boglapuri: On-Site Team Building: When Time Gets Cut to the Bare Minimum ...

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A. @executiveoasis

With the trend towards shorter and shorter?time frames? it can be challenging to keep team building upbeat and interactive and yet retain the essential ingredients for effective team building.?I have previously blogged about one day team building pitfalls and ?how team building participants are getting shortchanged in the push for shorter team building.?Despite all the cautions, the trend towards short timeframes is clearly not going to disappear any time soon.

While I consider the following formats to be?far from ideal, here are 2 formats for effective team building when a longer session just isn?t possible.

Short Team Building Formats

Business Issue Focus:

15 Minutes:?Session starter Exercise (upon arrival or right after lunch to identify key issues for the session (in pairs and trios)
15 minutes:?CEO briefing to convey relevance to organizational issues and challenges
30 minutes:?Team Briefing by Facilitator to provide overview and zero in on key issues
30 Minutes:?Instructions for short simulation, game or board game, time for teams to confer and ask questions
1 Hour:?Short Brainstorming Exercise Focusing on Issues Identified During Session starter.
Here are some ideas for brainstorming?6 Brainstorming Tools.
15 Minutes:?Break
30 Minutes:?Debriefing Questions in Teams
15 Minutes:?Mini-Presentations of Results from Team Exercise.
30 Minutes:?Debriefing.?Use an upbeat method for debriefing.?See my Cvent Blog post with?5 Way to Debrief (Without Boring?Participants)
15 Minutes:?Wrap up and Next Steps

Total: 4 Hours 15 Minutes

What?s missing is any type of business simulation or recreational activity to promote team bonding. The facilitator has to work extra hard to engage participants and retain any element of the fun factor. ?Here are some tips to get the most out of short, on-site team building:

6 Tips for Short Business Issue Focused Team Building

Selecti a theme that parallels and reflects the core issue(s) the organization is confronting.
Reinforce your theme through props, visuals, menu items for break, and background music and videos
Use one very vivid vehicle to present your content during the team briefing (e.g. a skit, short and targeted game). Take a look at my Cvent Blog feature with highlights from The Fresh Conference for a video with a?powerful skit?about dissecting the meeting formats that was used to kick of the team exercise.
Select a unique setting for the team exercise (e.g. outdoors, verandah, shisha tent in the parking lot, patio, gazebos).
Create a visual and tactile interface for the team exercise. (e.g. giant index cards or post-its, butcher block paper covering tables, game boards).
Get groups to use a creative method to report back about their findings (e.g. collages, storyboards, TV commercials, infographics, Pinterest Boards).

To buy yourself more time, begin with an early lunch (i.e. 11:30). Get creative and experiment with?interactive working lunch formats?that reinforce your theme. This will ensure that everyone is present for the start of your session.

To ensure that you session finishes by 4:30. Schedule the CEO briefing for the last 15 minutes of lunch. Be sure to serve his or her table first so that they are finished eating in time to present.

Short Business Simulation Format:

Snack 10:00 Start time of session.?
15 Minutes:?10:15?Session starter Exercise (upon arrival or right after lunch to identify key issues for the session (in pairs and trios)
15 minutes:?10:30?CEO briefing to convey relevance to organizational issues and challenges
30 minutes:?10:45?Team Briefing by Facilitator to provide overview and zero in on key issues
15 Minutes?11:15?? Instructions for simulation, game or activity. (Games or activities must be set up in advance to save time.)
45 Minutes:?11:30?Serve Working Lunch?with interactive format?Over Lunchtime for teams to confer.
15 Minutes: Question period in last 15 minutes when participants are finishing lunch.
2 ?3/4 Hours:?12:15?Game, board game or short simulation ? Some teams may not finish. Be prepared for critical feedback.
15 Minutes:?3:00?Break
30 Minutes:?3:15?Debriefing Questions in Teams??(include questions about possible business applications).
30 Minutes:?3:45?Debriefing
15 Minutes:?4:15?Wrap up and Next Steps

Total: 6 1/2 Hours including lunch

To buy yourself more time, begin with a mid morning break ?(i.e. 10:00) and start your session at 10:30. This will ensure that everyone is present for the CEO briefing.

To ensure that you session finishes by 4:30. Schedule the CEO briefing for the last 15 minutes of lunch. Be sure to serve his or her table first so that they are finished eating in time to present.

Now that you have sampled our innovative team building approaches through this blog, we hope that you will keep Executive Oasis International in mind the next time your company requires team building, an executive retreat or on-site consulting to boost the effectiveness of your teams.

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Filed under: Business Simulations, Business Team Building, Corporate Team Building, On-site Team Building, Short Team Building, Team Building Tagged: | business team building, On-site Team Building, Short Team Building, Team Building Tips

Source: http://corporateteambuilding.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/on-site-team-building/

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