OPTIMAL approach to organizing a successful team building event
Are you planning a team building session but don’t know how or where to start? Don’t despair. This “mannequin’s guide” to planning a team building session will give you important areas to consider and make you look like an expert.
The OPTIMAL approach:
1. Objectives of the team building
“Why are we holding this team building event and what do we hope to accomplish?”
Having an end in mind, a purpose, is crucial to planning a team building session. Having goals means you can bias or adapt activities to meet your expectations.
Having clear goals would also help set the tone for the team building session and set the expectations of the participants involved, so that everyone is moving in unison towards the same direction/goal.
Having conducted teambuilding sessions for a variety of organizations, some of the most common reasons teamwork is required include the following:
a) To create synergy in a new team/team with new members
b) Create an opportunity for staff from different departments/functions to interact
c) To address certain labor issues.
d) Reinforce its corporate values
e) As a form of training
f) Reward your staff with a day out of the office
g) Interact and have fun
Each of the reasons listed above will result in an emphasis on different aspects during the team building session. Spend some time deciding on the main focus of the team building session before deciding on team building activities.
2. Profile of the Participants
“Who will attend the team building session?”
Another important factor in planning a successful team building session is the profile of the participants. Age range, gender mix, and other background information such as educational level and scope of work should be taken into account when sculpting the team building program, to ensure that the program is appropriate and relevant.
The physical conditions of the participants in the team building session should also be considered.
Another important factor for a team building session that is often overlooked by organizers is FOOD. In a multi-racial country like Singapore, participants may be Chinese vegetarians or Indian vegetarians, while others only eat Halal food (food that is lawful and permitted under Muslim law) or even Kosher food (food that has been prepared to be safe). for and proper under Jewish law). There may also be participants who are allergic to certain types of food. The best way to find out about dietary requirements is to check directly with participants.
3. Time frame to plan the team building event
“What is the scheduled date of the team building session and its duration?”
Dates are important, especially when it is necessary to secure venues and check the availability of key personnel or speakers. Typically, we would recommend approximately 2-3 months lead time to plan a small to medium sized team building event, catering to fewer than 80 participants. If the event is large-scale, the delivery time may increase to 6 months or even a year earlier.
When conducting team building outside of working hours, some organizations may consider the dates of school holidays or school exams, especially for organizations, which place an emphasis on work-life balance. To encourage maximum participant attendance, organizations may wish to leave school exam periods and vacations intact, allowing their staff to spend that extra time with their spouse and children.
The length of the team building session should also be considered: will it be a half-day or full-day event? If there are specific issues to address or other forms of planning or training involved, it may be good to consider a 2 or even 3 day program.
4. Inclinations of the participants
“What will participants prefer to do during team building?”
Having information about the profile of the participants is usually enough. However, whenever possible, find out what kind of activities participants are drawn to: are they indoor play types or outdoor adventurers, or do they have a good mix of both?
One can derive such preferences by surveying participants if you have an intimate group size, or by collecting opinions from a sample group if your group size is overwhelming. Alternatively, reviewing previous team building sessions and feedback might also give a good indication of what is preferred (and what not to do again).
The general rule of thumb is to have a good mix of indoor and outdoor activities, especially if your size is large, unless you are deliberately exposing participants to a particular type of environment, or know their specific preferences.
5. Money Matters
“What is the indicative budget for team building?”
The budget would have a significant influence on the venue, food and drink, as well as the length and type of team building activity. If there are no figures to work with yet, use previous years’ budget as a guide. If such information is not available, plan something that is not too ambitious and adjustments can be made from there.
Next, you need to decide whether the team building portion will be handled in-house or outsourced to an outside vendor. Of course, if the budget allows, there are many advantages to outsourcing the team building portion.
First of all, to run a team building event, you would need manpower and chances are if your colleagues are hosting the event with you, they won’t be able to participate. External providers are likely to be more experienced in carrying out the activities and less likely to make mistakes. The provider would also provide all the logistics involved, leaving you and your team free to participate with all your other colleagues.
Team building providers also bring enough experience to know what works and what doesn’t, so you pay not only for their services, but also for their rich experience.
6. Evaluation of success
“How would you measure the success of the team building session?”
How would the success of the session be measured? Is it considered a success as long as the participants are having fun or if the participants got to know at least 3 other colleagues better?
While the effects of team building are generally intangible and the results somewhat more subtle, measures of success can be derived from verbal feedback from participants, surveys, or observational reports. The observation informs how about the behaviors and attitudes shown during the activities. Pre- and/or post-event surveys track the effectiveness of the team building session based on the same set of questions organizers want to ask about.
7. Location for team building
“Where should we hold the team building session?”
The location or venue would have an effect on the atmosphere of the team building session. The previous six factors mentioned above would have shaped the decision on where to conduct team building.
Other location-related issues to consider would be accessibility, feature setup and design, and contingencies for wet weather (if you have an outdoor session).
With the OPTIMAL approach developed by änergy, we are confident that you will be able to plan your team building event effectively. If you are organizing the team building event with your committee internally, make sure you have a detailed work plan and budget, with clear responsibilities for each task.
Next, remember that one of the key ingredients in building an effective team is rehearsals. You would need to do a site visit and rehearse the day’s activities as it would help you fix any potential issues so that improvements can be made on the day of the event and contingency plans are already in place to address any failures.
We wish you a resoundingly successful team building session!
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