with teams is it a team building or a team development programme that is required. It is important for people to recognise that there is a difference between team building and team development or team working. Team building involves bringing together new teams and giving them a sense of direction, a period of getting to know their colleagues, recognising skills and abilities. Team development is the next stage which involves teamworking skills such as sharing ideas, co-operating, being open and supporting one another. It is a common mistake that many of our clients make when they first approach us when seeking to define the issue for them. They confuse the term team building with teamworking. If you can’t define the problem then it is difficult to fix it.

In order to get the most out of any outdoor team building event I suggest that the following questions are asked, whilst this is not intended to be an exhaustive list it provides food for thought.

Review, Follow-up & Measurement

1. How will the exercises achieve the desired outcomes?
2. How much time is spent reviewing the team building tasks?
3. What techniques do you use to review the tasks?
4. What is the purpose of this review process?
5. When is review carried out?
6. Do you carry out follow up sessions at any time?
7. What is the purpose of follow up?
8. What is the purpose of team building/outdoor management development training?
9. How are your staff qualified to deliver this training?
10. How do you measure outcomes?

Safety

1. Is the company insured?
2. What are your risk assessments for each activity?
3. Do your staff have first aid certificates?
4. How do you assess participants suitability for the course?
5. What are your procedures in an emergency?

Facilitation

1. What are your experiences in working with groups?
2. How do you get the individuals and group to reveal their thoughts during the exercises?
3. How do you ensure that all members of the team participate and contribute?
4. How do you help transfer learning during the team building training, back to the workplace?
5. How do you motivate people?
6. What does a high performing team look like?